Open-door policy missing for manufacturers

On Oct. 6 at the Gov. William A. O”™Neill State Armory in Hartford, the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology (CCAT) throws open the doors to a daylong “Manufacturing Mania” event, envisioned as “a celebration of all that is Connecticut made,” in CCAT”™s words.

Between then and the close of “Manufacturing Month” in Connecticut, the question is how many manufacturers will open their own doors.

With a week to go in September, only a small handful of companies have taken CCAT up on its request for companies to “open their doors and tell their story” to kindle the interest of young people in pursuing careers in advanced manufacturing.

While the Bridgeport Regional Business Council has been hosting tours of local manufacturers of late, and with politicians regular visitors to area factory floors, few companies signed up immediately for the month-long Connecticut “Dream!t Do!t” initiative by CCAT, derived from a national program sponsored by the Manufacturing Institute affiliate of the National Association of Manufacturers.

Advocacy groups countrywide are marking Oct. 5 as “National Manufacturing Day,” leading into the Oct. 6 event at the state armory.

The Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA) wraps up the month”™s activities with a manufacturing policy forum scheduled for Oct. 30, which CBIA hopes will set the stage for the coming legislative session.

While United Technologies Corp. (UTC) is offering up multiple exhibits at the state armory, UTC as of late September was not offering any tours of its facilities, but was hardly alone on that front, with just a few of Connecticut”™s 4,800 manufacturers doing so, and as of press deadline, none in Fairfield County.

Connecticut manufacturers employed 165,000 people as of August, with the sector having shed 1,800 jobs in the past year and nearly 44,000 jobs over the past decade. If that latter figure represents a disconcerting 21 percent drop, Connecticut is in far better shape than Massachusetts, which has suffered a 38 percent fall over the past decade in its manufacturing employment base; New York, which has seen a 31 percent decline; and New Jersey, which has 30 percent fewer manufacturing jobs today.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, manufacturers nationally saw revenue increase 2 percent from a year ago, but profits are down 3 percent.

In Connecticut, federal and state legislators have redoubled their efforts to spur the sector here, with U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro backing “manufacturing reinvestment accounts” that would allow companies to stash cash on a reduced tax rate against future capital expenditures, U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy promoting “buy American” legislation in Congress, and members of the Connecticut General Assembly forming a legislative manufacturing caucus in part to help companies find trained workers.

That is the mission of CONNSTEP, which provides training and consulting services for manufacturers on an ongoing basis. The nonprofit is supported by the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, and is connected to the national network of Manufacturing Extension Partnership programs organized by the U.S. Department of Commerce”™s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

On a new Made in CT website, CONNSTEP will highlight the state”™s manufacturing industry and “celebrate the companies who continue to make it in Connecticut,” in its words. The initiative is not related to a separate Made in Connecticut Guild.

NIST has its own “Make it in America” program, weekly highlighting a “manufacturer of the week.” To date, six New York companies and two from New Jersey have been featured, but none from Connecticut and just one from New England, in Maine.