{"id":5815,"date":"2012-02-06T14:28:36","date_gmt":"2012-02-06T19:28:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/?p=5815"},"modified":"2012-02-06T14:28:36","modified_gmt":"2012-02-06T19:28:36","slug":"strengths-and-weaknesses-of-manufacturing-in-new-hampshir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2012\/02\/06\/strengths-and-weaknesses-of-manufacturing-in-new-hampshir\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A: The Strengths and Weaknesses of Manufacturing in New Hampshire"},"content":{"rendered":"
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High Tech Council President Fred Kocher offers his perspective on the state of manufacturing in New Hampshire<\/p><\/div>\n

What we’ve seen since President Barack Obama’s\u00a0State of the Union<\/a> address has been a series of press events at various factories (including a vice presidential visit to Albany Engineered Composites in Rochester) and media stories touching on the state of American Manufacturing<\/a>.\u00a0It’s part of the president’s latest jobs initiative that focuses on reviving the\u00a0manufacturing<\/a>\u00a0sector.<\/p>\n

Given this sector’s importance in New Hampshire, from historic mills<\/a> to high-tech components assembly, we’ve decided to dig deeper into what manufacturing means to the state.\u00a0 Our plan over the next week or so is to give you a potpourri of news, data, and opinions tied to fabrication in New Hampshire.<\/p>\n

And in that spirit, we kick-off with our Q&A of Fred Kocher.\u00a0 He’s president of the New Hampshire High Tech Council<\/a>.\u00a0 A significant number of the council’s member businesses are manufacturers, which means Kocher is plugged-in to the strengths–and weaknesses–of this sector in the Granite State.<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>For somebody who maybe isn\u2019t familiar with the state\u2019s manufacturing sector, could you describe what it looks like from a bird\u2019s-eye view?<\/p>\n

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Amanda Loder \/ StateImpact NH<\/p>

The ability to engineer and assemble complex technology is taking the place of old-line manufacturing<\/p><\/div>\n

A:\u00a0<\/span>Manufacturing in New Hampshire, by research done just a year ago, has four times the economic impact of any other economic sector in New Hampshire, and that includes tourism<\/a>, which is a big piece of our economy…And that manufacturing ranges from companies that make items for the Defense Department, including BAE Systems<\/a>, one of our biggest companies in New Hampshire, all the way down to software companies which are included in the manufacturing definition of \u201cadvanced manufacturing.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m talking about advanced manufacturing because that is the sector in NH that really is leading this economy back out of the recession.\u00a0 Let me give you some tech facts, which includes a lot of the advanced manufacturing.\u00a0 Nine percent of the workforce in New Hampshire produces about 25 percent of the Gross State Product (GSP).\u00a0 And the majority of that comes from manufacturing.\u00a0 There are about 3,700 tech businesses in New Hampshire, 80,000 tech jobs.\u00a0 The average salary\u2019s about $81,000 a year.<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>When you\u2019re talking about these manufacturing jobs, it sounds like you\u2019re talking about more than one kind of job, because when I think of manufacturing, I tend to think of people who are machining the parts, they\u2019re taping the boxes, and they\u2019re doing the sort of day-in, day-out, work-a-day stuff on the floor.\u00a0 Is that what you\u2019re describing when you\u2019re talking about manufacturing jobs in this state?<\/p>\n

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Mark, Vicki, Ellaura and Mason \/ Flickr<\/p>

Computer and engineering skills are in high demand among manufacturers<\/p><\/div>\n

A: <\/span>That\u2019s part of it.\u00a0 But that\u2019s a small part.\u00a0 And the part of manufacturing, in terms of jobs, that is really in demand right now are the highly skilled workers.\u00a0 Engineers \u2014electrical engineers in particular are in short supply.\u00a0\u00a0 But they\u2019re also programmers, quality control type people, people who have basic math acumen, those who can read a blueprint, those who do product assembly, those who you can use an auto-CAD, electronic board assembly, computer skills, drafters, but increasingly, people on the manufacturing floor that can just solve problems.<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>When we\u2019re talking about the sheer quantity of manufacturing jobs, what are we talking about in terms of numbers?<\/p>\n

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