The co-producers of Manufacturing Day are pleased to announce the recognition received today from the White House regarding the role that this national grassroots event plays in informing tomorrow's workforce about careers.

U.S. manufacturing is central to the foundation of our economy, and the U.S. manufacturing sector is as competitive as it has been in decades for new jobs and investment. Since February 2010, U.S. manufacturing has added more than 700,000 jobs, the fastest pace of job growth since the 1990s. Today, to continue to build on this momentum, the President unveiled new executive actions to strengthen U.S. advanced manufacturing, spur innovation, and continue to take steps to make the U.S. a magnet for new jobs and investment. At an event this afternoon, the President thanked the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) Steering Committee, a working group of the President’s Council of Advisors in Science and Technology, for their efforts to develop advanced manufacturing across the U.S. The final AMP, Accelerating U.S. Advanced Manufacturing, is now available.

In response to an earlier report of the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, which began in June 2011, the President has already launched four manufacturing innovation institutes with four more on the way; invested nearly $1 billion to upgrade our community colleges to train workers for advanced manufacturing jobs; expanded investments in applied research for emerging, cross-cutting manufacturing technologies; and launched a new initiative to deploy the talent of returning veterans to in-demand jobs, including in advanced manufacturing.

Three Key Pillars Support American Manufacturing

The final AMP report makes recommendations addressing three key pillars that support American manufacturing: 1) enabling innovation, 2) securing the talent pipeline, and 3) improving the business climate. The executive actions announced today align with the report’s recommendations by making investments in emerging, cross-cutting manufacturing technologies, training our workforce with the skills for middle-class jobs in manufacturing, and equipping small manufacturers to adopt cutting-edge technologies.

Enabling Innovation:

-Invest More than $300 Million in Emerging Manufacturing Technologies Critical for U.S. Competitiveness: The Departments of Defense, Energy, Agriculture and NASA are announcing more than $300 million in investments in three technologies the AMP identified as critical to U.S. competitiveness: advanced materials including composites and bio-based materials, advanced sensors for manufacturing, and digital manufacturing.

-Spur Innovation by Providing Manufacturers Access to New and Expanded State-of-the-art Facilities like those at our National labs: The National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and NASA are taking steps to connect industry and universities on research and development and develop ‘technology testbeds’ within Federal research facilities where companies can design, prototype, and test a new product or process.

Securing the Talent Pipeline:

-Expand Effective Workforce Development Strategies through the $100 Million American Apprenticeships Grant Competition: This fall, the Department of Labor will launch a $100 Million American Apprenticeships Grant Competition to spur new apprenticeship models and scale effective ones in high-growth fields like advanced manufacturing. AMP members Dow, Alcoa, and Siemens have launched apprenticeship pilots and a “how-to” guide for other employers looking to use apprenticeship as a proven training strategy.

-Communicate the Value of Careers in Manufacturing to America’s Youth: This year‘s national Manufacturing Day, hosted by the Department of Commerce Manufacturing Extension Partnership and leading manufacturing industry associations the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association (FMA), National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and the Manufacturing Institute (MI), attracted more than 50,000 visitors to over 1,600 factories across the country to teach America’s youth about the good career opportunities in manufacturing -- double the number of events in previous years. Next year, the Department of Commerce and its partners plan to further expand the number of Manufacturing Day events across the country and the number of people participating in Manufacturing Day. In addition, the Department of Education has begun developing a national campaign to promote the value of career and technical education. The campaign will inform educators, students, and their families of the value of promising careers and education pathways in technical fields, like advanced manufacturing.

Improving the Business Climate:

-Launching New Tools and a Five-Year Initial Investment to Support Innovative Small Manufacturers in the Supply Chain: Given the innovation gap faced by small manufacturers, the Department of Commerce’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which serves over 30,000 U.S. manufacturers each year, will build new capabilities at its state-based centers and pilot a competition for $130M over five years across ten states to help small manufacturers adopt new technologies and bring new products to market.

For more information about the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership visit http://www.manufacturing.gov/amp.html. View the 2014 Manufacturing Day event schedule here: http://www.mfgday.com/events.

Source: Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, International