Beef up incentives. Last year, the Legislature passed the Florida Manufacturing Global Competitiveness Act, providing a sales tax exemption for the purchase of industrial machinery and equipment. Manufacturers are eager for more incentives.
Add to state funding for job training and education programs.
Provide insurance relief. With labor costs higher here than overseas, Florida's manufacturers must keep other expenses down. Insurance premiums are their No. 1 target. |
Back to Class
With jobs aplenty, Florida's 16,500 manufacturers will focus on worker education and training this year. "It's really a policy shift," says Nancy Stephens, executive director of the Manufacturers Association of Florida. "We used to ask how we could create jobs; now we ask how we're going to fill them with qualified people."
The association's newly launched "Made in Florida" public awareness campaign is targeting high school and college students. Manufacturing jobs in Florida pay an average of $43,413.
In October, a consortium of five community colleges statewide, with funding from Workforce Florida, opened the Banner Center for Manufacturing Excellence, providing industry-specific worker training and certification for manufacturers across the state. It will also serve as a resource center for all manufacturing education and training in Florida.
The 2-year-old Florida Center for Manufacturing Education at Hillsborough Community College adds an academic component, focusing on curriculum development and outreach activities with an emphasis on recruiting students to manufacturing and related technologies.
"This will be an important year for us," says Florida Center for Manufacturing Education Director Eric Roe. "We need people to know that manufacturing isn't about assembly lines and smokestacks anymore. The perception is changing, but there's still a lot of work to do."
EDUCATIONAL PROCESS: "The perception is changing, but there's still a lot of work to do," says Eric Roe, director of the Florida Center for Manufacturing Education at Hillsborough Community College. |
1 2 3 [ next ] |
email this article
printable format
