We have wrapped up another successful Manufacturing Month! We had 26 organizations and 16 sponsors participate in Central Minnesota’s virtual magazine, which highlight in-person and virtual tours offered during the month of October and throughout the year. All funds raised by the magazine are used to market Manufacturing Month and career opportunities in manufacturing through geo-targeted advertising, billboards, radio ads, social media marketing, as well as developing Career and Technical Education (CTE) Scholarships for schools and strengthening career pathway opportunities for youth interested in manufacturing.
 
High schools who participated in the Tour of Manufacturing by visiting one of the manufacturers highlighted in the virtual magazine during October were entered into the CMMA CTE Scholarship drawing for a chance to win $1,000 or one of the two $500 giveaways to the school to enhance their manufacturing program. Drawing will be at our CTE Jamboree event on November 17.
 
The CTE Jamboree is an effort to bridge the gap between education and the manufacturing industry as we build stronger career pathways by developing student training and apprenticeship opportunities through pathways for high school students. We invite school board members, superintendents, principals, counselors, CTE Teachers, manufacturers, and community leaders to hear about the thriving CTE initiatives in our state. The format will allow local manufacturers and educators to interact and vision programs to expand on the CTE focus that is taking place in education right now. Tours of the St. Michael-Albertville (STMA) school and of Advanced Volumetric Alliance (AVA) of will also be available.
 
We also had several fun events throughout the region, including Chisago County who did a Career Exploration Day for all the schools in their county. High school students visited several manufacturers, as well as stopped into the Split Rocks Entertainment Center for a hands-on career fair. Pine Technical Community College also did a similar event with several high schools. Ridgewater College in Willmar and Hutchinson offered tours of their colleges to attract student interest. Kandiyohi, Renville, Meeker, and McLeod counties worked together to each take one week during October highlight their manufacturers during in their region. CareerForce in St. Cloud offered a Manufacturing-focused career fair. Many chambers, communities and businesses also offered special tours, luncheons, and activities to their employees, their families, and to the public during Manufacturing Month. Louis Industries in Paynesville also hosted the CMMA membership meeting in October, which had over 70 people in attendance to see their new expansion.    
 
We ended the month with an inspiring virtual roundtable event facilitated by Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development Commissioner, Steve Grove, and featured manufacturing industry leaders and manufacturing organizations from across the state. The virtual event, hosted by DEED Commissioner Steve Grove, highlighted the critical importance of manufacturing to Minnesota’s economy. It was also a great opportunity to hear from manufacturing industry leaders from across the state.
 
During the roundtable discussion, Lance Louis, president and CEO of Louis Industries and vice president of the Central Minnesota Manufacturers Association, said youth apprenticeship programs have been hugely successful for his company and that two of his key staff came up through the ranks after starting as youth apprentices. But a challenge is keeping more of the workers they train.
 
“With a lot of these training programs, us as employers are putting a tremendous amount of resources into training people – for the youth apprenticeship, 50 hours of safety training and 700 hours of youth skills programs – then they leave to go down to metro area for better pay,” said Louis, who is also a member of the Governor’s Workforce Development Board. “I think we need to take a hard look at, how do we keep these people on the job site with the employers that are spending the time and effort training them.”
 
Les Engel, owner of Engel Metallurgical in Sauk Rapids and president of the Central Minnesota Manufacturers Association, said every manufacturer he talks to is facing the same challenges finding workers with the necessary skills. "If we can figure out a way for people to get this basic training then when they show up they have a chance to be hired,” he said.
 
We hope Manufacturing Month assists with educating the public about the successful career opportunities available in manufacturing.
 
Governor Tim Walz proclaimed October as Manufacturing Month because manufacturing is the backbone of Minnesota’s economy:

• Manufacturing accounted for $56 billion or 14% of the state’s gross domestic product and provided more than 310,000 jobs or 11.3% of statewide employment in 2021.
• Workers took home $23.4 billion in wages from Minnesota manufacturing jobs in 2021, the second-largest total payroll among private sector industries. Average annual wages for workers in manufacturing are $74,630, 10% higher than across all industries in Minnesota.
• Demand for manufacturing workers is strong – and competition for workers is intense because of our current historically tight labor market. From September 2021 to September 2022, manufacturing posted 15,937 additional jobs in Minnesota, up 5.1% over the year, compared to 3.7% nationally. Demand for manufacturing workers is projected to remain strong: Minnesota is expected to have more than 75,000 job openings for manufacturing production positions alone through 2030.