Prepared for lenders, CDCs, and federal agencies to SBA SOP 50 10 8, USDA 7 CFR Part 5001, and conventional underwriting standards. Fiduciary duty runs to the lender and the agency, never the borrower. 4,000+ engagements since 1998 covering $41.2 billion in evaluated project value. So far in 2026: 41 engagements and $1.54 billion evaluated — 17 SBA, 11 USDA.
Manufacturing feasibility joins market demand to production economics. The study establishes demand for the plant's output — contracted, identified, or market-derived — then tests the production model: capacity and utilization ramp, input cost structure, labor availability at the required skill level, and the capital budget against industry benchmarks. Injection-molding, extrusion, and rubber-products plants are analyzed on resin cost pass-through, tooling ownership economics, customer concentration, and press-capacity utilization that drives the margin model. Because USDA and SBA reviewers read manufacturing studies against job-creation and rural-impact criteria as well as repayment, the study documents employment, wage levels, and local economic effect to the standard the program requires.
Methodology combines industry production and pricing data, resin pricing series, RSMeans location-adjusted facility budgets, BLS occupational wage data for the staffing model, and RMA and IBISWorld operating benchmarks. The financial model carries the utilization ramp, input-cost sensitivity, and program coverage tests across the firm's standard stress discipline, with every assumption sourced.
Every Wert-Berater financial model is fully linked with no hardcoded values, so any reviewer can stress any input. Deliverables comprise a complete narrative report and the linked Excel model, with ten-year pro forma, sensitivity analysis at ±5, 10, and 15 percent, interest-rate stress from +0.5 to +3.0 percent, and ratio analysis benchmarked against RMA and IBISWorld data.
SBA engagements are prepared to SOP 50 10 8, including its debt-service-coverage minimums of 1.15x operating and 1.00x global. USDA engagements follow RD Staff Instruction 5001 across the Business & Industry, Community Facilities, REAP, and Value-Added Producer Grant programs. Conventional engagements are built to the lender's stated coverage standard, typically 1.20x. Manufacturing reaches us predominantly through USDA B&I — where rural plant economics and job creation align with program purpose — alongside SBA 504 for owner-occupied facilities and conventional lending; Value-Added Producer Grant studies are prepared to 7 CFR Part 5001 where agricultural producers integrate forward into processing.
The firm's manufacturing and processing record spans USDA B&I and SBA engagements nationwide, including cold-chain, food-system, and industrial projects; manufacturing studies are prepared with the same fully linked financial models and stress discipline as every Wert-Berater engagement. Independence is non-negotiable: determinations follow the evidence and are not revised under pressure, and studies are built to pass lender, agency, and third-party review without exception items.
Screening the industrial market before committing to a full engagement? Manufacturing Market Risk Intelligence is a report prepared by our analysts to a published structure: supply, demand and the operating conditions in one market, with coverage shown before the order is taken. It is a market risk view, not a feasibility determination on your project, and it does not replace the study described on this page.
A plastics & rubber products feasibility study covers the full arc from raw-material procurement through finished-goods delivery, because the margin in this sector is built and lost at both ends. The narrative addresses resin or compound sourcing, press or extruder capacity sizing, tooling ownership and amortization, quality-certification requirements, and the customer contract or purchase-order structure that anchors the revenue forecast. Each of those elements is tested against the financial model before a determination is issued.
Demand analysis for a plastics or rubber products plant is not a top-down market-size exercise. Reviewers at SBA and USDA treat unsupported market-share claims as a deficiency, so the study builds demand from the bottom up, starting with the plant’s actual customer base or the identifiable end-use industries it will serve.
Primary evidence is assembled first: executed supply agreements, purchase orders, letters of intent from named customers, and tolling arrangements where the plant processes customer-owned resin. Where contracted volume does not cover full utilization, the gap is filled with documented market-derived demand drawn from trade association shipment data, U.S. Census Bureau Annual Survey of Manufactures, and sector-specific trade publications that report regional consumption by product category.
Competitive-supply analysis maps existing capacity within the relevant service radius, using state business registries, EPA air-permit databases, and Dun & Bradstreet establishment records to identify operating competitors by process type—injection molding, blow molding, extrusion, or rubber compounding. Customer-concentration risk is quantified: the study states what share of projected revenue depends on any single buyer and tests coverage at the loss of that buyer. Import competition is addressed where commodity-grade product faces price pressure from offshore supply, and the plant’s differentiation basis—lead time, custom tooling, specification compliance, or proximity—is stated explicitly rather than assumed.
Four inputs move the debt-service-coverage ratio in a plastics or rubber products model more than any others. The study isolates each, states the basis for the base-case value, and runs it through the firm’s standard stress discipline so a reviewer can see exactly how much deterioration the project can absorb before coverage falls below program minimums.
SBA reviewers applying SOP 50 10 8 require a 1.15x operating coverage minimum and 1.00x global coverage. For a plastics or rubber products plant, the questions that surface most often are whether the demand basis is contracted or speculative, whether the resin cost assumption is current and sourced, and whether the utilization ramp is realistic given the plant’s customer pipeline at closing. Tooling ownership is a collateral question: customer-owned tooling that can be removed reduces liquidation value and affects the collateral analysis.
USDA Business & Industry reviewers add a rural-impact lens. The study must document job count, wage levels relative to the local median, and the plant’s economic linkage to the surrounding community. For Value-Added Producer Grant engagements, the study must demonstrate that agricultural producers are integrating forward into processing—relevant where bio-based resins or agricultural-fiber composites are part of the product line.
Conventional lenders focus on customer concentration, contract tenor, and the resin cost pass-through mechanism. A plant that cannot contractually pass input-cost increases to customers within a defined lag period carries margin risk that the model must quantify. Environmental compliance costs—air permits under Title V or state equivalents, wastewater discharge, and hazardous-waste handling for mold-release compounds—are treated as operating costs and included in the expense structure, not footnoted as contingencies.
The fee is fixed and quoted in writing within one business day of a project inquiry. No fee is contingent on the finding, and the determination is not revised because a sponsor or lender prefers a different outcome. The fixed-fee structure means the scope stated in the engagement letter is the scope delivered, without change-order exposure.
Standard delivery is 10 to 15 business days from receipt of a complete data room. For a plastics or rubber products project, a complete data room includes equipment quotes or vendor specifications, resin supplier pricing, the customer contract or letter-of-intent file, a site description with utility confirmation, and the sponsor’s historical financials where an operating company is involved. Incomplete submissions extend the clock; the engagement letter identifies every required item so sponsors can assemble the file before the engagement opens.
Rush delivery is available for time-sensitive credit decisions. Every engagement is published to a secure client portal where the linked Excel model stays live: when a reviewer changes an input—resin price, utilization rate, interest rate—every output recalculates instantly. There are no hardcoded values. The portal record also holds the bound narrative, the sensitivity tables, and the ratio analysis benchmarked against RMA and IBISWorld data, giving the credit file a single organized location for all study materials through the underwriting and agency-review process.
The fee is fixed and quoted in writing within one business day of inquiry. It does not vary with the finding, and no portion is contingent on loan approval. Because scope, data complexity, and program requirements differ by project, the firm quotes each engagement individually rather than publishing a schedule. Contact the firm with a project summary to receive a written quote.
Standard delivery is 10 to 15 business days from receipt of a complete data room. A complete submission for a plastics or rubber plant includes equipment specifications, resin supplier pricing, customer contracts or letters of intent, site and utility confirmation, and sponsor financials. Incomplete data rooms extend the clock. Rush delivery is available when the credit timeline requires it.
Three factors create underwriting difficulty specific to this sector: resin feedstock prices are tied to petroleum markets and can move sharply within a project’s ramp period; customer-concentration risk is often high because molding and extrusion plants frequently depend on one or two anchor buyers; and tooling ownership determines both per-part economics and collateral value in ways that generic manufacturing models do not capture. A credible study addresses all three explicitly.
Reviewers at SBA and USDA treat unsupported market-share projections as a deficiency. The study requires a documented demand basis—executed contracts, purchase orders, or letters of intent—for as much projected volume as possible. Market-derived demand fills the gap where contracted volume falls short of full utilization, supported by trade association shipment data, Census Bureau manufacturing surveys, and competitive-supply analysis by process type and geography.
The study addresses environmental compliance as an operating cost item, not a footnote. Air-permit obligations under Title V or applicable state programs, wastewater discharge requirements, and hazardous-waste handling costs for mold-release compounds and process chemicals are identified and carried in the expense model. The study does not serve as a permit application or legal opinion, but it does not ignore regulatory cost exposure that affects coverage.
Yes. Where a project pursues multiple program sources—for example, SBA 504 for owner-occupied real estate alongside USDA Business & Industry for working capital or equipment—the study is structured to satisfy both SOP 50 10 8 and 7 CFR Part 5001 simultaneously. Coverage tests, job-creation documentation, and rural-impact analysis are all included in a single engagement, avoiding the cost and delay of commissioning separate studies for each program.
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Wert-Berater, Inc. is an independent provider of feasibility studies and other related services. The firm does not provide financing or equity investment advice, and does not arrange, broker, or place debt or equity capital of any kind.
All appraisal assignments are performed by Bruce E. Jones, MAI, ASA-GC, BCA, CMEA, a member of the Appraisal Institute since 2006, a staff member of Wert-Berater, Inc. and owner of Special Purpose Realty Valuation.