PAWTUCKET, RI – Highlighting Rhode Island’s vital manufacturing sector and the continued growth of advanced manufacturing across the Ocean State, U.S. Senator Jack Reed today convened a roundtable discussion with local businesses that produce Rhode Island made products.

During the forum, small business leaders, industry experts, and manufacturing assistance organizations discussed key challenges and trends facing local manufacturers and several programs geared toward helping entrepreneurs grow and optimize their businesses.

Partnering with Polaris MEP, a statewide non-profit ‘manufacturing extension partnership’ that serves as a manufacturing support center, and the Rhode Island Manufacturers Association, Senator Reed today heard from several local manufacturers about challenges, successes, and a wide range of issues from child care and health care to infrastructure and supply chains to workforce development and cutting red tape.

“Rhode Island’s manufacturers are critical to our economy.  They are powered by innovation and produce a range of well-made products, as well as jobs and opportunities. When manufacturers grow and thrive, so does our economy.  That’s why I continue working at the federal level to support our small businesses and strengthen Rhode Island’s manufacturing ecosystem.  That includes investing in workforce development and making sure we have the right programs in place to connect people to in-demand job skills and ensure enough qualified candidates to fill job vacancies,” said Senator Reed.  

Rhode Island is home to over 1,600 manufacturing companies that employ approximately 8.5 percent of the Ocean State’s total workforce.  Rhode Island’s manufacturers have a multiplying effect across the state’s economy, with every $1 in pay for manufacturing workers resulting in an income increase of 90 cents for other workers in the state. 

According to Rhode Island Commerce, the total economic output from the state’s manufacturers was $5.28 billion in 2021.

Senator Reed says that strengthening and expanding efforts on the federal level to support Rhode Island’s manufacturers will help increase wages, bolster the state’s economy, and better position the state to be a leader in numerous industries.

“Hearing from today’s group of outstanding leaders in the manufacturing community, it is clear that our state’s manufacturing landscape continues to strengthen and evolve,” said Senator Reed.  “Today’s manufacturers rely on increasingly skilled and specialized employees to operate sophisticated, computer-based machinery and technology. I will continue to support our manufacturers, lower costs for businesses, and ensure the dedicated employees who power our economy are paid good wages for their hard work.  I will bring the messages I heard today back to our nation’s capital to ensure we can continue to support small business here in Rhode Island and nationwide.”

Celebrated every October, Manufacturing Month recognizes and promotes the success of U.S. manufacturers in the global marketplace while encouraging sustained growth and innovation in a variety of industries.

This year’s roundtable included business owners and representatives from the Cooley Group, a Pawtucket manufacturer of advanced textiles with industrial, commercial, and defense applications; Chi Kitchen, a Pawtucket food manufacturer; SENESCO Marine, a Quonset boatbuilder that works closely with the offshore wind industry and develops new, state-of-the-art hybrid ferries; Dewetron, an East Greenwich manufacturer of computerized testing technology used in the aerospace industry and by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); and Reade Advanced Materials, an East Providence chemical manufacturer with a global reach.