2008 Advanced Manufacturing Partnership

Our nation and world are moving into the knowledge economy. Leaders will fare well. Those that lag will do so at their peril. The U.S. Department of Labor recognizes advanced manufacturing as a high growth industry, “producing more goods with fewer workers, made possible by the transformation in technology, business practices, production processes, and an increasingly high-skilled workforce.” From 1977 to 2002, U.S. advanced manufacturing productivity rose 109%, compared to 53% for the overall economy. Manufacturing contributes the largest share of Kentucky’s gross state product, and advanced manufacturing must be a significant percentage of Kentucky’s manufacturing sector for both the sector and the Commonwealth to prosper and provide high quality jobs to Kentuckians.

Advanced manufacturing means high-technology enterprises using process improvements, increased quality controls, advanced robotics, and other intelligent production systems, stressing speed to market, flexibility to changing customer demands, mass-customization, and higher quality, driven by workers continually focused on innovation of products and processes.

To help in advancing Kentucky manufacturing, a faculty-staff team from the UK Center for Manufacturing, including Larry Holloway, Bruce Walcott, Ken Carroll and Bob Gregory, formed the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP). Non-UK members include the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, Commerce Lexington, the Kentucky Association of Manufacturers, the Kentucky Community and Technical College Systems, all Kentucky public universities, the Council on Postsecondary Education, the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development, the Kentucky Education Cabinet, Toyota Motor Manufacturing, and others. Together, they meet, assemble, and present economic and educational data, and develop recommendations and a marketing plan for advanced manufacturing. The Advanced Manufacturing Partnership’s purpose is to drive Kentucky economic development by focusing on the needs of the advanced manufacturing sector. AMP will form networks and alliances among stakeholders in regional economic development, present Kentucky’s legislature with recommendations for encouraging and supporting advanced manufacturing through workforce training and other initiatives, help align Kentucky’s K – 20 education system with the needs of advanced manufacturing, improve the image of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and manufacturing as careers, and pursue federal and state funding that supports advanced manufacturing in Kentucky.