Welcome spring! This cold and long season of snow and ice has tested us, and we’ve made it through to grow and prosper in the warmth again. Same too with CMMA, we’ve traveled to membership meetings in early and brisk morning darkness to gather and be rewarded and warmed by comradery and knowledge.

We’re on point as we continue our core work of educating our members, developing our workforce, and advocating for our industry. We’re working hard to continue to provide you with many quality opportunities to realize genuine value in and return on your membership investment in CMMA. Our convenient web-based Workforce Development and Marketing for Manufacturers series have provided expertise, insight, and actionable ideas.

We’re very happy to safely move beyond the Covid restraints that limited our ability to convene. It’s been great to reconnect, renew, and create synergy that can only be found when like minds are together. We’ll continue our combination of online and in-person meeting options to offer the best opportunity to you, our valued members. Our next breakfast meeting is May 25 in New London with a presentation on Youth programs/Operation Exploration Camps and Incumbent Workers and Business Services by Career Solutions, and Central Minnesota Jobs and Training Services. A tour of Dahmes Stainless, Inc., will follow.  Register today.

MMA (a nonprofit organization created to serve as the “central office” for associations and trade groups focused on manufacturing including CMMA) Executive Director Rachel Lolmasteymaugh spent the morning of April 13 advocating for manufacturers at the Minnesota State Capitol. She met with the Minnesota Manufacturing Coalition and then attended the MN Chamber’s Business Day at the Capitol. Lolmasteymaugh met with Minnesota Senators and Representatives and discussed current legislation affecting manufacturers, including corporate tax rates, and SF2 / HF2, the proposed mandatory 24-week paid leave for all MN employees.

Much thanks to CMMA member riteSOFT, a warehouse management and time tracking software company, for your contribution to empower our thriving organization to become even better by helping to keep operations smart, simple, and seamless!

Congratulations to all our area school robotics teams for your successful seasons. We’re excited for the future of these teams, their students, and the energy that you will bring to our industry. CMMA is a strong supporter of STEM in our schools, as we invest in our future.

Our annual golf social, our largest fund raising event, is scheduled for June 13. As always, these funds are exclusively reinvested and deployed in workforce development initiatives that support our organizational goals. Plan now to attend, let’s have some fun for a good cause! We’ll also bestow our annual Member and Collaborator of the Year awards!

Our expanded K12 Navigator career exploration tool is fully functioning as a platform of connectivity for students and those that teach, influence, and guide them. Be a part of this innovative center of development!      

Thank you one and all for being a part of our group as together we are better. I look forward to seeing you at our meetings or perhaps on the golf course at our fundraiser coming soon!

At CMMA, we know that growth and innovation can rarely be maximized by one company, one service organization, or even one industry going it alone. We’re solid, growing, and achieving our goals together!

In Service, Les Engel CMMA President