As the manufacturing economy rebounds, state-wide industry stakeholders are actively collaborating to bolster California’s position for continued success.

Recently, Bill Browne from Manex wrote a blog post about an East Bay consortium, which included Fremont, to help secure a manufacturing hub designation from the Federal Economic Development Administration. Sadly, this application was not successful. However, our friends from Southern California, in a consortium that included Los Angeles and San Diego, combined forces for a successful bid to benefit their aeronautics industry. It would seem that such competitions would divide us. However, the commitment to sharing best practices is stronger than ever, as witnessed last week when the California Network for Manufacturing Innovation (CNMI) convened at the USC Price Center.

The conference began with California’s outlook on manufacturing with a national and international context provided by Perry Wong, managing director of the Milken Institute. Wong noted that while the U.S. manufacturing rebound hasn’t registered on the international charts, it’s important to note that it took 20+ years to develop overseas supply chains. Those won’t unravel overnight. While U.S. production still looks modest in comparison to powerhouses like China, our labor costs are stable. In fact, Wong says that our real competitor is Germany, with whom we’re running neck-and-neck on manufacturing exports. And while California shows an overall decline in high-tech manufacturing, the gap is narrowing in terms of our state’s overall share of U.S. manufacturing establishments. As a final caution, Wong pointed out that California has fallen behind in its human capital investment (#20 in 2013 vs. #13 in 2008). This supports what we have all been hearing in terms of the importance of science, technology, engineering, and manufacturing (STEM).

Offering a more optimistic outlook was Dr. Irene Petrick of Penn State University whose research on the dynamic nature of manufacturing back to “artisan maker” is redefining the industry. Petrick explains that IT-driven design and production are shifting “economies of scale” to “economies of one.” All costs are now variable with the rise of 3D printers and other high-tech tools. As a result, design and production can now function as experimentation — moving from the paradigm of “problem solving” to “problem finding.”

It was great to hear from manufacturing companies across the state, including Larry Nichols from Nutek, who recently announced a new Fremont headquarters for his company. Nichols and his peers echoed similar sentiments regarding the importance of continued equipment investment, flexible regulations, and instilling the spirit of innovation in all employees.

Last but not least, everyone agreed that manufacturing is being undersold (if it is mentioned at all). We have much more work to do to better promote the industry as a vital, creative, and even disruptive force in the California economy.

As part of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) senior staff, Patrick Dempsey is leading efforts to position the Laboratory to best serve national efforts to stimulate the economy through advancements in science and technology. Patrick is working with California manufacturing interests to establish a network for manufacturing innovation that would leverage technologies being developed at the national laboratories to help improve American industry competitiveness.