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Michigan Names 11 Auto Suppliers Sharing $21M in Conversion Grants — The Program Isn’t BEV-Only

The Sept. 2 award announcement moves the program past its application stage; current rules require a 50% match on eligible project costs, and Michigan’s award release does not disclose recipient-by-recipient amounts.

By Autonomous News Desk

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Michigan has named 11 small- and medium-sized automotive suppliers as awardees sharing roughly $21 million through its Supplier Conversion Grant Program, moving the initiative from this year’s application process into an award stage.123

The program is not limited to fully electric vehicles. Michigan’s current eligibility guidance says qualifying suppliers can transition operations toward parts, components or materials for electric vehicles, efficient hybrids, plug-in hybrids and hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles.4 The Sept. 2 award release similarly describes the target as qualified vehicle supply chains, including hybrids.1

That distinction matters because Michigan has not published recipient-specific project descriptions in the Sept. 2 award release. The state has identified the companies it selected, but the reviewed award and program pages do not establish which powertrain category each recipient’s funded work will serve.14

The 11 suppliers Michigan named

Michigan’s Sept. 2 release lists these awardees:1

  • Barron Industries — Oxford
  • Hanson International — Saint Joseph
  • Lomar Machine & Tool Co. — Horton
  • MAKS Incorporated — Troy
  • Marel Power Solutions — Plymouth
  • Metal Flow Corporation — Holland
  • Mid Michigan Plastics and Tooling — West Branch
  • Northern Industrial Manufacturing — Harrison Township
  • Precision MHE — Inkster
  • Primera Plastics — Zeeland
  • Scherdel Sales and Technology — Muskegon

Michigan says the recipients will use the program for equipment purchases or upgrades, facility expansion and workforce initiatives associated with areas including battery components, electrification and advanced materials.1 Those are the state’s descriptions of intended uses; the award announcement does not show that those investments have already been completed.

A reimbursement program with a 50% project match

The current Michigan program page lists $22.6 million in federal funding for the Supplier Conversion Grant Program. It says grants are reimbursement-based and can support fixed assets, machinery and equipment, technology and training tied to qualifying production changes.4 Program guidelines also describe the retooling and reimbursement framework.5

Awardees are required to provide matching funds equal to 50% of total eligible project costs under the current rules.45 Before awards were announced, Michigan said it anticipated individual grants of $500,000 to $2 million and expected to make 10 to 30 awards.4 Those were pre-award planning ranges, not a disclosure of what any of the 11 named suppliers actually received.

The Sept. 2 release gives only the roughly $21 million aggregate figure for the awardees.1 It does not assign a grant amount to Barron, Hanson, Lomar or any other recipient, so the total cannot be safely divided across the 11 companies.

Why an older Michigan figure was higher

The federal funding behind the program dates to a November 2024 U.S. Department of Energy announcement that listed Michigan for $22,653,072 under the Domestic Automotive Manufacturing Conversion Grant program.6

Michigan later promoted a $31.8 million package that combined the federal allocation with $9.2 million in state matching support.7 The state’s current program page says that additional state funding was disapproved by the Michigan House Committee on Appropriations and says awardees must provide the required match themselves unless that support is restored.4

That makes the current $22.6 million figure a change in funding structure, not an unexplained gap between two versions of the same pool.47

The next useful disclosure would be recipient-level award amounts and project descriptions. As of the research check for this story, Michigan’s Sept. 2 award release and current program page did not list those details or executed grant agreements.14 Without those records, the supportable milestone is narrower: Michigan has named the 11 suppliers selected for the roughly $21 million award round, while the exact company-by-company projects and amounts remain unspecified on those reviewed state surfaces.

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Gov. Whitmer awards $21M to 11 small- and medium-sized auto suppliers — Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, Sept. 2, 2026. https://www.michigan.gov/leo/news/2026/09/02/gov-whitmer-awards-21m-to-11-small-and-medium-sized-auto-suppliers Establishes the 11 named awardees, roughly $21 million aggregate award announcement and Michigan’s stated intended uses. It does not provide individual award amounts, recipient-specific project descriptions, payment records or completed outcomes. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  2. Michigan offers $22.6M supplier conversion grants to strengthen auto supply chain — Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, Feb. 11, 2026. https://www.michigan.gov/leo/news/2026/02/11/michigan-offers-supplier-conversion-grants-to-strengthen-auto-supply-chain Establishes the February RFP stage and the $22.6 million federal-funded solicitation. ↩

  3. Supplier conversion grants deadline extended to April 28 — Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, Apr. 7, 2026. https://www.michigan.gov/leo/news/2026/04/07/supplier-conversion-grants-deadline-extended-to-april-28 Establishes the April application-deadline update and then-current reimbursement/matching requirements. ↩

  4. Michigan Supplier Conversion Grant Program — Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity / Community & Worker Economic Transition Office, current page observed Sept. 5, 2026. https://www.michigan.gov/leo/bureaus-agencies/economic-transition/michigan-supplier-conversion-grant-program Establishes the current $22.6 million federal pool, reimbursement basis, 50% matching requirement, pre-award anticipated award range, state-match history and explicit eligibility for electric, efficient hybrid, plug-in hybrid and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle supply chains. Its anticipated award range does not establish any recipient’s actual grant amount. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  5. Michigan Supplier Conversion Grant Program Overview / Guidelines — Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, 2026 application cycle. https://www.michigan.gov/leo/-/media/Project/Websites/leo/Documents/Economic-Transition/Supplier-Conversion-Grant/Supplier-Conversion-Grant-Program-Guidelines.pdf Establishes the program’s eligible retooling costs, matching structure and reimbursement framework. It predates the Sept. 2 award announcement and does not identify recipient-specific awards or projects. ↩ ↩2

  6. Biden-Harris Administration Announces Nearly $71 Million to Continue Strengthening America’s Auto Communities, Expanding Battery Recycling, and Modernizing Manufacturing — U.S. Department of Energy, Nov. 22, 2024. https://www.energy.gov/cmei/manufacturing/articles/biden-harris-administration-announces-nearly-71-million-continue Establishes Michigan’s $22,653,072 federal allocation and the federal program’s electric, hybrid and fuel-cell supply-chain scope. ↩

  7. $31.8M funding available to help Michigan automotive manufacturers stay competitive, prepare for future — Michigan Economic Development Corporation / Michigan LEO, Sept. 17, 2025. https://www.michiganbusiness.org/press-releases/2025/09/%2431.8m-funding-michigan-automotive-manufacturers/ Establishes the earlier federal-plus-state $31.8 million program framing. It is superseded as the current aggregate funding figure. ↩ ↩2