USDA Meat and Poultry Processing Grants: Funding Equipment for Plant Expansion
Grant money for meat and poultry processing has been the most accessible federal funding in food manufacturing for several years, and it keeps coming…
FSMA 204 Traceability by July 2028: What Food Processors Should Automate Now
FSMA 204, the FDA’s Food Traceability Rule, requires anyone who manufactures, processes, packs or holds a food on the Food Traceability List to assign traceability lot codes,….
Automation ROI After Tax: How 100% Expensing Changes Payback on a Robotic Line
Most automation business cases stop at simple payback: divide the project cost by the annual saving and present the number of years. It is easy to follow and it is also the…
How to Finance a Packaging Line: SBA Loans, Leasing and Tax Timing
Most plants decide what they want on the packaging floor long before they decide how to pay for it. That order is backwards, because the funding route changes…
SBA 504 and 7(a) Loans for Manufacturing Equipment: 2026 Limits and Manufacturer Perks
Small manufacturers have had a better year at the SBA than almost anyone else. Fees waived, a new credit line built specifically for them, a higher guarantee,…
Qualified Production Property: 100% Expensing for New Factory Buildings Explained
Until last year, a new plant building was one of the slowest assets on the books. Nonresidential real property is depreciated over 39 years, so a $20 million facility…
Section 179 vs Bonus Depreciation: Which Is Better for a New Production Line?
This question usually comes up once a capital request has been approved and someone in finance asks how the deduction will actually be claimed. Both provisions can…
Bonus Depreciation Is 100% Again in 2026: What Manufacturers Need to Know
Search for bonus depreciation and you will still find pages telling you the rate for 2026 is 20%. Those pages were written under the old schedule and never updated,…
Section 179 for Industrial Automation: How to Expense a Packaging or Processing Line in 2026
A plant manager signs off on a bagging line in March, the equipment lands in October, and commissioning slips into the first week of January. That one slip moves….
Tax Incentives and Financing for Manufacturing Equipment in 2026: A Guide for US Plants
A new processing or packaging line is usually the largest check a plant writes in a given year, and the way it is funded changes the real cost by a wide margin….