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Florida TaxWatch Releases Report of the 2021 MakeMore Manufacturing Summit
>>Download Report Here<<
Tallahassee, Fla. – Florida TaxWatch, the state’s premier independent, nonpartisan policy research institute, has released a report entitled Manufacturing a Transformational Shift: Expanding Florida's Workforce Development Through Sector Strategies. It features a comprehensive summary of the 2021 MakeMore Manufacturing Summit, which included a series of four events (three virtual and one in-person) from June through October 2021, bringing together thought leaders such as Associated Industries of Florida, CareerSource Florida, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise Florida, and FloridaMakes to elevate the importance of the Manufacturing industry in Florida and identify ways to strengthen and advance Florida’s economy by improving the competitiveness, productivity, and technological performance of its Manufacturing sector.
Florida TaxWatch President and CEO Dominic M. Calabro said, “The typical Floridian can hardly go a week without some reference to ‘supply chain disruptions.’ The solution to such disruptions is to make more here in Florida.
“Florida TaxWatch has long supported the Manufacturing industry in Florida, and its importance to the state’s economy, as more than 22,000 companies currently employ over 382,000 individuals, or 4.4 percent of the non-agricultural workforce, with high-wage jobs.
“The global markets are evolving, and this report highlights some of the challenges and opportunities that manufacturing in Florida has to increase its relevance and impact. With the ongoing collaboration of valued stakeholders – like those that participated in the 2021 MakeMore Manufacturing Summit – we can build on the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, leverage the different resources and opportunities available to us, and ensure this growing sector continues to evolve and thrive, thereby making significant contributions to Florida’s future success.”
The MakeMore Manufacturing Summit was established in 2018 by FloridaMakes, a statewide, industry-led, public-private partnership operated by an alliance of Florida’s regional manufacturers’ associations that has had an overall economic impact of $2.6 billion to date. This year, the Summit focused on assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the state’s Manufacturing industry – 12 consecutive months of over-the-year job losses – and identifying challenges the sector must overcome in order to continue growing. In this report, Florida TaxWatch outlines these challenges as:
- Finding people with the right skills necessary to keep up with the needs of manufacturing and technology, particularly for emerging industries;
- Developing resilient and sustainable supply chains – interactive, dynamic, networks of people, processes, and technologies;
- Accelerating the adoption and implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies; and
- Attracting the next generation of manufacturers.
“The COVID-19 pandemic had a measurable negative impact on the Manufacturing sector,” said Kevin Carr, FloridaMakes CEO. “However, it also underscored how critical the Manufacturing sector is to our day-to-day lives. We saw that, in particular, with the critical healthcare products shortages during the pandemic, and the resulting supply chain shortages we are currently experiencing in nearly every critical industrial sector. Florida TaxWatch did a fantastic job with the 2021 MakeMore Manufacturing Summit report, outlining the challenges manufacturing currently faces and the solutions we can work on together to improve the Manufacturing sector's ecosystem in Florida.”
>>Download Report Here<<
About Florida TaxWatch
As an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit government watchdog and taxpayer research institute for more than forty years and the trusted eyes and ears of Florida taxpayers, Florida TaxWatch works to improve the productivity and accountability of Florida government. Its research recommends productivity enhancements and explains the statewide impact of fiscal and economic policies and practices on citizens and businesses. Florida TaxWatch is supported by its membership via voluntary, tax-deductible donations and private grants, and does not accept government funding. Donations provide a solid, lasting foundation that has enabled Florida TaxWatch to bring about a more effective, responsive government that is more accountable to, and productive for, the citizens it serves since 1979. For more information, please visit www.floridataxwatch.org.
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