By Stefan Yablonski
Manufacturing is poised for significant growth in New York state, according to Randy Wolken, MACNY president & CEO.
“Our expansion here will also contribute to meaningful growth in manufacturing for the entire country,” he said. “The Central New York region is a hot spot for manufacturing. It is pretty exciting. We are very pleased that this is happening.”
Obviously there is a huge amount of excitement because of Micron and the supply chain around Micron, he added.
“But also other companies and industries are investing in the area. So it is much broader than Micron,” he said. “But Micron clearly is a meaningful part of what’s going to happen in northern Onondaga and Oswego County, too. I think a lot of investment is going to flow into Oswego County.”
COVID-19 sent a strong message to the country.
“We need to have our supply chains close. We don’t want them to be across the globe,” he said. “We must make critical products here in the United States. Disruptions in extended supply chains during the pandemic taught us that our national and economic security is tied to our ability to design and make essential products stateside.
“We cannot rely on the rest of the world for items of both national and economic importance that we need produced. This includes semiconductor chips and the essential products that they’re required for. Extended supply chains in countries like China threaten our ability to respond as needed and because of this, we must reassert the United States as the world’s greatest manufacturing nation.”
Manufacturing itself has continued to evolve, he pointed out.
“These are high-tech jobs; they are not low-paying, they are high-end jobs with a lot of technology involved. It is very competitive these days” he said. “We’ll see a lot of robotics and A I. Robotics will be involved in virtually everything in manufacturing.”
AI is part of most technical solutions today — all the technology uses A I, he said.
“But at the same time, we won’t have enough workers,” he added. “It’s not as if we are going to let people go because AI is going to take their job. People are going to have to continue to invest. The Novelises of the world, the Nucors, you name it — they are all investing in technology and upgrading the skills of their people.”
Wolken said that what’s fascinating about manufacturing today is because it is so high-tech it really is a place where people want to be.
“Those jobs are highly desirable and now we are seeing it grow in terms of number of jobs needed,” he said. “There really are hundreds of job open today and thousands of jobs will be open in the near future.”
There is a huge desire to be in this work because it pays so well and these are sustainable jobs, according to Wolken.
“For example, when you build a chip making facility, that thing never moves. You don’t spend $20 billion and then move the plant,” he said. “It’s not like those jobs are going to move.
“In the past there was a lot of concern. But these jobs are going to be here for a long period of time. We’ll see growth that is going to be here for a long period of time. That’s what makes manufacturing different than it was even 10 or 15 years ago; a lot of investment, a lot of great excitement about it. I think that is what makes it different. These are great jobs; they are not going away. People don’t have to be worried about these jobs leaving; these jobs are going to stay here for decades.”
“Collectively, our nation knows we need to regain our strategic manufacturing capabilities. For instance, our federal government agreed to massive investments in semiconductor production capacity to build essential computer chips right here in the U.S.,” he continued. “This investment is helping to fund new chip fabs and greatly enhancing our ability to make the vital products that drive our national and economic security.
“New York state is poised to be the home of general semiconductor production and advanced manufacturing facilities. These high-tech advanced manufacturing facilities fit right into our sweet spot. Micron’s commitment to building four chip fabs at an estimated cost of over $100 billion is just one example of our bright future.”
Oswego County is a prime location. It has the skilled workforce, water … really an abundance of water, land and the ability to generate more energy.
“We could see more than 100,000 people here over the next 20 years,” he said. “I think there are significant people moving here. Clearly part of the challenge will be having enough housing, sufficient infrastructure and all the other things like schools. So a whole lot of growth and investment needs to take place.”
Workforce
According to Wolken, the local workforce is among the most educated due to an extensive and outstanding elementary through graduate school education system.
“We also have significant technical schools and apprenticeship systems in place. As a result, we can meet the substantially increased need for a technical and highly educated workforce — this is essential to growing existing manufacturing facilities as well as attracting future ones,” he said. “All future manufacturers will use the latest in robotics, artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality and automation to produce every product. This type of manufacturing requires what we have here in New York state: the people, the know-how and an unmatched commitment to manufacturing excellence.”
“Overall, it’s impressive to see how far we’ve come. As a state, we’re ready to once again assume our leading role in global manufacturing,” he said. “New York is a premier destination for many manufacturers who want to make the U.S. their home. MACNY is grateful to be a part of the ecosystem that supports manufacturing excellence throughout New York state. It’s an exciting time for manufacturing in New York state!”
