Iowa’s Governor Officially Launches ‘Year of Manufacturing’ Initiative

Gov. Terry Branstad, Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds and a host of other Iowa governmental and business leaders have unveiled a plan to boost Iowa factories during a “Year of Manufacturing.”

The Year of Manufacturing initiative, which was announced in January during Branstad’s Condition of the State address, is designed to be a 12-month, concentrated focus on improving Iowa’s manufacturing Gross Domestic Product. Led by the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA), the Iowa Association of Business and Industry (ABI) and CIRAS, business leaders plan to fan out across the state to visit with companies and make certain that each firm is aware of the resources available to help them improve.

“Now that the legislature has gone home, we can focus on this very important issue,” Branstad said at an April 24 news conference.

Organizers plan to use a newly assembled Manufacturing Toolkit (www.IowaMFG.com) to make manufacturers more familiar with the wide variety of resources that exist in Iowa to help them grow, improve productivity, embrace new technology, enhance their enterprise leadership and tackle workforce-related issues.

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