• Activewear/Outdoor Gear
• Cleantech
• Advanced Manufacturing
• Software

» Targeted Clusters Home

Why Advanced Manufacturing?

• Regional manufacturing is diverse and dynamic
• The spectrum of skills within the cluster talent pool is key to the success of other regional clusters.
• The health of this cluster is a key indicator to the health of the regional economy.

This group of industry clusters includes companies that produce or shape metal into parts or machinery; companies that manufacture equipment for transportation purposes; companies that manufacture computer, electronic and semiconductor components.  PDC’s focus on manufacturing excludes these sectors: wood product manufacturing, food manufacturing and paper manufacturing.

Generally, there are two categories of factory machinery: standardized and customized.

• Standardized machinery — typically found in the paper, transportation, chemical, mining, or aircraft industries — includes equipment such as packaging lines, plastic molding equipment, and machines used for punching, stamping, or bending metal.
• Customized equipment takes longer to build, is more expensive, and is more profitable than standardized equipment.

Expenditures on machinery and tools (capital spending) tells a lot about the future direction of the whole economy. Such production equipment — from complicated industrial machinery to small hand tools — is used in almost every business, from electronic components to auto manufacturing. When companies establish, expand, or upgrade their production facilities, it's usually good news for both the industry and the economy.

• The diversity of skills within advanced manufacturing talent pool is a key driver in the success of the regional economy.
  
  
• The production workers of the manufacturing cluster are in high demand by cutting edge international companies developing cleantech technology; as the foundation for developing niche clusters; and as contributors to the health of existing heritage firms.  More than 80,000 people are employed in production occupations, which rank third among all regional occupations for employing the most people in the MSA.
  
  
• Production occupations provide quality jobs. The mean hourly wage is $15.98/hr, with a range from $8.00/hr to $25.00/hr. Many jobs provide on the job training with opportunity to seek further education at numerous institutions in the region. 
  
  
• The changing nature of manufacturing provides balance. As major sub-sectors decline, others experience growth, which fortifies the industry as a whole.
  
  
• Even though U.S. manufacturing has shed jobs in the last five years, the regional industry’s gross domestic product has gradually increased during the same time period. Oregon’s manufacturing industry generated approximately $16 million in 2001 and $29 million GDP in 2006, with $21 million dollars generated within the Portland MSA¹. The GDP for private industries within the MSA, as estimated by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, was approximately $94 million in 2006².

¹ Regional Economic Accounts, Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2008
² Economists are not completely comfortable with the regional GDP data set because reporting mechanisms have not been completely refined. Numbers for regional GDP by industry will likely change over time.  As a result, figures for 2001 onward may be adjusted in the future. Source: Oregon Employment Department, Average Nonfarm Employment, 2008

• Transportation: Rail, highway, river, and airport
• Port access
• Established cluster of manufacturers
• Livability of the region

   

• Industrial land preservation and restoration is time consuming, complicated and expensive
• The demand for lean manufacturing and the cost for providing technical assistance are simultaneously increasing
• The flow of talent through the workforce pipeline is weakening

• PDC hosted the annual NW Career Expo in Jan. 2009.
• PDC to convene Harbor ReDI Blue Ribbon Committee Meeting in Feb. 2009.