Last week, Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam opened the Florida Energy Summit by outlining a series of legislative proposals to reduce the energy tax burden on Florida businesses and consumers and support innovation in energy research and development.
He is recommending:
- Cutting the commercial business energy sales tax in half for 2014 – saving businesses $250 million a year (manufacturing facilities already enjoy an electricity sales tax exemption, but it may not extend to their entire facility). The remainder of the tax paid would be redirected to public capital outlay for schools.

- A proposal for a forecast of natural gas supplies and future prices, infrastructure and opportunities for storage and use in transportation.

To read his presentation and vision for Florida’s energy policy, visit http://www.floridaenergysummit.com/index.html

Florida companies in select industries that have influenced the state's economic growth and diversification are asked to submit nominations to Enterprise Florida. Awards will be given in three categories for activity in 2012:

• Expansion: for companies that expanded their operations in 2012, investing capital and creating jobs in Florida.
• Newcomer: For new-to-Florida companies that began business operations in 2012.
• Export Excellence: For companies with new or significant increases in documented export sales.
• Innovation/Entrepreneurship: For start-up companies or innovative companies that have set a standard for entrepreneurship and creativity in the past three years.

Nominations Due October 24th
For more information about the awards and to submit a nomination, follow this link.

Throughout Florida, National Manufacturing Day was observed at more than 200 middle and high schools. At Middleton High School in Tampa, Hillsborough County officials issued a proclamation declaring Oct. 4 as Florida Manufacturing Day. Members of BAMA were on hand to show their support.

Left to right: Kim Moore, Middleton High School; Steve Meitzen, BAMA; Hillsborough County Commissioner Mark Sharp; Mike Ramsey, Hillsborough County Schools; Marilyn Barger, FLATE; Larry Plank, Hillsborough County schools; Shannon Sweatman, Southern Manufacturing Technologies; James Moore, Cardio Command; Middleton HS Principal Owen Young; Ken Jurgensmeyer, Heat Pipe Technologies

Students from Meadownlawn Middle School in St. Petersburg toured Jabil Circuit in
observation of National Manufacturing Day, October 4, 2013.

The Bay Area Manufacturers Association (BAMA) and Upper Tampa Bay Manufacturers Association (UTBMA) are joining forces for the Dream It Do It initiative. Partnering with Hillsborough County Public Schools and Pinellas County Schools on the Adopt-A-School program, the manufacturing associations are working together to make the program a reality. Cliff Csulik, President of the Bay Area Manufacturers Association and Jerry Custin, Secretary/Treasurer of the Upper Tampa Bay Manufacturers Association, have announced an agreement to join association forces.

Csulik explains, “Adopt-A-School is a program managed by the Manufacturers Association of Florida to engage manufacturers as mentors in area high schools. The goal is to expose students and parents to the rewarding and challenging opportunities of a career path in advanced manufacturing. The program involves mentorship with area school clubs and engineering programs, plant tours and possible internships and scholarship opportunities. We need to get that word out and what better way than to engage our area manufacturers directly in the process.”

Custin continued, “Folks generally also do not realize the strength of manufacturing in our region and the level of education in some of our area schools. Nearly 25% of Florida’s 17,000 manufacturers are in the Tampa / Clearwater / St. Petersburg area employing over 57,000 workers at an average pay up to 20% greater than service industries. Our schools are focusing on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) at some level and numerous have Engineering Academies that are well equipped. We have established working relationships with the Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas school districts to get our manufacturers involved in the development of these programs and to engage students in the exciting world of advanced manufacturing.”

The Adopt-A-School program will establish a countywide model with four schools; Gaither and Middleton high schools in Hillsborough County and Eastlake and Gibbs high schools in Pinellas County. These schools use state of the art equipment including 3-D printers and miniature wind tunnels that are providing their students with advantages. Whether their near term goal is higher education or the start of a solid career that will involve continuous learning. Many in our community do not realize that high school students can gain basic certifications in various disciplines including cyber-security, Solid Works and others that could land them positions in advanced manufacturing with a high school diploma.

“Joining forces between BAMA and UTBMA will allow us to leverage the membership and community connections needed to make an impact as well as develop a cohesive regional model for building a sustainable world class workforce right in our own community”, Csulik concluded, “ this is a win-win-win for everyone especially for our students looking for a great career.”

If you’d like to make a difference contact BAMA at 727.536.5809 or the UTBMA at 813.855.4233.

Michael Keating is doing a brief write up for ThomasNet's Industry Market Trends, an e-newsletter that goes to 375,000 manufacturing executives, on how manufacturers can work together after a disaster to keep production humming. Are there any Florida success stories he can mention? He hopes to include at least a few sentences from our group.
Contact: Michael Keating, 770-618-0193, www.mikekeat.net

Here is a link to his first in a series of disaster planning items.
What Manufacturers Need to Do About Data Recovery After a Disaster

At a recent visit to the Pinellas Board of County Commissioners, Pinellas County Commissioner Karen Seals presented a Proclamation to BAMA Board members proclaiming October 4, 2013 as National Manufacturing Day. Working together with several other organizations, BAMA was able to receive the proclamation recognizing the 75,471 jobs that are provided by the manufacturing industry in Pinellas County.

From left: BAMA President Cliff Csulik, BAMA Board Member Steve Meitzen, Pinellas County Commissioner Karen Seals, BAMA Board Treasurer Ann Paxton and FLATE Curriculum Coordinator Danielly Orozco-Cole.

 

Richard and Claire Knowles, currently of St. Petersburg FL and Youngstown NY, have made distinct literary news.  Richard is the author of “The Leadership Dance”, a Classic in Transformational Leadership, which became an Amazon #1 Best Seller on August 8, 2013.  Claire is the author of “Lights On! A Reflective Journey” which provides positive motivation for women to move forward in their personal and professional lives.  Lights On! became an Amazon Best Seller in December, 2012. 

Each has penned another book as well.  Claire’s newest, “Can You See Them Now? (Elephants in Our Midst)” is a business relationship book, valued by Human Resource Managers, Supervisors and Team-Leaders.  It will be available on Amazon September 1^st.  Dick’s second book, “Partnering for Safety and Business Excellence” is already available on Amazon, and is intended for Plant Managers, Supervisors and Leaders in industrial safety.

Claire and Dick Knowles both are highly credentialed and experienced in the fields in which they write. Dick was a DuPont Plant Manager at several locations, including the Niagara Falls NY Plant and Belle WV plant; he currently consults worldwide in Safety and Leadership. Claire retired from DuPont’s Buffalo Plant as Human Resources and Labor Relations Manager in 2000 and now speaks and consults on Leadership and Success.

Contacts:  Claire Knowles  716-622-7753;   Richard Knowles 716-622-6467

Email: Cefk1@aol.com   or   RNKnowles@aol.com

Websites:      www.LightsOnBook.com

                   www.LightsOnLeadershipSuccess4Women.com

                   www.SafetyExcellenceForBusiness.com

 

Dear Regional Manufacturing Associations:

We wish to remind you of one opportunity that has been presented to you and tell you about another one.

First, a few weeks ago we hosted a teleconference with Debbie McMullian, Worfkorce Florida, Inc., on each region putting together a Quick Response Training Consortium.  As you might recall some $2 million has been set aside just for manufacturers and $2 milliion set aside for logistics and distribution companies.  This was a priority for MAF during the 2013 legislative session and we were successful in getting $12 million appropriated overall by the Legislature.  It is a priority for MAF again for 2014, but if we don’t use the funds that have been appropriated it makes no sense to ask for them again.  To date only the South Florida Manufacturers Association has contacted Ms. McMullian about setting up a consortium.  Please, contact her and get the ball rolling!  Her contact info is below.

 

Debbie McMullian, QRT Program Director, at dmcmullian@workforceflorida.com  or 850-922-8647. 

Second, the Governorś Office has asked us to put together a calendar of manufacturing events for the remainder of the year.  We have already given him October 4 for a plant tour yet to be determined by your scheduled plant tours and his location on that day and December 5 or 6 during the Manufacturers Summit.  We would like to add your special events – annual meetings, plant tours or other major events in the hopes that he could attend.  Please send me your calendar of events for the remainder of the year at your earliest convenience and I will forward them to the Governorś Office.

Thank you for your attention in these matters.

Best wishes,

Nancy D. Stephens, CAE
Executive Director

Manufacturers Association of Florida

1625 Summit Lake Drive, Suite 300

Tallahassee, FL  32317

nancy@mafmfg.com

O (850) 402-2954

F (850) 402-0139

C (850) 445-1607

Click here for brochure

What we are looking for:

1. Companies that are headquartered in Florida.

2. If a company is not headquartered in the state, they should be doing major operations here and/or doing something unique in the state

3. Companies that have either an interesting history of pioneering entrepreneurship, long history in the state, huge economic impact, cool unique Florida products, products that are sold worldwide or impacting the world in a positive way, high technology, any company that would make a very visual story…or any combination of the above!

We will produce 13 shows as part of the series.Each 30-minute program will air at least once in every market in Florida and be posted on the show's website. It will have three company /product stories- two 7-minute versions and a 5-minute one, and a sponsored 1-minute "tip" segment. As the model stands now, the production will be free…sponsors and advertisers will help pay the cost of production. If a company wants to use their segment separately from the show, there would be a small licensing fee involved for us to provide them a digital copy of just their segment and the rights to use it wherever they want.

I've spoken with Enterprise Florida and they've also expressed and interest in being part of the show.  We are starting production soon and expect to have the show on in summer or fall of 2014. As producers, we are excited to be working on this program...and look forward to telling the great stories about business in Florida!

Contact Mark Greenwald [mark@crawfordentertainment.tv]