Jake Rubin brings a background in sales, lead generation, business development management and strategic planning to his role as Southern Colorado regional director at Manufacturer’s Edge. In that capacity, he is connecting with both manufacturers and regional economic development partners such as the Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC, Emergent Campuses in Cañon City and Trinidad and the Pueblo Economic Development Corp.
“I was brought on to engage the manufacturing industry in this region and understand challenges and what they need to grow, and then to find solutions,” Rubin says. “We have a lot of solutions and resources we can bring to solve even the toughest challenges. We want to grow the industry in this region.”
Manufacturer’s Edge is Colorado’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Center — part of a nationwide network through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology. The MEP’s purpose is to strengthen U.S. manufacturers and ensure they remain competitive, especially in critical industries.
Rubin and Rob Newbold, Manufacturer’s Edge vice president of client success, sat down recently with The Digest to talk about the state of manufacturing in Colorado.
In the Southern Colorado region, manufacturing is growing, but workforce is a continuing issue, Rubin says.
“Being able to hire qualified, manufacturing-trained or manufacturing-ready employees for entry-level jobs is one of the biggest challenges in the region,” he says.
There are around 17,000 to 18,000 manufacturing jobs in the Colorado Springs and Pueblo metropolitan areas, Newbold says.
“About 60% of those are production, and the demand for those production positions in the next year is around 900,” Newbold says. Jobs will need to be filled over the next few years at large companies like Entegris, which will bring in 600 new jobs at the new facility it is building in Northwest Colorado Springs, and Microchip, which expects to create 400 new jobs as it expands several product lines. Qualified employees also are needed for smaller manufacturers.
“They’re looking for production, architecture and engineering occupations specifically but also in-house, administrative and business positions,” he says. “Those are all skills that are needed for the future.”
About 30 new projects have been announced in Colorado Springs in the past year and a half, Newbold says. The electronics, software and semiconductor sectors are attracting investment, but less traditional industries also have growth potential, he says.
“Some opportunities that we’re starting to see are beverage, transportation and metal manufacturing,” Newbold says. “We see some opportunities coming up in the textile industry as well. We’ve had some conversations with some counties in the Southeast [United States] about bringing in textiles. There won’t be huge numbers in those, but to be able to grow that is an important area.”
In Pueblo, “we’re seeing the community coming together to build that sector,” Rubin says. Manufacturers in the aerospace and defense realm, plastics and chemicals manufacturers and companies that serve the construction industry, such as manufactured stone veneer maker Coronado Stone Products, are adding strength and diversity to the industry. Rubin also points to PuebloPlex, a 16,000-acre industrial center that is targeting rail-related industry, manufacturing, warehousing and distribution and research and development.
“We’re excited about some of the companies that are already in Pueblo and companies that are considering Pueblo for future expansion,” he says.
While development of the tech industry, centered on the Emergent Campus, is strongest in Cañon City, Rubin says he’s seeing interest in attracting manufacturing. The Emergent Campus in Trinidad is also fueling economic growth and interest in manufacturing.
“We work closely with the Economic Development Council of Colorado, which is tied in with these new innovation and business hubs to be on the lookout for manufacturing that might come out of it,” Rubin says.
The overall outlook for manufacturing in Colorado is robust, Newbold says.
“There’s a strong desire to come to Colorado,” he says. “Site selectors are high on the great collaboration across all the economic development agencies and the particular focus of being able to grow manufacturing. The positives are that we have a strong professional staff here, high expertise and education.”
The growing need for skilled workers is being addressed in several ways, he says.
“Number one is making sure that students are seeing manufacturing as a true potential opportunity for them and changing the mindset of parents and students that manufacturing has changed — it is not dull, dirty and dangerous but very much high tech, clean and automated,” Newbold says.
Manufacturer’s Edge is providing input to school systems and colleges on the industry’s needs and working to develop programs, such as a boot camp for students to learn about Computer Numerical Control (CNC) mechanisms that use software to automate machine tools.
Rubin encourages Southern Colorado manufacturers to contact him to learn about the resources and assistance Manufacturer’s Edge can provide. He can be contacted at 720-371-8779 or [email protected].
