SME North Bay - Chapter 431

Here’s a video that provides an overview of manufacturing in the SF North Bay area and was previewed at the North Bay Business Journal / 101MFG Manufacturing Awards, held at Sonoma Mt. Village in July.

In it, Dick Herman, President of 101MFG provides an overview of Northern California manufacturing, with a focus on “the next generation” jobs and skills. Companies featured include Raydiance, Labcon North America, Triformix, Agilent Technologies, and Berkeley National Labs.

Dan Sunia, SME North Bay member, is also featured and was instrumental in getting this video made. 

The video is 9 1/2 minutes long. Enjoy!

Here’s the summary of a report just released from The Manufacturing Institute (NAM) and Deloitte on the public perception of manufacturing.

“Americans maintain remarkably consistent views on the importance of manufacturing despite year after year of economic turbulence, according to a new survey from Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute, with 86 percent of respondents believing that America’s manufacturing base is “important” or “very important” to their standard of living.

The “Public Viewpoint on Manufacturing” survey, now in its third year, polled a nationally representative sample of 1,000 Americans in August across all 50 states. With a margin of error for the entire sample of +/- three percentage points, the survey confirms Americans clearly value a strong manufacturing sector.

Most notably, when respondents were asked if they could create 1,000 new jobs in their community with any new facility, they ranked manufacturing at the top of the list – ahead of energy production facilities, technology development centers, retail centers, banks or financial institutions and a host of others. Moreover, 79 percent of survey respondents say a strong manufacturing base should be a national priority.

“There is an unfortunate disconnect, however, between respondents wanting manufacturing jobs in their community and pursuing those very job opportunities for themselves,” said Emily Stover DeRocco, president, The Manufacturing Institute. “Survey results reveal that only one-third of parents would encourage their child to go into manufacturing, which translates into a major workforce pipeline issue. This, in turn, becomes a U.S. manufacturing competitiveness issue because we know that an educated and skilled 21st century workforce is the most important factor behind innovation and business success. As the industry faces major ‘boomer’ retirements, a shortage in the supply of new talent will directly impact a company’s ability to thrive and expand in the global economy.”"

Read the full report HERE.