AOMC's First Ever Stakeholders Quarterly Gathering!
Last March, Lt. Governor Jon Husted visited Marietta to tour a few organizations and discuss workforce issues. This time, he met with a group of people that are developing solutions specifically for manufacturing. The Appalachian Ohio Manufacturers’ Coalition (AOMC) held their first ever Quarterly Stakeholders Gathering last week at the Marietta Country Club. The Lt. Governor participated in the event and was a featured speaker. As part of the event, attendees could also tour Hi-Vac Corp. About 35 people toured the plant and close to 80 people attended the dinner. Find out more about the evening here.
The AOMC is an example of an industry sector partnership, which means that the work is to be led by the business sector that is experiencing the issues. That is exactly what is happening. Already a 501c3, AOMC currently has 6 different manufacturing companies represented on the board: Grimm Scientific, Micro Machine Works, Miba Bearings, Thermo Fisher, EZ Grout, and Solvay. Only manufacturers are board members, and they are the ones that make the decisions about the direction that the group will take to address their issues. This group was started with support from the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association. Eric Burkland, OMA President, also spoke during the dinner about the importance of sector partnerships.
The Quarterly Stakeholders Gathering was a great first accomplishment of the newly formed group. Many different manufacturing companies were represented, as well as a variety of education and training, economic development, workforce development, and governmental organizations. This was a good example of an event that provides a way for education and business to network, one of the buckets of work for BB2C. This is just the beginning of the work for AOMC. There will certainly be more to come.
If you are interested in learning more about the group, you can sign up to receive meeting notices and newsletters by using this link.
Photo credit: Mike Kelly, Marietta Times