CICP News & Updates

Yesterday, Deloitte Consulting released a national survey of manufacturers in conjunction with The Manufacturing Institute (the research and education arm of the National Association of Manufacturers, or NAM).  Considering the vital importance of manufacturing to Indiana’s economy – we continue to be the most manufacturing-intensive state in the nation, with one of every five working Hoosiers employed in the industry – the results have special relevance here.

In a question that cut right to the heart of the matter, respondents were asked to identify the top three drivers of business success over the next two or three years.  The responses were, in order of importance – new product innovation, high-skilled workforce, and low-cost producer status.

Policymakers can do their part on the ‘low-cost producer’ front by ensuring a competitive business climate that minimizes tax and regulatory costs on manufacturers.  We’re doing well enough in this arena, as the Tax Foundation reports that the state has earned the 12^th best tax climate in the nation, leading the Midwest in this category.

But the other two categories relate directly to human capital – a skilled workforce, and innovation, which comes from talented and creative employees working together.  Because workforce drives productivity, the availability of skilled workers even impacts a company’s ability to be a low-cost producer (to do more with less).

This reaffirms the strategy of our Conexus Indiana initiative, which identifies human capital as the primary challenge facing the state’s manufacturing and logistics industries and is implementing a variety of strategies to connect industry and academia, pull more young people into the workforce pipeline for these fields, and dispel public perceptions that these industries don’t offer a promising array of high-tech careers.