Last week, Curtis Williams outlined the conventional approach cities adopt to entice manufacturing businesses. It’s a combination of smart selling, the opportunistic use of incentives, and here, in Colorado, a large dose of leveraging natural attributes. Today Denver’s the fastest growing city in the nation. The rest of the state’s not far behind. It’s a home field advantage to envy.

Out-of-the-box development, the kind that attracts industry’s best and brightest, is harder, the formula more elusive and for manufacturing, largely absent from today’s economic development playbook. The irony is that communities are increasingly enamored with modern manufacturing. Cities crave growing craft food and beverage firms, light manufacturing in lifestyle and consumer sectors and high-tech fabricating and assembly.

Yet new voices in industrial development are emerging, cognizant of the value of primary jobs and the opportunity to build around the sustaining trends driving manufacturing back onshore or growth fueled by new consumer preferences. Among the most intriguing ideas is the concept of multi-tenant facilities that house complimentary light-manufacturing companies.

The idea is grounded in two trends at work in the economy. Officing concepts like Denver’s Industry, Galvanize, and WeWork facilities tap a modern professional ethos that values collaboration, community, and social networks. For entrepreneurs, the collective delivery of support services in these facilities, often extending to funding and talent, has also been a catalyst.

The second is the profound change in manufacturing, manifest in both the industries driving growth and how technology is changing industrial processes.

On a national level, consider Faraday Future, the ‘mysterious’ car company poised to break ground on a $1B factory in Nevada. The company’s site is to be mindfully located “on 900 acres of land near Interstate 15, a major roadway to Southern California. This means the company could attract large crowds for tours to increase brand awareness.”

A manufacturing factory that doubles as a tourist destination? Why not. It’s not difficult to envision an open and airy facility, with tourists and prospective customers treated to a full-on display of robotics and automation, technology and systems management — a 21st century industrial iteration of Disneyland.

It’s happening today on a smaller scale here, in the Rockies. One of Fort Collins’ most popular consumer destinations is New Belgium Brewing — a manufacturing facility. Now broaden your view, and envision visiting your favorite craft brewery in a facility that’s also home to a distillery, a composite cycle or ski maker and an artisanal food company — treats to enjoy as you watch products from each company being made.

The Neenan Company was the architect on the original New Belgium tasting room and brewery in Fort Collins and Neenan VP Shawn Sullivan has no problem conjuring the image. In fact he’s an evangelist today for the concept along the Front Range.

“There’s a real opportunity to create a dynamic manufacturing and retail environment through shared infrastructure and common area that would lower occupancy costs,” Sullivan explains. But operational savings may only be part of the benefit. “We also see the upside of enhancing brand awareness through cross pollination of people and products,” he adds. “We’re in the early stages of creating custom, innovative designs that bring neighborhood manufacturing to Colorado.”

Ted Eynon, co-owner of Colorado-based Meier Skis, has already moved beyond concept and into a space he hopes will house a craft brewery and other like-minded craft manufacturers. He shares Sullivan’s sentiments about the benefits of collaboration.

“When you think of Colorado, skiing and beer are going to be at or near the top of everyone’s list so it’s only natural to bring the craft production of both under a single roof for an immersive brand experience that consumers can actively participate in,” Eynon says.

Eynon moved Meier from Glenwood Springs to a location in Denver, near West 8th Avenue and I-25. “The goal is to have a unique offering of Colorado active lifestyle craft products where someone can be sipping a cold beer or spirit while simultaneously picking out or designing their own skis or snowboards — an open concept with lots of glass that will open up sightlines and ensure that everyone is able to feel and experience the brands. We are in the process of looking for the right brewing or distilling partner to make this a reality.”

It’s no stretch to see cities and towns getting in the game, conceiving developments and facilities aligned with Sullivan and Eynon’s vision, and beyond. The combinations are intriguing, including design-to-manufacture clusters in growth sectors like aerospace and bioscience.

Is it out-of-the-box economic development thinking that might change the fabric of urban development? We may soon find out, in a neighborhood near you.

Bart Taylor is publisher of CompanyWeek. Contact him at btaylor@companyweek.com.

Like a left-right combination from Muhammad Ali, Colorado manufacturing was staggered this month by two reports that portray a struggling sector. What to make of the news?

Conexus Indiana’s 2016 Manufacturing & Logistics Report Card for the United States gave Colorado a ‘D’ grade for overall manufacturing sector health. The report grades states in eight categories, from sector diversification to global reach to human capital. Only New Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska fared worse, with F’s.

Misery loves company, and based on data compiled by Conway Data Analytics for Site Selection magazine, Colorado ranked 47th in per capita manufacturing investments in 2015. The California Manufacturers & Technology Association analyzed the data and shared Colorado’s numbers with us. (California ranked 50th, a downer for an economy that boasts nearly 40,000 manufacturers.)

There’s so much to consider here, but let’s stay high-level and try and sort out some straightforward implications.

An easy path would be to simply discount the Conexus methodology and by all means, there’s plenty to work with if Colorado economic officials cared enough to respond. Tom Bugnitz, CEO of Manufacturer’s Edge, didn’t have to work hard to determine the Conexus report was based on 2014 data, or that data sometimes worked at cross-purposes. “We get high marks for productivity and innovation,” Bugnitz told me, “which means we need less workers, which gets us lower marks for overall health because it lowers the number of manufacturing employees as a percent of total employment.”

Indeed, the Manufacturing Industry Health grade — D — is measured by “the share of total income earned by manufacturing employees in each state, the wage premium paid to manufacturing workers relative to the other states’ employees, and the share of manufacturing employment per capita.”

Colorado’s other D grade among the eight categories was in Global Reach, or the “export-related measures of per capita exported manufacturing goods and the growth of manufacturing exports.” I’ll leave others more informed on export trends to determine whether a near-flunking grade is warranted, but Colorado seems well positioned to grow exports. But then again we consider agricultural goods part of the maker economy, and Colorado’s a national ag export leader, so I object from the get-go.

Colorado gets a C in Sector Diversification based on 2014 data. It’s already a dated statistic. Diversification is the state’s manufacturing calling card, from high-tech fabrication to device makers in bioscience to the craft food and beverage tsunami to a burgeoning lifestyle industry. Food and beverage has been the fastest growing manufacturing sector in the state since 2014.

All that said, it would be narrow-minded to assert that the Conexus report is flawed and therefore irrelevant. Data is data, and as a percent of GDP, or employment, Colorado’s manufacturing sector is underperforming compared to others states — states that would kill to have Colorado’s broader growth metrics. I’ve also chronicled the state’s challenge in developing a more robust supply chain and how the lack of a cohesive manufacturing development strategy is a drag on sector growth. Manufacturers are not without fault. Companies remain more comfortable operating in industry silos.

Yet manufacturing is thriving. We’ve profiled over 700 manufacturing and supply-chain companies since September 2013. We’ll profile 700 more in the next few years. It’s certainly entrepreneurial, and companies are scattered throughout different industries, which at times makes it hard to measure – and grade. Until growth companies and sectors mature and begin making a statistical difference that matters on a national scale, enduring bad grades or scores may be part of the program.

Like the aforementioned investment ranking. Colorado now ranks 47th in manufacturing investments per capita, an interesting stat that tracks manufacturing –related construction or expansion projects across the U.S. that involved over $1 million in capital or more than 20 new jobs investments. Of 2641 projects in 2015, Colorado hosted nine. Kentucky, a state with 4.3 million people, led the nation with 173. It’s a reminder how deep a manufacturing community other states lean on to attract new companies and expansions. The supply chains are long.

But how many companies do we need to shine a light on to get elected officials, economic developers, business groups and yes manufacturers, excited about what’s happening here? Who’s paying attention? California ranked 50^th, a number that didn’t sit well. Its manufacturing trade association was quick to lament its status and challenge policy-makers.

We’ll gather July 27 in Denver for the 2nd annual Manufacturing Growth & Financing Conference. Increasing the level of investment in worthy manufacturing companies is the objective of the conference. Even if you’re not looking for money, it’s important you’re there. Investors need more awareness about companies shaping this sector.

Don’t be satisfied with a ‘D’, or being ranked 47th out of 50 states. I’m not. See you this July.

Bart Taylor is publisher of CompanyWeek. Email him at btaylor@companyweek.com.

Colorado Springs is a city in search of a new economic brand. As solid as its bedrock industries are, there’s growing sentiment that defense and tourism alone shouldn’t define the city’s economic prospects, that there’s more here, and if Colorado Springs is to attract new industry, compete for skilled labor, and keep it’s best and brightest home, its identity must evolve.

Where the evolution should lead is an open question. An influential group of business leaders would double down on Colorado Springs’ connection to defense-related industry to become the nation’s preeminent cybersecurity outpost. Frank Backes, CEO of Braxton Science & Technology Group, frames it this way, “We need to talk about a brand for Colorado Springs like Silicon Mountain was in the ’80s and ’90s. We need to make sure that the headquarters of the industry is here.”

But for others, the issue isn’t just whether Colorado Springs should move to attract cybersecurity-related industry. Most agree it should. A bigger question is whether the city subordinates other economic opportunities in a push to attract more defense-related federal spending, dollars that already comprise “40 percent of the Pikes Peak region’s economy and about 50 cents of every paycheck dollar here.” Would deepening the connection to the town’s defense brand leave room to fully support other promising opportunities?

Certainly the cybersecurity opportunity is big, the outcomes critical to the nation, and Colorado Springs’ national security legacy an asset to establish significant operations here. In fact, it’s more of a statewide opportunity. It was noted last month at University of Denver’s cybersecurity summit that Colorado has 12,000 related job openings. DU has gone so far as to offer a one-year master’s degree in the field.

Cybersecurity industry employs “software engineers, network engineers, computer scientists” and other high-tech specialists, jobs that could change the city’s workforce composition. Jobs that will appeal to cadre of young, smart, talented professionals so critical to developing the vibrant and progressive economy town leaders crave.

There’s a private-sector outcome here; every data-intensive business will require more secure digital systems and processes. Think airlines, financial centers, and others.

Yet much of the billion dollar-plus opportunity is tied to national security contracts, government spending that companies here would pursue. Can the Springs muster resources to compete with a high-profile list of capable cities for this business, as it rallies a new brand strategy to promote homegrown private-sector opportunities?

If not, an underdeveloped but powerful lifestyle brand-in-waiting may suffer most. Colorado Springs, the self-proclaimed ‘City of Champions,’ boasts assets that put it on par with Boulder and others in the region as a destination not only for athletes and sports enthusiasts, but the outdoor industry. Like most every other Colorado city, the Springs is also incubating a progressive cadre of craft beverage and food businesses. Alongside the city’s impressive list of attractions and quality of life attributes, it’s a compelling lifestyle foundation.

But the city’s standout crop of established sports-minded businesses and organizations seem strangely unconnected — from each other or as a tight knit ecosystem used by city planners to attract related industry to the region. Craft lifestyle brands, also an asset, disconnected even more. Will a brand that reflects lifestyle industry gain favor and lead Colorado Springs to heights where Boulder, Ogden, and Portland reside? The idea’s not gained traction yet.

Parker, Colorado, up the road from Colorado Springs, has rolled out the following ad campaign.

Imagine the same from Colorado Springs. What would it convey? Cybersecurity…and lifestyle? Can both be the brand Colorado Springs grows by?

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A second opportunity was envisioned in a DOE grant awarded Colorado, the ‘defense-industry adjustment program,’ renamed SMART, now FourFront. By whatever name, Colorado received $6.6 million to retrain defense-impacted contract manufacturers (CAMA, the Colorado Advanced Manufacturing Alliance, administers the grant on behalf of OEDIT); $6.6 million to wean industry off government’s spend. Colorado Springs was identified a location for a retraining center. Today a “Fuse Center” is located in the Catalyst Campus as a result.

One private-sector outcome would be aligned with a national trend to stand up advanced design-to-manufacturing facilities. San Francisco’s Lime Lab is a vertically integrated shop that marries industrial design with modern manufacturing capabilities. The concept is a catalyst for small-batch, customized manufacturing. New, inspired products and companies should follow. Boulder Engineering Studio is doing similar work.

Yet Lime Lab’s manufacturing facility is in China. Why not integrated centers in Colorado Springs? The pieces are here: a capable ecosystem of high-tech fabricators, engineers, and designers; facilities including space currently leased in the Catalyst Campus envisioned precisely for this type of activity; enthusiasm for a technology future (including cybersecurity); and a rich higher education community. New advanced design-to-manufacturing centers would also breathe life into a FourFront effort that today has progressed only as far as videoconferencing.

Catalyst Campus benefitted from a $750,000 taxpayer grant last year, launching with the tagline, ‘Where ideas converge.’ Watching the Campus become a center for cross-industry collaboration in pursuit of a new and more inclusive Colorado Springs business brand would be a fair backpack.

It’s no surprise I’m enthusiastic about manufacturing. But here, opportunity might coalesce around light manufacturing — gear, apparel, components, beer, food, and spirits on the lifestyle side — while showcasing a modern industrial capability centered around collaborative, high-tech, design-to-manufacturing capabilities and innovation.

Develop the cybersecurity opportunity, but redouble efforts to attract private-sector industry that better captures the creative undercurrent in this urban Colorado gem. As talent, money, and ideas flow into Colorado and the West, the city can emerge as an alternative to its high-flying but often frantic counterparts.

Bart Taylor is publisher of CompanyWeek. Reach him at btaylor@companyweek.com.

Colorado’s largest company was a finalist as were other signature manufacturing and supply-chain brands, but middle-market companies flashing process and product innovation stole the show at the inaugural Colorado Manufacturing Awards April 6 at Denver’s brilliant ART Hotel.

The awards were organized and presented by CompanyWeek and Manufacturer’s Edge with help from CACI, the Colorado Chamber of Commerce, and the Colorado Advanced Manufacturing Alliance (CAMA). I had a blast moderating the selection committee deliberations prior to the event and can share the ‘insider’ notes today.

Nine industry categories plus the supply chain were contested, and the upset theme materialized early in the evening when Boulder’s electronics upstart Modular Robotics won Aerospace & Electronics over Colorado’s high-profile satellite maker Sierra Nevada Corp.’s Space Systems and global storage powerhouse Seagate. Selection committee members cited Modular Robotics’ groundbreaking efforts to establish a domestic manufacturing workforce from a new generation of ‘alpha geeks and robot nerds’ — a STEM-connected smart workforce of the future.

Voormi was a surprise winner in the Lifestyle & Consumer category over accessory giant Otter Products and snowsports powerhouse Never Summer, arguably the state’s quietest if influential lifestyle brand. Voormi’s product innovations are noteworthy — technical garments featuring new fiber technology sourced from Rocky Mountain wool — but the company’s mission to develop a world-class domestic garment manufacturing outpost, coping with an underdeveloped apparel supply chain, also scored high.

Process innovation relating to workforce development also separated Boulder’s uber-focused medical device manufacturer Mountainside Medical. The company’s European-style recruitment, training, and mentoring workforce model continues to provide competitive advantage in a contested space. Centennial’s Allosource was a highly regarded runner-up in Bioscience & Medical.

Colorado’s most high-profile national manufacturing sector may be Food and Beverage, and co-packers like category winner Fresca Foods have been catalysts of a food revolution that arguably began along the Front Range. The company’s impact on a generation of food entrepreneurs lifted the Louisville-based firm over one of Colorado’s fast-growth companies, Noosa Yoghurt, and beverage innovator Infinite Monkey Theorem Urban Winery.

But innovation in Colorado food and beverage manufacturing is also defined by its powerhouse craft beer sector. One of the first and still the largest in southwest Colorado is Durango’s Ska Brewing Company, winner of the Beer & Brewing category over Avery Brewing Company and Wild Goose Canning. Ska’s’s growing popularity and consumer footprint was only half the appeal to the awards panel. In a recurring theme, the selection committee favored the company’s wider influence on the beverage manufacturing ecosystem, citing spin-offs Ska Fabricating (de-palletizers and canning equipment) and Peach Street Distillers.

The brewing supply chain was brought into sharp focus by the popular choice of Colorado Malting Company as winner of the Supply Chain awards category. Josh Cody, whose family-owned farming operation fuels Colorado’s craft sector more than any supplier, traveled from Alamosa only to win the award and graciously deflect credit to the craft entrepreneurs who’ve put Colorado on the national beverage map and positioned the San Luis Valley as an epicenter for ingredients that sustain the industry. In a category also featuring Arrow, Colorado’s $25 billion ‘quiet giant,’ Colorado Malting’s choice again spoke to the selection committee’s preference for companies influencing local, sector-wide growth.

If food and beverage has become Colorado’s national manufacturing calling card, its Contract Manufacturing sector, today boasting world-class advanced fabricators in technology sectors like aerospace and bioscience, may be it’s future. In this most difficult category to judge, metal 3D printing innovator Faustson Tool and its blue chip roster of clientele emerged in a close vote. Primus Aerospace and NFT/Paradigm, the other finalists, are the tip of a tech-fueled spear that’s coming to define the local manufacturing economy.

Energy & Environment winner Vestas can make the case it’s still the most influential fabricator in the state, though, and with good reason. Today Vestas Towers in Pueblo is the world’s leading manufacturer of wind towers at a time when alternative sources are ‘crushing’ the energy scene.

Vice President Tony Knopp’s pro-Colorado remarks were music to the ears of the large crowd, but the company’s growing impact on the regional manufacturing economy appealed to committee members, with 300 or so welders on the company payroll and a recruitment and training ecosystem to envy.

The same is true for Fort Collins-based stalwart Woodward, winner of the Industrial category. Contract manufacturer to some of the world’s great industrial brands like Boeing and Caterpillar, Woodward seems intent on maintaining its global standing in part by attracting and retaining a new generation of technology-enabled manufacturing employees. Its new facility in Fort Collins updates the image of modern manufacturing with open, wired, and collaborative spaces. Woodward’s a legacy manufacturer, casting and manufacturing products around the globe, with another foot squarely in the future.

Construction firms and builders share an important space in the economy with manufacturers, and winner of the Built Environment category, RK, is an omnipresent brand in construction sites throughout the region. RK is a true hybrid manufacturer/constructor with an eye to the future with prefabricated structures even as it continues to provide critical infrastructure and building services. But again, RK’s success in overcoming workforce challenges — recruitment, training, and retention, process innovations all — scored very high with the selection committee.

Innovation occurs in many different ways. Winners of the inaugural Colorado Manufacturing Awards manifest most all of them.

Bart Taylor is publisher of CompanyWeek. Reach him at btaylor@companyweek.com.