(Left to right:) Haven Allen, Scott E. Miller, Kelly O’Brien, Peter Cunningham.
On April 29, the Alliance joined with Manufacturing Renaissance and the Chicago Federation of Labor to co-sponsor “Strengthening Manufacturing for the Entire Community”. The high-level panel discussion examined challenges and opportunities to creating a comprehensive manufacturing policy in the Chicago area and included a keynote presentation by Peter Marsh, former Financial Times Manufacturing Editor, and expert panels from the industry and policy sectors. Alliance President & CEO Kelly O’Brien and Scott E. Miller, Illinois Manufacturing Lab Interim Director and Innovation Working Team member, participated on the policy panel, which was moderated by Peter Cunningham, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education.
Among the topics discussed was the importance of supporting niche activity, sharing new technology with small manufacturers, adopting virtual manufacturing processes, and coordinating workforce training across all sectors. The region was identified as a major production zone with a nationally prominent cluster of service and resource companies available to meet the needs of manufacturers. Strong competition among employers for technically skilled workers, often resulting in higher salaries, was noted.
However cross-jurisdictional fragmentation makes it difficult for stakeholders to conceive of the full scope of the region’s strengths in manufacturing. In her comments, O’Brien underscored the Alliance’s role as a regional convener, and noted the potential economic benefit of overcoming fragmentation through coordination and marketing the region with a unified voice.