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Manufacturers will try team approach

Brian Gormley

01/04/1999

Rhode Island manufacturers, who have seen their job base slip steadily
since the early 1980s, aim to reinvigorate themselves this spring by
forming a statewide strategic plan for the industry.
Using Rhode Island Manufacturing Renaissance Week (April 27, 28, 29) as
a kick off, industry leaders, politicians, and economic development
groups statewide will assess the industry and identify ways to boost
competitiveness – globally as well as locally.
“I think it’s good to lay down what works and what doesn’t,” said state
Sen. William V. Irons, D-Dist.39. “What has been lacking is dialog
between members of the same sector, and other sectorsthe world of the
past never required that.”
But the world of today does, especially with foreign competition
squeezing many manufacturers, particularly in the jewelry industry. And
while manufacturing is the state’s third-largest industry – behind the
service and retail/wholesale industries – its employment base has eroded
from 87,139 in 1994 to about 81,200 now, according to the state
Department of Labor and Training.
The gradual decline will persist into the next century, the department
predicts, with the number slipping to 79,061 by 2005.
And the jobs that are emerging in today’s market are becoming
increasingly high tech. Part of the strategic planning’s emphasis,
therefore, will be on alerting manufacturers to the tax-subsidized
programs designed to help upgrade worker skill levels. For example,
Rhode Island Manufacturing Extension Services (RIMES) provides companies
with low-cost consulting and training.
“Part of the problem is that we have a lot of companies that aren’t
completely aware (of) the resources available,” said Martin P. Grueber,
deputy director of the state Economic Policy Council.
The manufacturing strategic plan will be melded with the state’s overall
economic development goals, Grueber said. Its approach will be holistic.
That is, companies will be encouraged to integrate plans to invest in
technology, equipment, and training.
The plan will say, “these are the resources, here’s how we’re going to
work together, here’s how we’re going to make manufacturing competitive
in the state,” he said.
Staying competitive means adapting to change. One of the biggest
stories of 1998 came with the merger of two prominent jewelry producers,
Uncas Manufacturing Co. and Vargas Manufacturing Co. In January, Uncas
acquired Vargas and consolidated the companies’ headquarters at 150
Niantic Ave. in Providence. Before the acquisition Vargas had considered
ways to cut operations to compensate for declining sales, Providence
Business News reported.
But as the state moves to create a statewide strategic plan, so too
should individual manufacturers, said Lawrence R. Kunkel, executive
director of the Central Rhode Island Development Corp., a nonprofit
promoting economic development in the manufacturing industry. All
companies should have their own long-range plans, he said. And for the
statewide plan to work it must reach out to all manufacturers, and each
company must make follow it, he said.
Kunkel added that the state should bring as many voices to the planning
process as possible.
“I think we need to be more creative in terms of the definition of what
is actually manufacturing,” Kunkel said. “I think it will give you more
creativity when it comes to ultimately developing the strategy set.”
An essential element of the plan should be improving education, said
Leonard Lardaro, a University of Rhode Island economist. Manufacturers,
he said, care more about the quality of an area’s workforce than tax
cuts when considering where to relocate. And the state will never become
more competitive if it fails to deal with its inability to produce
graduates qualified for the jobs of today, he said.
Still, the state’s willingness to plan signals that it is taking the
problems the manufacturing sector faces seriously, experts said. “We’re
always going to be a heavily manufacturing-dependent state,” Kunkel
said.