Manufacturers across Southeastern Pennsylvania will have the chance to
take the recession–and their futures–into their own hands thanks to
the nationwide Next Generation Manufacturing Study thats being
conducted locally by the Delaware Valley Industrial Resource Center
(DVIRC).
It’s a proactive measure, says Mark Basla, Vice President of Marketing and Development for the DVIRC, a 20-year old economic development organization that serves about 5,000 small to mid-sized advance manufacturing enterprises in the Philadelphia five-county area.
“I don’t think we have enough support and system recalibaration going on,” says Basla. “We need to focus on these things. Were at a point where we have to reinvent ourselves and its going to take systemic changes.”
The study asks manufacturers to rank their progress against the world-class performance benchmarks of Next Generation Manufacturing, a framework of strategies that aims to drive growth and profitability in six key areas: customer-focused innovation, systemic continuous improvement, advanced talent management, global engagement, extended enterprise management and sustainable products and processes.
There’s plenty at stake locally and statewide. According to Basla, manufacturing is the largest contributor (15 percent) to the Commonwealth’s gross state product, of which Greater Philadelphia makes up roughly one-third. Pennsylvania ranks fourth for total manufacturing value-added and fifth in the nation in manufacturing employment (658,999 jobs), while area manufacturing employees earn more than $60,000 annually, well above the state average.
With roughly four times the population and cheap labor, China and India have a big head start in churning out more innovators and more products. Basla called for more funding for “STEM”–science, technology, engineering, and math–education.
“What we need to do is manufacture higher value items using more innovation,” Basla says. “We need to compete with products and services that have a greater value proposition that’s not easily duplicated by competitors.”
One benefit for participating companies is the ability to create a customized report that ranks them against other respondents statewide and nationally. Ultimately, the DVIRC and its six regional partners throughout the state will look to put the results in front of the team that succeeds the Rendell administration to paint a clear picture of what the sector can contribute and what it needs.
Basla also noted that regional clusters of manufacturers in Southeastern Pennsylvania, like pharamaceuticals and rotorcraft industries, could benefit from working together.
“To me thats an interesting area, one that could elevate us all,” he says.
The Next Generation Manufacturing Study questionnaire can be accessed here.
Source: Mark Basla, Vice President for Marketing and Development of the Delaware Valley Industrial Resource Center
Writer: Joe Petrucci
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