Your manufacturing business is growing — contracts are coming in, the production floor is running, and you need working capital to fund the gap between raw materials and customer payment. The problem: your bank offers a revolving line of credit, but the collateral requirements are tight, the limit is too low, and the terms don't match how your business actually operates. The SBA MARC (Manufacturing Access to Revolving Capital) loan program was designed specifically for this problem. It provides manufacturers with up to $5M in revolving working capital at SBA 7(a) rates — with underwriting built around how manufacturing businesses actually generate and consume cash, not how a retail business does. This guide explains who qualifies, how the revolving structure works, and how to stack MARC with SBA 504 and conventional debt to build a complete capital solution.
1What the SBA MARC Program Is — And Why It Exists
The SBA MARC program is a specialized revolving credit facility under the SBA 7(a) umbrella, designed exclusively for manufacturers — businesses with NAICS codes 31–33. It exists because manufacturing businesses have a fundamentally different cash flow cycle than service businesses, and traditional revolving credit products don't fit that cycle well.
A manufacturer takes on a contract, purchases raw materials, runs production, delivers the product, and waits 30–90 days for payment. During that cycle, cash is tied up in inventory and work-in-progress — not available for the next contract. A revolving line of credit that's secured by accounts receivable alone misses the inventory component entirely. MARC is structured to cover both.
MARC vs Standard SBA 7(a) Working Capital
A standard SBA 7(a) working capital loan is a term loan — you borrow a fixed amount and repay it on a schedule. MARC is a revolving facility — you draw when you need capital, repay when contracts pay, and draw again for the next contract. For manufacturers with cyclical cash flow, the revolving structure is dramatically more efficient than a term loan.
The Bottom Line
The SBA MARC program exists because the SBA recognized that manufacturers have a fundamentally different capital need than service businesses — and that standard revolving credit products don’t serve that need well. If your manufacturing business is growing, winning contracts, and running into cash flow gaps between raw material purchases and customer payments, MARC is the tool designed for exactly that problem. Stack it with SBA 504 equipment financing, and you have a complete capital solution: long-term fixed-rate debt for the equipment that drives production, and flexible revolving capital for the working capital that keeps production running. That's the difference between a manufacturer who grows with capital and one who grows despite the lack of it.