It’s time to take action to grow your business.
That’s the key point to the upcoming Manufacturing Excellence Conference and Tax Cut Rally September 10 and 11, hosted by Associated Industries of Missouri (AIM) and the Missouri Center for Manufacturing Excellence (MCME).
The conference features free registration, and will be held at the Double Tree Hotel and Conference Center in downtown Jefferson City.
AIM president Ray McCarty says conference topics will be centered around preparing your business and a prospective Missouri workforce for the growing and changing economy.
“Manufacturing as a whole is experiencing a bit of a rebound, and that’s good,” said McCarty. “But what are we doing to make Missouri more attractive so that we retain and grow our manufacturing base?”
Part of that retention and growth is the development of a skilled workforce, trained to meet the demands of the modern manufacturer. That’s where the Missouri Center for Manufacturing Excellence comes in. The MCME will be introduced during the conference.
“The goal of the Missouri Center for Manufacturing Excellence is to educate students, parents, and high school counselors, that there are good careers in manufacturing and that it is a laudable goal for students to pursue a manufacturing career,” said McCarty.
McCarty said today’s manufacturing employees in many cases need advanced training, either through two year institutions or the more traditional four year secondary education. From the factory floor to the engineers in the front office, manufacturers need a large, well trained, workforce.
“This goes to the heart of the challenges we’re hearing from human resource managers in companies all over the state of Missouri – trying to find qualified workers for the jobs they have open,” said McCarty.
That’s why one of the panel discussions at the conference is entitled “Preparing Tomorrow’s Workforce”. The panel will include representatives from the University of Missouri, the State Technical College of Missouri and an expert on the Common Core initiative, an elementary and secondary education program that will be implemented in Missouri in the coming years.
The conference will also include sessions on topics such as intellectual property protection presented by the FBI, tips and challenges on doing business abroad, and a discussion on federal issues relating to Missouri businesses, as well as other presentations.
The conference will also present a rare opportunity to talk one-on-one with state legislators and their leaders during an informal reception on Tuesday evening, September 10. That will be followed by a breakfast briefing from state Senate and House of Representatives’ leaders on Wednesday the 11th.
“Where else are you going to have access to legislators in an informal setting where you can just visit with them about concerns that you have?”, said McCarty. “This is also a good time to let your legislator know just how important the tax cuts in House Bill 253 are to your business and the 152,000 employees we represent among our member businesses.”
McCarty says the conference is taking a place over a short time to ensure that busy employers are not away from their businesses for a long period of time. But McCarty hopes that bringing together the best and brightest business minds in Missouri will foster discussion that will lead to advancement for all.
“We think there’s value in getting a lot of us together in a room,” said McCarty. “You’ll get a lot of value through networking at this conference. You get a sharing of best practices, and that’s important.”
But McCarty emphasizes time is growing short to sign up. Go to this link to look at a flyer that includes more information, and then click here to register.
“We need you to act right away so that we can have the best conference possible,” said McCarty.
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