"The Manufacturing 21 Coalition has made a real difference. Having a dynamic and committed industry group has made it easier for WSI to understand the training needs of manufacturing employers."
~Andrew McGough
WorkSystems, Inc.

Investing In Our Industry and The Region’s Future

 

More than 80 businesses, labor, education, public agencies and training providers, as well as local workforce development boards, are members of the Manufacturing 21 Coalition.

 

Coalition members manufacture metal products and focus on infrastructure engineering, such as roads and bridges. MFG 21 investors include companies such as The Boeing Company, Silver Eagle, Freightliner Group, Medford Fabrication, Oregon Recreational Vehicle Manufacturers Consortium, Oregon Steel, PCC Structurals and many others.


Investors in the Manufacturing 21 Coalition get:

 

A seat at the table with the architects of our industry’s future:

 

Coalition members are confronting directly the barriers to growth of manufacturing in the Northwest. Today, members are creating the institutions, investments and relationships that will sustain tomorrow’s research and design, workforce education and capital investments. MFG 21 has established itself as a forward-thinking, credible voice of the industry. We’ve built a solid foundation for our work. Our growing influence increases the reach of our Coalition.

 

A change to affect public policy and target public investments:

Participation in our work is not a charitable or philanthropic exercise.  Participation in Manufacturing 21 is an investment in durable prosperity for manufacturing in Oregon and Southwest Washington.  

The coalition sees itself as a portfolio manager, using its collective voice and influence to create and manage portfolios of activity and resources for the benefit of our industry, workers and our communities. This investment portfolio approach has yielded big results with more to come:  

  • The U.S. Defense Department has granted MFG 21 $1.1 million to invest in advanced technology and workforce training programs;
  • Oregon’s Innovation Council placed manufacturing in the state’s Innovation Roadmap, and the legislature allocated nearly $2.9 million for investment in new faculty, equipment and research to support the needs of our industry;
  • MFG 21 members will help guide the investment of $1.75 million from the federal government to workforce training programs in Washington and Multnomah Counties; and
  • Manufacturing is a target industry for a $5 million Department of Labor WIRED grant to 8 counties in northern Oregon.  MFG 21 has a chair on the grant’s steering committee and will play a key role in determining how the grant will be used to transform the delivery of training services to our companies and employees.


A chance to be heard:

 

MFG 21 investors have a unique opportunity to speak from the floors of our factories and be heard in the chambers of Salem and Olympia, in Congress, in the popular press and in every planning room considering the future of business in our region.

 

Become a Manufacturing 21 Coalition member. Please contact us or call Norm Eder at (503) 802-4101.