I recently served on a manufacturing panel speaking to a Leadership Rockford class, a program sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and attended by working adults. When I asked the question “how many of you think manufacturing is dying”, about half the class of 28 raised their hands.
To explain part of the reasons for reduced employment in manufacturing, the principal of productivity was explained; if a company keeps improving their operations by 3-4% per year, as reported by the Dept. of Commerce, employment would be reduced by almost 50% after 20 years. Of course that assumes the amount of work remains constant. Yes, there has been outsourcing, but productivity has contributed more than we think.
Asking if they knew the size of the Winnebago and Boone counties manufacturing base, I explained that we employ 30,000 people in manufacturing. They earn an average of $30,000 per year and that means almost $1 trillion is earned in wages alone! 20% of the area workforce is employed in manufacturing making Winnebago County the second largest manufacturing county in the U.S. Reasonable support ratios would add another 30,000 that depend on this sector.
My next point was the birth and growth of the Eigerlab and the new businesses that have been born here; Super FabLab Rapid Prototyping, Micro Machining, B/E Aerospace; the 32 occupants that reside there and their collective efforts to create and develop the new businesses with a focus on technology oriented companies. TechWorks, Entrepreneurship Center, and Alion Science were among the other occupants that contribute to its success.
Related posts:
Anyone can slant a story to make it look like things are great but the truth is there are less jobs in Rockford today than there were 10 years ago. The opportunities are substancially lower. I have worked for three major machine shops in the Rockford area and all of them are closed now. People are working a lot harder and recieving less for thier work. Less benifits, less pay and poorer working conditions. Manufacturing is DYING its pratically on it’s last breath here in Rockford.
Al, you are wrong. Manufacturing is dying EVERYWHERE in this country.