The initiative, approved May 14, builds upon the New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program’s current Educational Resource Directory and seeks to provide additional resources and information to foster the growth of manufacturing companies.

The legislation, signed into law on Friday, reduces taxes on metal manufacturers, eliminating the tax on sand, binders, washes and other material used in the manufacturing process.

The Jersey City-based company has acquired Butler-Dearden, a distributor of packaging supplies, printer paper, chemicals and janitorial supplies, serving the New England area.

The Sign Fabrication Safety Quality Assurance Act will require a person who manufactures, distributes or sells fabricated signs in New Jersey to provide an approved training program for employees who perform manual labor in connection with the production of fabricated signs.

NJMEP will use the funding to train 20 students and one teacher in the Manufacturing Skill Standards Council Certified Logistics Associate Program at the Donald M. Payne School of Technology in Newark.

The water purification products manufacturer is expected to bring hundreds of jobs to the area.

Trying to attract high school students into manufacturing is a common problem among New Jersey businesses. This Somerset-based contract manufacturer of medical device components is taking matters into its own corporate hands.

The fashion and retail supply chain platform provider will use the funds to accelerate go-to-market execution and product innovation, in addition to continuing to expand its network of designers, materials suppliers and factories.

For more than 50 years, a company with a Parsippany manufacturing facility has been producing a line of environmentally friendly household cleaners and other products under the ECOS brand. “We’ve been focused on creating safer, cleaning products since the company began in 1967 ... We are green because it’s really part of our DNA.”

Jersey City's Imperial Dade acquired N.Y.-based Edmar Cleaning Corp., a tri-sate distributor of paper, plastic, chemicals and janitorial supplies.

By the end of the year, 50 percent of the plastic used in Unilever North American packaging will come from post-consumer recycled content.