CAMA on SMART/FourFront: A Q&A with Tim Heaton and Karla Tartz

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This past October, the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International trade was awarded a $6.6 million grant to help manufacturers impacted by defense-related budget cuts retrain employees and develop advanced capabilities to better compete in a fast-changing marketplace.

CAMA, the Colorado Advanced Manufacturing Alliance, was tapped by OEDIT to administer the grant, described in detail last year in CompanyWeek.

CAMA recently announced changes to SMART, including a new name: FourFront. I met with CAMA President Tim Heaton and Chief Strategy Officer Karla Tartz to discuss the changes.

CW: SMART, the $6.6 million “defense-industry adjustment program” grant awarded to Colorado last year is itself being adjusted to reflect a new name — FourFront — and revised program. Why the change less than a year into the program?

A: The simple answer is SMART is a very crowded acronym and is used for many program initiatives. After consulting with members of the manufacturing industry around the state, we decided to create a name that tells the story behind this initiative. The mission is still the same — creating a long-term economic development strategy focused on accelerating the growth and resiliency of manufacturers across Colorado’s Advanced Industries, with a focus on advancing and assisting Colorado’s defense sector. We have always envisioned creating centers in each of our four regions that help to keep our advanced industries at the forefront of innovation and advancements — hence the name FourFront.

CW: What are the four regions?

A: Our manufacturers divided the state as follows:

  • Western Slope, from Grand Junction to Durango including all of mountain communities such as Vail, Telluride, and Steamboat;
  • Southern Colorado, including Colorado Springs, Pueblo, and other manufacturing centers such as La Junta;
  • Northern Colorado, which includes the communities from Frederick to Fort Collins and east through Greeley; and
  • Greater Denver metro area.

CW: SMART envisioned identifying 30 or so defense-impacted manufacturing companies that might benefit from retraining. FourFront envisions a wider impact. Who will benefit?

A: Yes, FourFront is about helping manufacturing across all advanced industries. However, we are not losing our focus on defense diversification.

We are currently searching for Colorado companies, whether a prime defense contractor or a first, second, third, fourth, or lower-tier subcontractor to a prime contractor affected by past defense budget cuts in federal fiscal years 2014, 2015 or will be impacted by 2016 defense reductions.

If a firm experienced a loss of or an imminent threat of a loss of at least 5 percent of sales and/or production, or of a major product line (defined as 25 percent of total sales or production), and in employment because of defense cuts; or, at least 5 percent of the firms loss in sales or production can be attributable to defense budget reductions within federal fiscal years 2014, 2015, or will be impacted by 2016 defense reductions, we want to hear from them. It’s our goal to assist these companies with technical training that will identify competencies or areas of needed improvement or advancements that will ultimately allow them to pivot into new markets or identify new opportunities.

But FourFront is more than just providing technical services and training to those directly impacted; FourFront is about providing and sharing best practices and lessons learned to ensure that our Advanced Industries are working together and not in silos. We want to connect impacted companies into a larger mentorship and support system that can assist them well beyond the end of any single technical assistance program.

CW: You mentioned the regional technical and training centers — FourFront calls for a primary Application Center connected virtually to the other regional Advancement Centers across the state. What type of equipment do you envision in the Application Center?

A: We are working with EWI, a 30 year old manufacturing applied research firm. EWI actually teamed with CAMA in the development of its response to the RFP released by OEDIT last year. FourFront and CAMA are supporting EWI as they are finalizing a 5-month process to identify applied research needs across Colorado’s manufacturers across the state. The final business plan will be completed shortly and will identify the implementation plan and the technology focus needed in Colorado. This will then dictate the types of equipment needed for such applied research. If EWI adds a site in Colorado, we will work with them on a process for making sure that the right equipment is available for all manufacturers.

We certainly envision the Advancement Centers connecting regional manufactures to technology being developed at universities and federal labs, specifically NNMIs. It is our goal to deploy and integrate these technologies into the supply chain across Colorado. EWI has a proven track record of helping manufacturers all across the nation from their Ohio facility. We are confident that with FourFront’s collaboration and EWI’s demonstrated success, all manufacturers in Colorado will be able to tap into this tremendous resource when it is available.

CW: How do food and beverage, consumer and apparel, and other manufacturers not classified as “Advanced Industries” stand to benefit?

A: We are very glad you asked this question as this is a topic that has been raised many times. Advanced Industries includes advanced manufacturing and here in the great state of Colorado our manufacturers serve diverse sectors across the Colorado economy — from electronics and consumer products to clean energy systems, aerospace vehicles, medical devices and food manufacturing and beverage processing.

Advanced manufacturing is more precisely identified at the company level rather than the industry level, and is based on company high-tech manufacturing processes, machinery, and materials rather than their final products. But it’s a question we’d like to expand on next time.

CW: What other specific outcomes does CAMA envision from FourFront and is the program a bridge to future state or regional efforts to support manufacturing, or other federal programs in the works?

A: The first and most critical step is creating the foundation or infrastructure that will allow FourFront’s mission to succeed. Too often, funding is given to silo’d or one off projects without focusing on the development and creation of a platform upon which future and deeper initiatives can occur. This first step is by far the hardest and no one state has created regional ecosystems that are then connected to each other and to national initiatives. When completed, this foundation is definitely a bridge to further state, regional and federal efforts. For example, cyber research and training is a natural next step that cuts across all Advanced Industries and can benefit all regions, especially if they are working together.

CW: In rolling out the original program OEDIT and CAMA stated transparency was a high-priority, given that tax dollars are involved. How much of the $6.6 million grant has been spent thus far — and is a cost accounting available for public view?

A: Transparency is very important and something we are working on being better at. We hope the CompanyWeek platform is just one of many that we can use to communicate updates to Colorado manufacturers. Additionally, CAMA is launching a FourFront website. In the meantime, those interested can find information and updates on CAMA’s website.

We have been very cautious up to this point (some would say too cautious) and we have only spent about 5 percent of the allocated budget. Below is an overview of spend per project through our 3rd reporting period.

Total Budget Expended in 3rd Reporting Period

Project #1: $1,000,000 $54,670

Project #2: $75,000 $34,193

Project #3: $30,000 $18,703

Project #4: $30,000 $4,972

Project #6: $300,000 $12,475

Project #7: $4,235,000 $102,859

Project #8: $200,000 $21,483

Project #9: $1,200,000 $70,082

Total: $7,270,000 $340,555

Our approach has been “go slow to go fast.” We have focused on building a solid infrastructure so we can truly build a sustainable ecosystem that benefits the state for years to come. We are close to finalizing center locations and will begin hiring and acquiring needed assets for each region. EWI is close to finalizing its report and a portion of FourFront funding will be used for Colorado’s application center. However, we know that this application center will need additional funding and we are working with local stakeholders to identify additional funding opportunities for EWI.

(Part one of a series on FourFront.)

Bart Taylor is founder and publisher of CompanyWeek. Reach him at 303-888-2832.

Allbery, second from left, and Vaillancourt, second from right.

Colorado aerospace fires back at national slight as NASA, Lockheed Martin land at NFT/Paradigm

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I mentioned last week how Colorado missed out on the latest round of the U.S. Commerce Department’s Investing in Manufacturing Community Partnership awards, but that the state’s aerospace sector, to name one, was deserving of recognition.

Two events last week underscored the strength of the sector. The same day that New Horizons zipped past Pluto with Colorado-made parts on board, officials from NASA and Lockheed Martin quietly landed at NFT’s Paradigm aerospace division to recognize the company’s contributions to a different space mission, the successful first test flight of Orion in December 2014. (Orion is NASA’s new spacecraft, designed “to take humans farther than they’ve ever gone before.”).

NFT president John Allbery and vice president Gary Vaillancourt welcomed a slew of VIPs including officials from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and a contingent of Lockheed executives led by Vice President and Orion Program Manager Mike Hawes.

The NASA team made the special trip to Paradigm to award the company the agency’s “Program Manager’s Commendation” for outstanding performance by the Orion spacecraft team for their contributions to the successful Exploration Flight Test-1 mission. Paradigm earned the award by precision-machining more than 1,000 parts for Orion, no small number and a testament to its expertise. It also sets up the company well for future Orion missions. As one NASA official said, “We’re counting on NFT to be a key supplier on our next launch.”

Given Orion’s high-profile status, the award is significant on several levels. For starters, it says a lot about the unique skill set of NFT. “We built parts for every major subsystem, for every piece of the spacecraft,” Vaillancourt says. “For every stage of the launch and flight, NFT was identified as one of the key suppliers of the space vehicle.”

Allbery seemed most pleased about the “unexpected” reaction from his visitors. “I think the lead executives from both NASA and Lockheed Martin were fascinated with our non-aerospace business. Unlike some of their other suppliers who operate only in aerospace, we’re a precision machinist in industrial, automation and nuclear markets. We have a much broader knowledge base than a typical machine shop,” he says, adding, “We can be a more value-add supplier.”

For NASA and Lockheed, who Allbery says are hoping to move more supplier contracts closer to Colorado, it’s an important differentiator. “Colorado doesn’t have as much manufacturing, as many high-precision machinists as other states,” he notes, echoing an oft-repeated sentiment.

But the incentive for OEMs like Lockheed, or major manufacturing brands in any other market sectors is unambiguous: reducing a long and costly supply chain with more robust and growing local resources is a powerful trend. We’ve said it more than once: As the supply chain goes, so goes regional manufacturing.

For NFT, the labor pool is supply challenge number one.

“We’re really trying to train up and push U.S. manufacturing.” Allbery says, and describing the state of workforce in “advanced” manufacturing says, “We find a lot of machinists in their early 20s and in their 60s. We’ve missed three generations of machinists. It’s a challenging environment.”

But even as NFT outsources work to meet the needs of its unique and high-profile customers, the payoff last week for Allbery and Vaillancourt means everything. For the company. For the region. It’s worth noting that the Orion test was flung into space by a ULA rocket, also headquartered along the Front Range.

And as the Commerce Department contemplates its next round of Manufacturing Community Partnerships, the work being done by Colorado’s charged-up aerospace ecosystem will be hard to ignore.

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

Utah joins a growing national list of manufacturing hotspots

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Today’s ‘Made in America’ renaissance is actually a dozen different iterations, driven by local economic realities, by regional trends and attributes. It’s a hundred distinct movements, some connected, some not, though it’s easy to find an important connection between a craft brewer and a medical products manufacturer. Companies that make stuff have things in common.

To its credit the U.S. Department of Commerce has recognized this diversity and designated last week an additional 12 communities as “Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership” award recipients, each aligned with opportunity distinct to the region.

Utah’s emerging composite materials sector, one I’ve written about often in the context of cycling and recreation and the companies in particular that make Ogden home, is on the list. It’s a great example of trends revitalizing U.S. manufacturing and coalescing in powerful ways where opportunity meets targeted support — in this case the Utah Outdoor Recreation Office’s purposeful push to attract lifestyle-related industry.

Public-private partnerships are at the core of the Manufacturing Community Partnership awards. Here’s a summary of the new 12 from the Commerce release. (Here’s the full release.)

  1. The Greater Pittsburgh Metals Manufacturing Community plans to leverage their strengths in metals manufacturing to capitalize on the confluence of advances in new materials, digital technology and energy to re-energize metals manufacturing.
  2. The Alamo Manufacturing Partnership is focused on building upon their existing strengths to create an advantage for the transportation equipment industry by benefiting from public and private investments that contribute to community prosperity.
  3. The Madison Regional Economic Partnership is comprised of a 14-county region in Wisconsin that is focused on agriculture, food, and beverage (AFB) manufacturing as their key technology sector (KTS), with a target on “local foods.”
  4. The Made in the Mid-South Manufacturing Alliance supports expansion of manufacturing in the Memphis Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), with a special focus on a strong and growing medical device cluster in three states — Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas.
  5. The Minnesota Medical Manufacturing Partnership has crafted a strategy to strengthen the ecosystem for entrepreneurship, globally brand and market Minnesota’s medical and life sciences cluster, and optimize the regional talent base via training and educational programs focused on medical devices and medical manufacturing.
  6. The Utah Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Initiative: The Wasatch Front and its surrounding counties support a highly specialized manufacturing capacity in advanced composites materials and products. The region aims to strengthen its current leadership in composite manufacturing by adding to its already strong ecosystem and providing supporting infrastructure including the Utah Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Initiative (UAMMI) and a chain of Local Solution Centers.
  7. The Pacific Northwest Manufacturing Partnership (Oregon-Washington) has fashioned an exciting opportunity to build on a traditional industry — wood products — and modernize it for the 21st century.
  8. The Connecticut Advanced Manufacturing Communities will provide the organizational structure to lead the effort to revolutionize the AMC Region’s aerospace and shipbuilding industries.
  9. California’s food system is the largest agricultural economy in the U.S. and among the top ten globally. The mission of the Central Valley AgPlus Food and Beverage Manufacturing Consortium is to foster the growth and creation of food and beverage businesses and middle-skills manufacturing jobs in the Central Valley.
  10. In South-central Idaho, the food production, processing, and science industrial sector contains a significant mix of key technologies and supply chain elements, making it a regional manufacturing focus.
  11. The Greater Peoria Economic Development Council leads a five-county consortium in central Illinois that will identify and develop strategies to help strengthen and diversify the region’s earthmoving supply chain.
  12. South Louisiana Chemical Manufacturing Community’s mission is to develop a vibrant nationally and internationally known chemical manufacturing community that increases positive social and environmental impacts, including job growth, waste reduction and product innovation.

Colorado is absent from the list and the previous dozen, though its aerospace sector would rank alongside any of the half-dozen or so designees. With New Horizons’ Pluto fly-by in the news, so are the efforts of Colorado’s space initiatives, at least in local newsfeeds.

The state’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade was also awarded $6.6 million to identify and retrain defense-impacted ‘advanced manufacturers,’ so the Feds certainly value the state’s manufacturing community.

Neither Utah nor Colorado is developing a blueprint that brings all of the manufacturing economy together – a ‘manufacturing communities partnership’ on a regional scale fit to the region’s unique blend of attributes, talent and history.

But future partnerships like this may be regional in scope, so even though planners at GOED view this helping competitive efforts with Colorado, as OEDIT would, both Utah and Colorado win in the long run.

Collaboration is in the offing.

On Strategy – KOTA Longboards: Growth, brand extension fuel capital needs

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For Mike Maloney, founder of KOTA Longboards, the only thing that stays the same is change.

Winner of the Chase Mission Main Street Grant and $150,000, the rush of publicity and recognition, including a national television ad campaign, fueled a sales surge — leaving KOTA and Maloney on the hunt for capital to finance more growth.

It’s the story of so many small manufacturers. “We’re growing at an extraordinary rate,” Maloney says. “The $150,000 was great. Now we’re ready for the next round.”

Chase is obviously a willing lender, but Maloney is wary of funding growth with more bank notes. “I don’t want to service debt with debt,” he says. “On our current pace, we should be cash flowing this fall, but we’re doubling and tripling our raw materials orders. It’s a close call if we have enough cash on hand to keep up this pace. However, over-leveraging the company is something I don’t want to do.”

It’s a challenge. Maloney is moving quickly to extend the successful KOTA brand into a line of soft goods, licensing agreements, and partnerships with other lifestyle companies. “KOTA’s a lifestyle brand,” he explains. “We have all of the attributes such as meaning, context, and authenticity. If we do this right, it could end up being a billion-dollar brand.” To back up the point, he flips through a catalogue with featuring KOTA apparel and describes plans for accessories like messenger bags.

Maloney’s vision is compelling in that KOTA seems well positioned to follow the path of other well-known gear and outdoor companies that started with a signature product, only to see an entire franchise blossom. Maloney will have to navigate the infamous “death valley” to become the next Burton or Oakley; KOTA’s revenues are still catching up with costs incurred from a first round of financing — in people, equipment, and new product development.

It’s why Maloney doesn’t spend any time now reveling in the ongoing national recognition from the Chase Mission Main Street Grant, as good as it continues to be. “KOTA is a ‘visual’ brand so the ongoing national exposure alongside Chase and Google, two exceptional companies, is invaluable for us,” he explains. The marketing reach alone is worth well more than the amount of the grant. The experience has been incredible.”

But he’s focused on the next round of investment capital he believes will push the company beyond startup phase into sustainable growth. “We used the grant money to prepare KOTA to rapidly scale. Increasing production staff and output, lining up multiple touch points such as international distributors, domestic rep groups, large co-brand partners, and introducing new product. We’ve always known we’ll need another, larger round of investment to take advantage of this growth. If we can get to cash-flow stability, we open up debt, convertible debt, and equity-based capital sources. If we need money before that event, additional equity investment may be our best — or only — choice.”

‘Heck yeah,’ it’s a tech company. Well, not really

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It’s generally bad form for a small media brand like CompanyWeek to publish opinions critical of the Denver Post. Especially mine. If nothing else it sends the wrong message. I’m a fan of the paper, any newspaper for that matter. And its days in print are numbered, soon to follow the halcyon years that have already passed.

But I’m not required to be an apologist for the Post. Plus, as it relates to business coverage, it’s far easier to be a critic. For the moment, I’ll set aside good form.

I’ve written before how the Post just doesn’t get manufacturing. Does it matter? Maybe not. Manufacturers don’t seem to care, have given up caring, or like millennials don’t read the newspaper anymore.

All of which is no excuse for lousy business content. Take the pithy attempt to dress up the Tech+ blog, authored by the otherwise capable Tamara Chuang. Titled ‘Heck yeah Colorado profiles,’ this content is intended to highlight “Colorado tech companies that make cool stuff. These little snippets are intended for readers to explore the technology being made right here. One company at a time, of course.”

I suppose it’s a reasonable attempt at some differentiated content, unless of course a company it ‘profiles’ isn’t a tech company at all but a manufacturer, like Colorado’s iconic brand OtterBox — now a product unit within an expanding corporate umbrella known as Otter Products. Chuang’s “Heck yeah” feature on OtterBox ran yesterday.

Otter Products indeed makes cases for tech stuff. And, as with most other manufacturers today, the company deploys technology in increasingly innovative ways, including “smarter” cases with built-in batteries, LEDs, and other techy features that may again set a new standard for the sector.

But heck no, Otter Products isn’t a technology company but a manufacturer managing a complex global supply chain from its Fort Collins headquarters with assembly operations along the Front Range. It actually is a terrific story, one we’ll embellish with an interview of Otter Products VP Brent Hunter in an upcoming issue.

Manufacturers should care about misinformation like this even if they don’t. Manufacturers do care about their brand, and an outdated public perception that still makes it difficult to recruit talent and advance a sector that’s very much informed by technology — and by cool products like OtterBox and companies like Otter Products.

As employees at the Denver Post suffer another round of layoffs, perhaps going back to basics would attract readers to an institution worth saving — and, in doing so, save some jobs. ‘Basics’ entails a straightforward account of industry sectors that define Colorado’s economy. And whether it’s beer, natural food, satellites, or iPhone cases, in Colorado, it’s manufacturing.

Heck yeah.

Oskar’s divestiture: Did private equity acquire a majority stake?

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Word of Oskar Blues divestiture continues to leak out, and the question in Colorado’s close-knit craft sector, is how much? For many, the sale of a majority stake of any of Colorado’s bellwether crafters to private equity investors would be an earth-flattening event, a Rubicon crossed.

Rumors have been swirling, but Chad Melis of Oskar Blues confirmed to me an investment had been made. “Details of the deal are not disclosed,” Melis said, “but Fireman Capital (Partners) has invested to help Oskar Blues meet its capital needs as we continue to engineer growth.” He declined further comment.

Two things make this deal a big deal. One, Oskar Blues is a first-mover in an industry sector that’s captured the imagination and growing market share of consumers nationwide, not to mention the national and international business press. It’s also an economic tsunami; like Scotland’s whiskey stash, the value of Colorado’s craft beer sector is off the charts.

A huge part of the growth and influence of today’s Colorado craft brand is the fierce independence of its operators. ‘Craft’ has become synonymous with ‘independent’, with the ability — no, imperative — to experiment and innovate free of the profit motive that guides decisions for Big Beer and most every other industrial manufacturing brand.

Yet thus far, none of Colorado’s top craft brewers has sold a controlling interest to an equity partner, to an entity with designs on making money and not beer because, well, the Palisade apples were over the moon.

Many are concerned that non-industry ownership will poison the well. But are the fears of a slippery slope well founded? If Oskar Blues, certainly an iconic Colorado crafter, has sold a majority stake, does it mean the beginning of the end for Colorado craft’s epic rise?

It’s hard to see how. Yes, bringing on a financial partner will influence operations. Sellers must approach a private equity deal with eyes wide open. And if Oskar did sell a majority interest, they may be the first but won’t be the last.

Nevertheless, Oskar Blues might consider tapping the qualities that launched a revolution to get ahead of an issue that in the end may prove to be no more than a speed bump. Facts are better managed than rumors.

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

Following Utah’s lead, Colorado’s new Outdoor Recreation Industry Office a positive step

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I’ve written how Brad Petersen, director of the Utah Office of Outdoor Recreation is using lifestyle to recruit and retain outdoor brands. Petersen was appointed after Utah passed legislation in 2011 creating the Office and today, several outcomes suggest the decision was incredibly positive for Utah and the region.

For one, Petersen has set a precedent for using the office to bring together disparate voices to craft solutions that benefit recreation, business and economic development interests. The Office has also been a key ally for communities like Ogden that are busy attracting new companies by selling them on a compelling vision involving outdoor industry clusters.

Utah’s collective mission to fully leverage its outdoor recreation brand is also having a regional impact. Last week, Colorado’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) took a similar step that also has the potential to help the state’s growing community of lifestyle and consumer manufacturers. Following Utah’s lead, OEDIT has established the nation’s second Outdoor Recreation Industry Office with Luis Benitez as its first-ever director.

The mission of Outdoor Recreation is to “provide a central point of contact, advocacy, resources and support at the state level for the diverse constituents, businesses, communities and groups that rely on the continued health of the Outdoor Recreation Industry,” according to the press release detailing the office’s launch.

It sounds much like Utah’s charge, and the man selected to lead the fledgling office, Luis Benitez, has similar recreation chops as the uber-active Petersen. I spoke briefly with him after the announcement last week, the day before he left for Ecuador to advocate for industry investment, and, of course, participate in an expedition to climb the country’s iconic Cotopaxi.

Both states are interested in brand extension to create far-reaching economic impact. In comments to me, Benitez is focused initially on how the state’s outdoor and recreation assets can benefit any company doing business here or that would locate in Colorado. “We’re selling the lifestyle attributes of our outdoor industry, and really trying to focus on the entire life cycle of a company and how they might make a difference in areas like workforce,” he says.

Benitez cites “stewardship” as a core mission, something he’s no stranger to in his hometown of Eagle, Colorado, where he’s on city council. Mountain communities have been out front in developing effective, collaborative strategies that benefit all stakeholders including business. “This office will be the start of creating not only the collective voice for the outdoor community in our state, but also starting to craft the collaborative vision for the future of the Outdoor Recreation Industry in Colorado,” Benetiz said.

I asked Benitez how the office would be used to attract new lifestyle manufacturing companies and understandably, he’s not quite sure. “That’s a big question,” he answers, an honest assessment from someone not even on the job yet.

To be fair, Petersen is also focused on using the office to build consensus, to align and rally competing interests to development scenarios that protect the region’s lifestyle attributes as they provide economic lift. Using tourism or, more broadly, lifestyle, to recruit and retain companies is just one positive outcome.

But opportunity also lies in further refining the message and building cluster strategies that fully leverage the attributes of an outdoor recreation brand. Today, it’s local communities and industry leading the way, like Ogden, where the city’s inventive mayor, Mike Caldwell, is using outdoor recreation and the regional lifestyle brand to build a cycling industry cluster. Manufacturers, like carbon frame maker ENVE Composites, who resisted the move overseas to join most other cycling OEMs, lead the way. The strategy is now a magnet for related lifestyle companies and related composite manufacturing. Colorado’s Osprey Packs has recently located its distribution hub in Ogden.

A challenge Benitez faces is navigating his own economic development blueprint, Colorado’s ‘key industry’ framework, an organization that leaves outdoor-related manufacturing businesses scattered through Tourism, Creative Industries, and Food and Ag. Both states would do well to elevate ‘Manufacturing’ to key industry status – and from there bring resources to bear from across industries to help lifestyle and consumer manufacturers be more competitive, to make more stuff domestically.

The region’s development opportunity around outdoor recreation business is unmatched. Even though both states still view each other through a competitive lens, Colorado’s move to emulate Utah’s prescient decision to optimize sustainable commerce around outdoor recreation sends the right message. Outdoor and lifestyle-centric companies looking to launch or relocate need look no further than the Rocky Mountain/Wasatch corridor.

Where should local manufacturers stand on free trade?

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National policymakers align with the outcome of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations in fairly predictable ways. Republicans generally support free trade and big business that benefit most from more open access to foreign markets. Democrats value their labor credentials and argue that agreements like TPP sap U.S. manufacturing jobs. Moderates in both parties tend to favor U.S. engagement over protectionism.

Manufacturers are equally divided on the issue of trade, and how free it should be. For every company that supports efforts like TPP, another views it a tangible threat that provides unfair and unreciprocated access to the U.S. economy.

Given the region’s manufacturing ambitions, it’s fair to ask what position local manufacturers should take on the deal.

Trade agreements are usually never as onerous as detractors suggest or enriching as advocates claim. But I also agree with Jay Timmons, chief of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). I asked Timmons about the dissonance among manufacturers, and to his credit he responded with a short and direct answer: With whom most every country the U.S. has a free trade agreement, we also have a positive trade balance. That’s apparently good enough for NAM.

Certainly “free trade” can be one-sided. And despite recent gains, domestic U.S. manufacturing hasn’t recovered to a level required to be competitive across industry sectors. But in the end, it seems that no amount of tariffs can protect the American economy from quality, global producers.

Competitiveness is the key. If we agree to keep the U.S. market open and available, the competitiveness of U.S. industry must continue to improve. For manufacturers, the formula’s not that complicated: ready access to capital; streamlined regulation; a qualified workforce; a world-class innovation ecosystem; modern infrastructure, e.g. roads, airports, and water; and a resurgent cultural emphasis on making things here, and supporting businesses who do exactly that.

Surprisingly, for as much as manufacturers lament the sad state of the manufacturing ‘brand’, consumers are already leading a quiet but profound manufacturing comeback. In the West, food, lifestyle/consumer and technology manufacturing is being driven by growing demand. American-made is hot; the brand issue may be taking care of itself.

Finance? Not so much. Only this year will a first-ever manufacturing investor conference be held in the region. Workforce? Much has been done but there’s more to do. World-class innovation? Check. Infrastructure? Regulatory and tax reform? Pending.

Competitiveness is the key. It’s time to acknowledge that manufacturing success is more than just open markets, workforce development and innovation and technology. An embrace of fair and balanced trade first acknowledges that manufacturing’s an economic linchpin — regardless of industry sector. And that at all-out effort to improve competitiveness starts with recognizing what we lack.

Embrace free and open trade — then develop the most competitive manufacturing economy in the world.

On the extraordinary variety of modern manufacturers and the similarities that connect them

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Often I marvel at the stories and photographs filed by CompanyWeek writers and photographers. Such was the case this week in both Utah and Colorado editions. Weeks like this remind me why we do what we do.

Manufacturers cut, bend, shape, engineer, fabricate, and innovate regardless of company size or industry. But consider the profound connection that companies share in what otherwise would be unrelated businesses:

Landon Kunzler shapes and welds common utensils — forks and spoons — into art, but has embraced Lean manufacturing to improve efficiency and cut costs, an operational tenet any global advanced manufacturer would embrace. Kunzler also trains welders, a craft sorely underappreciated and now in high demand across the manufacturing spectrum. Judson Pryanovich captured one of Kunzler’s welders for Forked Up Art profile:

It’s easy to envision the fabricated steel that Thriller Manufacturing’s ‘toys’ of the trade bend and shape becoming part of the rocketry that United Launch Alliance uses to lift critical U.S. payloads into space. The visual connection is unmistakable:

Of course, the advanced systems that comprise ULA’s command and control efforts would fall on the other end of the manufacturing spectrum, closer to the science and exacting standards that Thomas Perez employs to build a $13,000 coffee machine for Utah-based Alpha Dominche. The following could be a control panel on a ULA launch vehicle — and is for one of Perez’s espresso machines.

Spacecraft and the promise of ‘space-age’ domestic living have always been connected. Tang was the drink of astronauts.

Ed Lehrburger’s ‘bioreactors’ are integral to a process that’s reinventing the way paper products are made. Utilizing agriculture residue like wheat stock, PureVision’s innovation is a promising, sustainable option to tree pulp, soon scalable to industrial proportions. It’s science, it’s sustainable, it’s innovative, it’s manufacturing.

This week, as ULA’s Atlas V rocket carries a U.S. Air Force payload into space (weather permitting), don’t forget their industrial brethren who cut, bend, and shape, or the innovators building high-tech coffeemakers or bioreactors to exacting specs to improve our collective lifestyle.

Don’t forget the manufacturers.

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Thanks to Eric Peterson, Margaret Jackson, Judson Pryanovich, and Jonathan Castner for this week’s stories and photos.

Time is now for a cohesive regional manufacturing strategy

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As inaugural events go last week’s Northern Colorado Manufacturing Trade Show (NoCOM) was a rousing success. Organizers say 600 people attended NoCOM, including representatives from nearly 60 exhibitors.

Paul Harter, CEO of Aqua-Hot and the event’s high-energy director, said the event also met its objectives. “The response and energy at the show told me that we hit on exactly what these manufacturers were looking for,” Harter wrote to me. “The point of this show was to better connect the region’s manufacturing community. Before the show was even over, I had exhibitors and sponsors telling me to count them in for next year.”

NoCom’s the latest in a series of regional Colorado events held within the last year to better connect manufacturers and promote the sector. A southern Colorado version – SoCOM – was the model for the northern version and will happen again this fall. The Western Colorado Manufacturing Association, now CAMA West, hosted its second annual expo and conference last month.

The push to bring manufacturers together reflects growing optimism but also real demand for qualified contract manufacturers and supply-chain partners. Across industries, business is improving. Colorado’s aerospace, food and beverage, medical, and ag-tech sectors, to name four, are fast-growth sectors. And I’ve heard more than one manufacturer say reshoring is finally producing tangible orders.

But manufacturing continues to lag in public perception and support. Part of it is employment: companies are doing more with less – technology is improving productivity. Manufacturing’s growing but employment is not.

There’s also a lack of consensus among economic developers and industry about how best to support the sector’s growth. The Governor’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) identifies ‘Advanced Manufacturing’ as a key industry sector but doesn’t confer similar status to food and beverage or consumer manufacturing.

For their part manufacturers seem more comfortable operating within the silos that shaped opportunity a generation ago. The SoCom, NoCom and CAMA West exhibitor pools were comprised primarily of industrial, contract manufacturers. Food, beverage, and consumer manufacturers are largely absent (kudos to Palisade’s Talon Wine Brands for representing at CAMA West). So far, the events are developing along established industry boundaries.

But companies benefit when sectors convene. We’ve seen it out our events. Some are searching for new supply-chain partners or contract manufacturers and most make new and useful connections at cross-industry events. Workforce, finance, and regulation are common challenges; some are managing better than others and have lessons to share. Best practices are emerging from fast-growing sectors that would benefit most all manufacturers.

Its time to look at how the various entities that support manufacturing should partner with business to promote the entire sector in a more cohesive way.