Leaders, Students Celebrate National Manufacturing Day

October 5, 2013

In honor of National Manufacturing Day, the Greater Pensacola Chamber hosted a breakfast at the General Electric (GE) renewable energy wind manufacturing plant to recognize the manufacturing industry within our local economy.

The recently formed Northwest Florida Manufacturers Council also coordinated an opportunity for local students, including a group from Northview High School, to visit a variety of manufacturing plants in Northwest Florida to introduce to them the wide range of manufacturers in our area, as well as the types of careers and opportunities that are available.

The students visited Ascend Performance Materials, Gulf Power Company’s Plant Crist, General Electric, Marianna Airmotive, and International Paper in Escambia County and Santa Rosa County’s Taminco.

“Greater Pensacola provides an outstanding physical infrastructure to support advanced manufacturers,” said Gary Huston, chairman of the Chamber’s Board of Directors. “With more than 850 traditional and advanced technology manufacturing companies and more than 14,000 employees who currently work in the industry, Northwest Florida has the transportation infrastructure, educational institutions and skilled workforce needed to support diverse manufacturing projects.”

National Manufacturing Day addresses common misconceptions by giving those in the industry an opportunity to open their doors and show what manufacturing is — and what it isn’t. The manufacturing industry in Northwest Florida Economy generates $985 million annually in total earnings and indirectly adds an additional 17,000+ jobs to the local economy. It also has a higher economic impact per job generated than any other industry supercluster in our region.

“Northwest Florida offers a manufacturing job for every education level, from high-school graduates to those with industry-related certifications,” said Scott Luth, the chamber’s Senior Vice President for Economic Development. “Our high schools have developed career academies that are designed to teach students the critical skills they need in order to enter the manufacturing field and, together with our educational institutions, will help jobseekers earn industry certifications that make them immediately employable.”

Comments

4 Responses to “Leaders, Students Celebrate National Manufacturing Day”

  1. Frank on October 5th, 2013 1:20 pm

    ps… NUMBER WAS 14,000 WITH 17,000 INDIRECT

  2. Frank on October 5th, 2013 1:17 pm

    Jane, NOT that I disagree with your comments… BUT where did you get comparable numbers? You did read LOCAL? are you comparing all of Alabama & all of GA? Just saying :-0

  3. Jane on October 5th, 2013 4:04 am

    By very few jobs, I mean in comparison with Alabama or even Georgia. 17,000 jobs, compared to 170,000 jobs.

  4. Jane on October 5th, 2013 4:02 am

    Our schools turn out people who are educated and can work in manufacturing. Then they move to other states or other parts of Florida because there are very few manufacturing jobs here. Maybe the County Commissioners need to read this article!