Does the lower Power Up ETG wage threshold actually help us fund a multi-year apprenticeship program?

It lowers the bar to qualify, but the $50,000-per-company annual cap hasn't changed, so a multi-year registered apprenticeship cohort will likely need federal apprenticeship or WIOA dollars stacked on top to cover the real training spend.

Should we be paying attention to Simtra's Bloomington expansion if we're not in pharma?

Not directly, but if you supply packaging, controls, or skilled trades labor into the Bloomington life-sciences corridor, the capacity race among Simtra, PCI Pharma, and GRAM is worth tracking for subcontracting and hiring competition.

Could the EPA's tightened lead standard used in Muncie put any of our sites at risk of a cleanup order?

If your facility or a legacy site you've inherited handled lead, lead-acid batteries, or similar heavy metals before the 1990s, the 200 parts-per-million residential standard adopted in 2024 is a lower bar than most operators have planned around, worth a soil records check now.

Manufacturing News TEG Daily

November 14, 2026 · Monroe · Delaware

Power Up ETG's Indiana Wage Threshold Drops to 10%, Simtra Opens $250M Bloomington Plant, and EPA Cleans Up Muncie Lead Site

Indiana's Power Up ETG training grant wage threshold drops to 10%, Simtra opens a $250M Bloomington plant, and EPA starts a lead cleanup in Muncie this week.

Daniel BurkePublished every day

Indiana's Power Up ETG wage threshold for training reimbursement just dropped from 25% to 10%, Simtra flipped the switch on a $250 million sterile-fill building in Bloomington, and EPA crews are pulling lead out of the ground in Muncie from a battery plant that closed before most of today's plant managers were hired. Each of these lands on a different piece of your operation this week: the training grant changes who can afford to raise wages and get reimbursed, the Bloomington expansion shows where sterile-injectable capacity is being built next, and the Muncie cleanup shows how far a lowered federal lead standard reaches into a site that's sat vacant for decades.

01Monroe

Simtra Opens $250M Bloomington Expansion, Plans 18 Filling Lines by 2027

Simtra BioPharma Solutions cut the ribbon November 9 on Building H, a 153,000-square-foot addition to its Bloomington campus that cost more than $250 million. The new space holds three isolator-based sterile filling lines, including two high-speed syringe lines and a vial line fed by three freeze-dryers.

For the huddle: Do we or our customers have ADC or biologics programs that would benefit from locking in Simtra/MilliporeSigma capacity now, before the 2027 Park Campus window tightens for competitors?

SourcesSimtra opens $250 million-plus Bloomington building with three sterile filling lines (marketscale.com)

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02Statewide

Power Up ETG Cuts Indiana's Wage Threshold to 10%

Governor Mike Braun announced November 13 that Power Up Indiana is now the Power Up Employer Training Grant, and the Indiana wage threshold needed to qualify for Power Up ETG dropped from 25% to 10% for workers starting at $20 an hour or more. For a worker making $20 an hour, that's a $2-an-hour raise, the cheapest the program has required since it launched.

For the huddle: If we're running a multi-year apprenticeship cohort, does the $50,000/year Power Up ETG cap actually cover our real training spend, or do we need to stack it with federal apprenticeship or WIOA dollars to make the math work?

SourcesGov. Braun recharges Power Up Employer Training Grant to grow wages for more Hoosier workers (wbiw.com)

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03Delaware

EPA Digs Up Lead From a Muncie Battery Plant That Closed in 1984

EPA Region 5 crews began excavating lead-contaminated soil on November 12 at the former Stout Storage Battery site on West 8th Street in Muncie, along with two neighboring residential properties, with the work expected to wrap by spring. Stout made automotive lead-acid batteries there from 1968 to 1984 and discharged sulfuric-acid rinse water into unlined pits on site.

For the huddle: Do any of our current or legacy sites carry lead or chromium contamination that could now trigger EPA action under the tightened 200 ppm residential soil standard adopted in 2024?

SourcesLead Cleanup Begins at Former Indiana Battery Plant (eponline.com)

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