A recent article put out by the Southern Growth Policies Board, “Manufacturing: The Misunderstood Industry“, chronicles a trend most everyone is seeing. The article begins:
According to a 2009 national survey, Americans believe that manufacturing is the most important industry for a strong national economy. Yet only 17 percent said their schools encourage manufacturing careers, and only 13 percent
said their own parents encouraged them to pursue a career in manufacturing.
With the U.S. manufacturing worker averaging 50 years old and some areas having difficulty finding skilled production workers, we need to prepare our workforce if we really want to maintain a healthy manufacturing base. Hickman County, Tennessee has a quality workforce including its share of production workers, but we must maintain the mindset that manufacturing is not going away. It is dynamic and will continue to require more technical skills and trainability from its workforce.
About Daryl Phillips, CEcD
I am a professional economic developer. I presently work for communities and companies in developing and implementing workforce and economic development solutions as CEO of Phillips Economic Development Solutions (Phi EDS).
Prior to September 2017, I was the economic development professional who served a community team of elected officials, business people, community leaders and dedicated stakeholders for economic development in Cheatham County, Tennessee (pop. 39,880) and its four towns. During my five-year tenure, I served the team as Cheatham County grew over 1,700 jobs, turned around population declines at the start of this decade into healthy population growth, increased tourism expenditures 20.3% and local tax revenue from tourism 25.4%, grew sales tax revenue 36%, focused on developing the local workforce and was recognized by SmartAsset as having the 9th highest Incoming Investment Index of all the 95 counties in Tennessee.
I am a member of International Economic Development Council, Southern Economic Development Council, Tennessee Economic Development Council and International Council of Shopping Centers.
I have earned the designation of Certified Economic Developer (CEcD) from International Economic Development Council (IEDC), the Economic Development Finance Professional (EDFP) certification from National Development Council and hold a Master of Business Administration from Tennessee Technological University.
