Regions move to boost manufactruing Sunday, February 23, 2003 The popular press thinks manufacturing is a dying industry. That's both an ignorant and a dangerous view. Ignorant, because manufacturing has been a major source of productivity improvement in our economy. Dangerous, because we are ignoring a potential source of competitive strength for the future. So that's why it's good to see Rockford, IL pushing forward with a new manufacturing research center. The Rockford Regional Manufacturing Technology Research and Development Center will strengthen existing companies, encourage the creation of start-up firms and conduct applied research in new manufacturing methods. Promoters hope to land $13 million in start-up funding from the federal government. Learn more. Over in Pittsburgh, a group is focusing on education for manufacturing engineering. The Partnership for Regional Innovation in Manufacturing Education includes five college partners and about a dozen industry partners. The target are higher-end manufacturing jobs with a starting salary of about $46,000. The market is there. Duquesne University estimates that 1,300 manufacturing jobs at various skill levels remain unfilled in the nine-county Pittsburgh area. Any community with a significant manufacturing base (anything over 15% of total employment), should be looking at workforce development issues among manufacturing firms. As a rule of thumb, each year, you will be losing about 3% of your manufacturing employees to retirements. In some high skilled occupations, the loses will be even higher. posted by Ed Morrison |		This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. links Some Background on EDPro Weblog The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it. One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information. So, spread the word...Share the knowledge. Tell a friend about EDPro Weblog. If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site: Here's the link if you are a bloglines subscriber: Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking. Background on Ed Morrison Download some background information on me here.

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