Businesses, Schools And County Commissions Celebrate October As Manufacturers Month In N.E. Florida

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Oct. 27, 2014 - PRLog -- Manufacturers, related businesses, high schools, the Jacksonville City Council and surrounding county commissions teamed up with the First Coast Manufacturers Association to conduct a variety of events to celebrate October as “Manufacturing Month” throughout the First Coast.

Jacksonville & Surrounding County Commissions
Proclaim Manufacturers Month

October was proclaimed “Manufacturing Month” by the Jacksonville City Council, the County Commissions of Baker, Clay, St. Johns, Nassau and Putnam counties.

The proclamation recognizes manufacturers located throughout Northeast Florida for their achievements in areas that include economic impact, business and operational efficiency, increasing employment, protecting the environment and contributing to the community’s welfare through the donation of volunteer time or funds. For each job directly created by manufacturing expenditures, an additional 1.7 jobs are created through indirect and induced impacts.

High Schools Tour Area Manufacturing Plants

         Through the cooperation of several FCMA manufacturing members, plant tours were held for area high school students to introduce them to new opportunities in manufacturing jobs. Over 560 high school students participated.

First Coast manufacturers and high schools participating included…

Soler Palau – Robert E Lee High School

Vac-Con – Clay High, Orange Park High, Middleburg High School

Gerdau – St. Johns Technical High School & Frank H. Peterson High School

Vistakon – A. Philip Randolph, Frank H. Peterson High School

Safariland – The Independent Living Resource Center High School

Rayonier – Fernandina Beach High School

Kaman – Frank H. Peterson High School

FCMA Holds Second Annual Summit In Amelia Island

         Over 150 participants attended the three-day 2014 FCMA Summit, the second annual conference conducted by the association. Highlighting the event were presentations by Herschel Vinyard, secretary of Florida Department of Environmental Protection and business/manufacturing consultant Dr. Harold Resnick. There were also panel discussions that covered areas that included import/export, lean and best practices and evaluating milennials in the workplace.

The event included the association’s annual planning session and the “Excellence In Manufacturing” awards, with winners including…

Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Johnson Controls, Inc. and CF Machine & Tool, Inc – Manufacturers of the Year

JEA – Workforce Education Award

Fleet Readiness Center Southeast – Environmental Award

Saft America, Inc. – Economic Impact Award

Golder Associates, Inc. – Partner of the Year

Vistakon – Founders Service Award

Representing an industry with over 1,500 manufacturing companies on the First Coast, supplying over 30,000 jobs that generate nearly 15% of the total gross regional product, the First Coast Manufacturers Association (FCMA) used the month of October to help raise the profile and awareness of the impact of the manufacturing industry. Additional information about FCMA is available at www.fcmaweb.com.