Wisconsin Looks at Manufacturing Competitiveness

The Wisconsin Manufacturing Study includes a series of recommendations to improve and strengthen the state's industrial sector:

-Build on Wisconsin’s driver industries and help them adapt to a new manufacturing economy. Driver industry supply chains should be targeted for improvement services with original equipment manufacturers supplier consortia playing a key role.

-Create structural change to heighten the focus on manufacturing. One way this can be accomplished is through the creation of a bipartisan manufacturing task force in the state legislature. Another would be regular assessment of best practices of competitive and growing firms.

-Take immediate action to address skill shortages. Wisconsin should aggressively promote manufacturing as a high-tech industry with a strong future and high quality of life jobs. The state also should integrate manufacturing into public school education and expand internships for students and teachers to learn about manufacturing’s career opportunities.

-Prepare a broad-scale legislative package based on a close examination of the policies affecting driver manufacturing industries and their industry clusters, as well as issues related to healthcare, availability of skilled workers, taxation and regulation.

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