Dear Gov. Healey: Here’s how to make Mass. a manufacturing powerhouse — again
There are not a lot of Trump administration objectives that you may feel like our state can get on board with over these next three-and-a-half years, but here’s one: making more stuff in the U.S.
Our state should work to become a petri dish of experimentation about what you can make domestically, how you can train the workforce that meets the 21st-century needs of manufacturers, and how we can supply manufacturers with cheaper and more sustainable energy to power their plants.
That’s why I think our next Secretary of Economic Development ought to be someone who understands the realities of manufacturing in Massachusetts — something that hasn’t been the case with the last ten people (at least) who’ve served in that role.
I’ve been gathering advice from people who’ve run manufacturing companies, like Art Trapotsis; people who’ve run recent conferences on manufacturing here, like Ben Downing, a former state senator from western Mass. now working for an MIT startup incubator; Jon Weaver, CEO of Worcester-based Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives, a nonprofit life sciences incubator; and Guy Breier, a manufacturing and operations consultant who also teaches at Boston University’s business school.
Hear from more manufacturing leaders, like FORGE Executive Director Laura Teicher, on MassLive.