Seattle Industry magazine is distributed to 12,000 manufacturing and industrial business leaders and elected officials throughout Washington. That is, everyone who does or should care about industry in our state.

What’s UP In This Issue
Welders? Future?

In 1994, who would have thought that the future face of manufacturing in our regio might be sweating behind a welder’s shield? Certainly not the experts who gazed into the future back then and saw biotech as a burgeoning force in manufacturing -- and goodness knows, biotech production was off to a sizzling start.

From 1994 through 2001, sales for pharmaceutical products made in our state soare by more than 600 percent to reach the billion dollar mark. But then, the bottom fell out and sales plummeted to $394 million in 2004.

At the same time, jobs with metal fabricating companies in Washington state grew by a modest but steady 9 percent and sales grew by 79 percent. Growth rates were even higher for companies that make machines for construction, farming and other industrial uses. Jobs with machine manufacturers in Washington state grew by 12 percent and their sales climbed by more than 120 percent. Put these two metal-bending sectors together and they now account for nearly 30,000 jobs in Washington that generate more than $6 billion per year in revenue.

Does their success mean the biotech production dream is not worth pursuing? Of course not; it is. But the contrasting experiences of the metal-benders and the pharmaceuticalcrowd shows it is time to tear down the black crepe paper, put away the hymnals and send back the casket because, once again, the rumored death of manufacturing was, and is, just a wee bit exaggerated.

What We Appreciat

In recognition of Manufacturing Appreciation Week, Seattle Industry conducted a new survey to gauge the health of manufacturing in our state. The findings suggest there are at least five things about it that are well worth appreciating: 1) Manufacturing still packs a mighty economic wallop. Manufacturers in our state reported gross business revenues in 2004 of $95 billion. That was 20 percent of all business revenues reported to the state. In 1994, manufacturers accounted for 21 percent of all business revenues. Some might call that “decline.” We say, “B.S.” That’s a whole lot of money.

2) Manufacturing sales grew faster than the rest of the economy in 2005, up 13 percent to 8 percent for businesses not in manufacturing and with Boeing sales on a dramatic upswing, manufacturing sales should continue to grow quite nicely.

Download Seattle Industry magazine, Spring 2006

PDF format, 4.6MB, 52Pages.

ON THE COVER
Welder at Capital Industries in Seattle.

SPECIAL REPORT - Manufacturing 2006
6 Alive and Kicking!
A survey shows manufacturing in our state is healthy with some sectors going strong.
10 Growth Sectors
Good news about manufacturing that you probably never heard about.
15 World Trends and the China Card
The number of manufacturing jobs is down in most countries, but up in China.
16 Still Running; Still Hungry
Some of our best manufacturing companies open their doors for tours during Manufacturing Appreciation Week.
20 High Tech Angst
Computer jobs drop as the world goes flat.
21 Make More Money
Advice for manufacturers from Bernsten Porter.
22 Industrial Spotlight
Four local businesses worth knowing.
25 Ground Up
Help design the Puget Sound Industrial Excellence Center at South Seattle Community College.
Open house June 2.

Visit Seattle Industry Website

Seattle Industry is published quarterly by the Manufacturing Industrial Council of Greater Seattle at 5509 1st Avenue South, Suite B, Seattle, WA 98108.

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