INTRODUCTION
Manufacturing Success in Texas
Tony Bennett, president of the Texas
Association of Manufacturers, recently
spoke about the business environment in the
state and various issues affecting the vitality
and future of our manufacturing sector as
follows.
For many years now, Texas has had the
reputation of being heaven on earth for
manufacturers. We have inexpensive energy,
very efficient access to global markets and
the ports along the Texas coast to help us get
our products anywhere in the world.
Texas is located in the center of the country
and that brings efficiency to logistics and
supply chain issues. We have low taxes and
we have sensible regulation. Our Texas
Universities have strong graduation rates,
which is encouraging for our workforce
needs. There are some gaps in workforce
demands and the industry is working closely
with community colleges, to help prepare
the future workforce for the high-quality
jobs manufacturers have to offer.
It appears that Texas will continue to offer
pro-business politics for many years to come
and our business environment has become
the envy of other states and many countries
around the world.
It is costly to move parts to a plant for
manufacturing and final assembly and to
take that product and deliver it to the
customer. Texas has a geographic advantage
because we are located in the center of the
United States, and also in the center of
North America. Our state's number one
trading partner is Mexico with Canada,
second giving an advantage to being located
in the middle of the best market in the
world. Manufacturers and suppliers can
deliver goods and supplies to the many
Texas airports, and we have access to ports
in Corpus, Houston, and Beaumont allowing
distribution of products anywhere in the
world.
We are also seeing more re-shoring or onshoring – bringing back jobs that used to be
in China and other places overseas. Many of
those jobs come back to North American
and to Texas.
Advanced manufacturing technologies are in
many of today’s processes with robotics,
nanotechnology, micro-electromechanical
systems and 3-D printers being found in
nearly every sector and region of our state's
manufacturing economy. There will be a
retrofitting of fabrication plants all over the
world with equipment in fabricating
industries needing to be modernized.
Manufacturers need many different skilled
workers including engineers, welders,
electrical engineers, and assemblers of
products. There is need of every kind of
skill sets imaginable to fill the current need
and to prepare for the retiring manufacturing
workforce as baby boomers retire in big
numbers over the next five to 10 years.
The Need for a Skilled Workforce
In Texas, we have discovered a leak in the
education pipeline between the number of
students who enter into college and the
number who exit, which results in costly
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