Manufacturing symposium slated for October
Anne D. Shybunko-Moore, president of GSE Dynamics, Inc., that makes defense products, in her Hauppague factory. (July 22, 2010) Credit: Daniel Goodrich
Twenty-one years ago, manufacturing -- dominated by giant defense contractors Grumman and Fairchild -- was Long Island's third-largest economic sector, constituting 12 percent of the region's workforce.
By last May, it had slipped to No. 6, now making up only 6 percent of the working population, according to the most recent figures supplied by the state labor department's Hicksville office.
Nonetheless, a group of business leaders, company executives and academics are aiming to show that Long Island is still a manufacturing center, albeit a smaller one, but also one that pays well and demands a high level of skill.
Suffolk County Community College and several companies and business groups are sponsoring a Long Island Manufacturing Symposium at the college's Brentwood campus Oct. 21, the first-such gathering on the Island in about 50 years, according to organizers.
"Manufacturing is still a major economic driver on Long Island," said John Lombardo, the community college's associate vice president for workforce and economic development.
Michael Crowell, the labor department's regional senior economist, said manufacturing employed 140,700 in May 1990. Two decades later, that number slipped to 71,300. But while the numbers employed may be way down, the salaries are not. State labor statistics show that out of 10 sectors, manufacturing was the fifth-best payer, with average wages of $57,800, 13.6 percent more than the average wage for Long Island as a whole.
About 800 people -- company executives, political and business leaders, students and professors -- are expected at the symposium, which will feature companies such as SRI North America, contract manufacturers in Edgewood; GSE Dynamics Inc., a defense contractor in Hauppauge; and Festo Corp., a pneumatic and electric drive technology company in Hauppauge.
Company executives can network and students can seek out job opportunities, said Drew Fawcett, the community college's associate dean for institutional advancement. Companies exhibiting at the symposium must pay a $650 fee, but half of that goes to a scholarship fund.
GSE president Anne Shybunko-Moore said the Island must fight for its place in the manufacturing world. "We need to market ourselves," she said.
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