The Indiana Manufacturers Association is pulling three levers in 2026 that directly touch your legal costs, your talent pipeline, and your after-tax investment dollars — and if you're not tracking all three, the decisions that follow will catch you off guard when it's too late to adjust.

Watch this TEG Daily on YouTube: TEG Daily — IMA Tort Reform, Workforce Training, and Tax Policy for Indiana Manufacturers

Indiana Manufacturers Association Backs Civil and Tort Law Reform

On January 5th, 2026, the IMA and other Indiana business groups formed a new nonprofit with a single mandate: advocate for comprehensive civil and tort law reforms across the state. When business groups create a separate entity just to work on one set of laws, that usually signals multiple legislative sessions of sustained effort — not a one-time press release.

For your operation, a more stable civil system can mean fewer borderline disputes turning into full-blown lawsuits that pull your leadership team into depositions instead of keeping them on the production floor. It can also mean better insurance pricing over time, because carriers price against uncertainty, and a more predictable legal environment in Indiana is a legitimate factor when your board compares capital deployment here against neighboring states.

Watch the 2026 and 2027 legislative sessions for specific bills backed by this nonprofit, and track IMA statements as they report progress or roadblocks.

IMA and Indiana Tech Expand Workforce Training for Manufacturers

Back on October 17th, 2025, the IMA announced a collaboration with Indiana Tech to deliver structured courses, certifications, and manufacturing-focused training programs directly to employees at member companies. The framing matters here: these aren't generic corporate development courses. They're built with the shop floor in mind — maintenance, automation, quality, frontline leadership.

For your facility, this creates a concrete pathway to upskill existing employees instead of trying to hire your way out of skill gaps that the labor market isn't filling anyway. Employees who see a real development track are less likely to leave for a small hourly bump somewhere else. And when you're rolling out new equipment or processes, a workforce that's been trained on the fundamentals first means less disruption during the transition.

Watch for specific program announcements through 2026 and match them to your actual gaps — not the most popular programs, the ones that map to where your operation is exposed right now.

IMA Backs One Big Beautiful Bill Act Tax Provisions

On July 11th, 2025, the IMA issued a statement supporting the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and highlighted its pro-growth tax provisions as important for Indiana manufacturers. Their position: these changes make Indiana a more attractive place to invest and expand.

For your operation, the direct question is whether these provisions change the math on any capital projects you already have in the queue. Pro-growth tax provisions can affect how much cash you keep after profits, when it makes financial sense to pull forward a purchase versus delay it, and how deductions or credits line up with your specific spending timeline. If neighboring states become meaningfully less favorable by comparison, that's a real factor in where your next line, facility, or major equipment purchase lands.

Track how the Act's provisions are implemented through 2026 and how economic guidance from the state describes their impact on manufacturing investment.

Questions for Your Morning Huddle

Q: What legal risks and insurance costs tied to civil and tort exposure are hitting us hardest today? A: Pull your legal and insurance spend with your finance or legal team and tag what's specifically tied to civil and tort exposure. If IMA-backed reforms move through the 2026-2027 legislative sessions, you need a baseline now to recognize actual savings later — otherwise the benefit is invisible.

Q: Which IMA-Indiana Tech training programs match our current workforce gaps, and what does our enrollment process need to look like? A: Identify your top two or three real gaps — maintenance, automation, quality, frontline leadership — then watch for program announcements that match. Build a simple internal enrollment process before demand from your employees exceeds what your HR team can handle reactively.

Q: Given the One Big Beautiful Bill Act's tax provisions, do we need to adjust the timing or scale of any planned capital expenditures? A: Review your current project list with your CFO and model the tax impact of pulling investments forward or pushing them back. If the provisions change the net cost of a major equipment purchase or facility upgrade, the best time to find that out is before the budget is already committed.

Watch this TEG Daily on YouTube: TEG Daily — IMA Tort Reform, Workforce Training, and Tax Policy for Indiana Manufacturers

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