If you run a manufacturing business, you already know the strange math of the industry: you might have $400,000 in signed purchase orders and still not be able to make payroll next Friday. Raw materials have to be bought, machined, assembled, and shipped — and the invoice doesn't clear until weeks or months after the cash went out the door. For mid-sized manufacturers, that cash-to-cash cycle typically runs 60 to 90 days, and inventory alone can tie up 40–60% of annual revenue sitting on a shop floor generating zero return until it ships.
The Small Business Administration has finally built a loan product around that reality. In October 2025, the SBA launched MARC — Manufacturers' Access to Revolving Credit — its first loan program designed exclusively for manufacturers. By mid-December 2025, the agency had approved its first round of loans, delivering $3.5 million in working capital to four companies, including a $1.5 million line of credit for a welding and fabrication shop and a $250,000 facility for a porcelain enamel manufacturer.
Here's what MARC actually offers, how it compares to the SBA loans you already know, and whether it's worth a conversation with your lender.
Why the SBA Built a Manufacturing-Only Loan
Standard SBA 7(a) loans are general-purpose term loans: you borrow a lump sum, you repay it on a fixed schedule, and the underwriting assumes a fairly predictable revenue pattern. That works fine for a lot of small businesses. It works poorly for a manufacturer whose capital needs move with order volume — a big contract might mean stocking up on raw materials for 90 days before a single unit ships, followed by three quiet months where the same credit line should be nearly untouched.
Manufacturers are also getting squeezed from both directions right now. Roughly 80% of business owners report inflation-related cost increases, and about 73% say tariffs have affected their operations — both of which push companies to carry larger buffer inventories "just in case," which locks up even more cash for even longer. Add in the fact that 55% of B2B invoices in the U.S. get paid past their due date, and it's easy to see why cash flow, not profitability, is the thing that actually kills manufacturers.
MARC is the SBA's answer: a loan structured around a revolving cycle instead of a straight-line repayment schedule, aimed specifically at the 98% of manufacturers that qualify as small businesses.
How MARC Works
MARC loans are available to businesses classified under NAICS codes 31–33 — the full manufacturing sector, which includes traditional fabrication and assembly as well as food processing, breweries, wineries, distilleries, commercial bakeries, and some commercial printers. If your business has a NAICS code starting with 31, 32, or 33, you're in the eligible universe.
Borrowers can choose one of two structures, both capped at $5 million:
- Revolving structure: You draw only what you need, when you need it, for up to 10 years. At the end of that draw period, the outstanding balance converts to a fixed-rate term loan repaid over another 10 years — a 20-year maximum lifecycle.
- Term structure: You take the full amount at closing and repay it over up to 10 years, similar to a traditional loan.
A few features set MARC apart from a standard 7(a) working capital loan:
- Collateral is business assets only. MARC loans don't require a lien on your personal real estate — a real difference for owners who'd otherwise have to put a house on the line to secure working capital.
- Inventory and work-in-progress count as collateral, not just accounts receivable, which better reflects how a manufacturer's balance sheet actually looks mid-production.
- No borrowing base certificates. Traditional asset-based lines of credit often require monthly reporting on exactly which receivables and inventory back the loan. MARC uses simplified monitoring instead, cutting a real chunk of paperwork.
- Pricing runs around prime plus 3.25%, subject to the SBA's 7(a) rate caps — higher than the roughly prime-plus-2.75% typical on standard 7(a) term loans, which is the tradeoff for the flexibility and reduced collateral requirements.
- Lenders have more discretion within SBA guidelines to structure the deal, and the SBA guaranty fee runs higher in exchange for that flexibility.
Underwriting still requires demonstrating that your cash flow can service the debt within two years of the first disbursement — the SBA isn't waiving basic viability standards, just rebuilding the structure around manufacturing's actual cash cycle.
MARC vs. 7(a) vs. 504: Which One Fits
Manufacturers usually end up choosing between three SBA products, and they're not interchangeable:
| MARC | SBA 7(a) | SBA 504 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Revolving working capital | Acquisitions, refinancing, general use | Fixed assets (equipment, real estate) |
| Max amount | $5 million | $5 million | $5.5M CDC portion (no cap on total project) |
| Structure | Revolving line or term | Term loan | 50% bank / 40% CDC / 10% equity |
| Typical rate | ~Prime + 3.25% | ~Prime + 2.75% | Fixed CDC rate, ~5.5–6.5% |
| Collateral | Business assets only | Broader, often includes real estate | The financed asset itself |
| Good for | Raw materials, payroll, order cycles | One-time capital needs | CNC machines, production lines, buildings |
If you're buying a piece of capital equipment with a 15-year useful life, 504 financing at a fixed rate is almost always the better deal. If you need a one-time infusion to buy out a partner or refinance existing debt, 7(a) still fits. But if your actual problem is "I need cash to buy materials in March and I'll have paid it back by June, and then I'll need it again in September," MARC is the first SBA product actually built for that rhythm.
What to Prepare Before You Apply
MARC loans are issued through SBA-approved lenders — mostly community and regional banks so far — not directly by the SBA. Before you have that conversation, get your financial house in order:
- Clean, current financial statements. Lenders will want to see your cash flow cycle clearly, which means your books need to actually reflect the timing of raw material purchases, work-in-progress, and finished goods — not just a lump "inventory" line that hides when cash actually leaves the business.
- A clear picture of your order pipeline. Since draws are meant to track order volume, being able to show a lender "here's what I typically need to stock up for a $X order" strengthens the application.
- Two years of demonstrable cash flow, since that's the underwriting bar for debt service.
- A NAICS code that actually matches your business. Confirm yours is registered correctly — a misclassified NAICS code can knock you out of an otherwise-eligible program before the conversation even starts.
Keep Your Manufacturing Books Ready for Financing
Whether you're applying for a MARC line, a 7(a) loan, or just trying to understand your own cash-to-cash cycle, the underlying problem is the same: you can't manage what you can't see. Lenders (and you) need to know exactly how much cash is tied up in raw materials versus work-in-progress versus finished goods at any given moment — and that only shows up in your books if your chart of accounts is built to track it.
Beancount.io offers plain-text accounting that gives manufacturers full transparency into inventory, COGS, and cash flow timing — no black-box software, no vendor lock-in, and every transaction is auditable and version-controlled like code. Get started for free and see why finance-savvy business owners are switching to plain-text books.