By Leslie Greis, Kinefac Corporation
and Michael Keneally, Acutech Packaging
Co-Chairs, AIM Manufacturing Committee

The national observance of Manufacturing Month took place in October, but Associated Industries of Massachusetts believes that manufacturing should remain a priority throughout the year.

AIM and its Manufacturing Committee, which we co-chair, are committed to representing the interests of an industry that accounts for 9.72% of the total economic output of the commonwealth and employs 6.71% of the Massachusetts workforce. Some 6,000 manufacturing companies in Massachusetts employ 240,000 people with an average annual compensation of $115,000.

Given the 108-year-old relationship between AIM and manufacturing (the association was founded by a group of forward-thinking industrialists in 1915), it should be no surprise that the organization was at the center celebrating the importance of “makers” during Manufacturing Month in Massachusetts.

AIM in late September was a co-sponsor of the Manufacturing Mash-Up, an event in Worcester that drew 1,500 innovative people from around the state to network, collaborate, and address some of the most pressing challenges for manufacturers.

On October 19, AIM hosted a program entitled Forging Inclusive Futures: Expanding the Talent Pipeline to Fill Today’s Critical Openings at Amazon Robotics in Westborough. More than 100 people engaged with a panel of employers and workers who have experienced, firsthand, the benefits of inclusive hiring.

The association also organized a tour of the Sanofi pharmaceutical facility in Framingham with Massachusetts Senate President Karen Spilka. Designed in partnership with Sanofi Research & Development, the multi-product facility, first of its kind in the world, is digitally connected from end to end, paperless, and produces more medicines in a smaller footprint providing significant environmental impact/waste reduction over traditional manufacturing facilities.

Such tours are enormously valuable because they provide elected officials with an up-close view of the innovation and technology involved in advanced manufacturing, along with the skills of workers who make products sold around the world. Please contact the AIM Government Affairs team if you would like to set up a tour at your plant.

AIM was also busy with training and education programs for employees of manufacturing companies. We collaborated with the Massachusetts Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MassMEP) on three different consortium grants in October to provide supervisory skills training to employees from several different companies.

AIM’s social media platforms, meanwhile, were filled with videos during October from companies such as Rocheleau Tool and Die in Fitchburg and V.H. Blackinton in South Attleboro.

The support for manufacturers continues well beyond Manufacturing Month. The AIM Manufacturing Committee has established a close working relationship with the Massachusetts Legislature’s Manufacturing Caucus, chaired by Representative Jeffrey Roy (D-Franklin) and Senator Paul Feeney (D-Foxborough). This working relationship has enabled our manufacturing members to have the rare opportunity for direct dialogue with our Legislative representatives.

AIM members illustrate the breathtaking variety of manufacturing enterprises throughout Massachusetts. The association represents the interests of “new economy” manufacturers like Sanofi, as well as more traditional companies in areas such as paper conversion, electronics assembly, and plastics.

Manufacturing generates $56 billion in economic output each year in Massachusetts and the future of the industry looks bright. Organizations like AIM play a central role in ensuring that the Commonwealth maintains the type of business climate that allows our manufacturing companies to create great jobs and economic benefits for the citizens of the Commonwealth.

Both of our companies, Kinefac Corporation in Worcester and Accutech Packaging in Foxborough, benefit immensely from the public-policy advocacy, workforce development, and other programs offered by AIM. We urge our fellow Massachusetts manufacturers to join us in this worthy enterprise.