We know that the autumn season is important to people for a variety of reasons. There are those who love taking walks through the colorful, fallen leaves. There are football-watchers. Cozy sweater-wearers. Pumpkin-carvers.
And then…. there’s us.
What’s on our minds this beautiful month of October? I bet you didn’t guess it – manufacturing! That’s right, in our world October is manufacturing month and more specifically, October 3rd, 2014 was officially declared National Manufacturing Day. Both the “MFG Day” and month as a whole are intended to educate students and other people in the community by having American manufacturers open their doors to offer tours and inspire young people to pursue careers in manufacturing and engineering; strengthening our nation’s economy in the future.
Here at Plymouth Foam we have plants in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Ohio and would like to take this opportunity to highlight the manufacturing landscape in each of those great states:
Wisconsin has a very strong manufacturing backbone – 16 percent of the state’s workforce is employed in manufacturing (while the national average is 9 percent). And manufacturing contributes more than $53 billion to Wisconsin’s economic output! Needless to say, manufacturing plays a large role in the state’s economy, and to top it off, the average pay for a manufacturing worker in Wisconsin is more than the average pay for all Wisconsin private-sector workers.
Manufacturing is also a mainstay of Minnesota’s economy, representing one in seven jobs. The sector also contributes $37 billion to the state economy and due to manufacturing jobs supporting other trades elsewhere in the economy (such as suppliers), it indirectly accounts for 33 percent of all jobs in the state! (Can you say WOW?) Not only this, but Minnesota is the nation’s leader in manufactured medical devices.
Finally, Ohio has a strong case for a manufacturing state as well, as it’s the largest of the 20 sectors of Ohio’s economy. This sector provides more than 660,000 jobs for Ohio workers, which accounts for over 12 percent of the state’s workforce. Plus, in 2012, Ohio’s Total Manufacturing Output amounted to $87.2 billion – no small showing!
We are proud to own and operate facilities in each of these three states where, clearly, manufacturing is king. Rest assured, each state has a strong economy with a manufacturing base that will only grow larger in time. But the only way for that sector to grow is by initiatives such as National Manufacturing Day and specific states declaring October manufacturing month, which both shine some light on a major industry that will only become more important in our futures. So between those fall walks, football games, sweater-wearing and pumpkin carving, we encourage you to take some time this month to learn more about your state’s manufacturing – it has its own month to celebrate, after all.
