Manufacturing never went anywhere
By NewsPress Now
We’ve all heard the promises to “bring manufacturing back.”
This kind of talk produces an extra sting in St. Joseph, a city that lost its share of manufacturing jobs two decades ago. After the factory doors closed for good, it didn’t take long for the politicians to insert industrial renewal into the standard stump speech.
What they didn’t tell you was that manufacturing might come back, but not those manufacturing jobs. Your parents’ manufacturing, with dad taking a job right out of high school and grinding away on the same assembly line until retirement, went the way of the telephone book. The whole process was going to require hard work and reinvention, which doesn’t make for a very good stump speech.
In St. Joseph, there was plenty of “woe is us” sentiment when industrial anchors like Quaker Oats and MeadWestvaco left town. However, individuals and businesses also began adapting to a changing economy that favored nimble companies and workers who possessed advanced skills in welding, machining or robotics.
It turns out manufacturing isn’t dead, just unrecognizable from what existed just a few decades ago. Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that 14% of St. Joseph’s workforce is engaged in production work, compared to 5% nationwide. Other studies put St. Joseph’s manufacturing workforce as high as 25%.
Whatever the number, St. Joseph is doing something right with manufacturing. It’s reached the point that the main problem isn’t companies leaving as much as getting workers to stay. St. Joseph needs to develop a skilled workforce to meet the demands for manufacturing employment, something that was unthinkable two decades ago when the old industrial base was hollowed out.
It will take more than promises to answer these needs. The community took a major step toward ensuring the future viability of manufacturing with the Nov. 15 groundbreaking of the Houlne Center for Convergent Technology. This 20,000-square-foot facility at Missouri Western State University offers applied learning opportunities in construction and skilled manufacturing professions. The Houlne Center, named for a Missouri Western alumnus who built a successful career in artificial intelligence technology, will deliver certificate and degree programs and targeted workforce training. Areas of emphasis include AI, robotics, GIS, sensor technologies and cybersecurity.
What’s really impressive is the level of cooperation that made this learning laboratory a reality. Missouri Western worked with North Central Missouri College. The city and the county contributed American Rescue Plan Act funding. Some of St. Joseph’s leading companies provided donations for construction, equipment, operations and scholarships.
They saw a need and responded.
When people talk about bringing manufacturing back, they should look at the Houlne Center as a model. St. Joseph’s experience shows that manufacturing never really went anywhere, it just evolved.
