The Association of Washington Business will kick off its eighth-annual Manufacturing Week bus tour Oct. 2nd with stops in Kalama, Battle Ground and Vancouver. The six-day tour will visit both sides of the state, including stops in the Kalama, Vancouver, Yakima, Tri-Cities, Pullman, Spokane, Moses Lake, Lacey, Tacoma, Renton, Seattle and Everett areas, among many others.
The statewide bus tour will visit 25 manufacturers of all sizes, from a potato processor and a maker of outdoor adventure vehicles to companies working in the clean energy and space sectors. We will meet with some of the 271,000 people employed in Washington’s manufacturing sector and invite them to sign the bus.
The annual tour highlights the importance of manufacturing to the state’s economy and ways policymakers and others can support it. Manufacturing employees make up about 8% of the statewide workforce and earn an average wage of $93,000. 23 counties have at least 1,000 manufacturing workers, and five counties are home to more than 10,000. In 2021, Washington manufacturers generated $63.3 billion in economic output.
Local high school and college students will join us at tour stops to explore careers in modern manufacturing. The tour will also visit training centers to learn how colleges are helping meet the demand for manufacturing employees. And AWB President Kris Johnson will deliver the State of Manufacturing address Oct. 3 in Kennewick.
“Washington’s manufacturing sector continues to grow despite challenges,” said AWB President Kris Johnson. “The tour is an exciting opportunity to see the products made in Washington and meet the men and women who go to work every day at a manufacturing job. The tour also calls attention to the ways leaders can address issues from energy to permitting in support of manufacturers.”
Day 1 – Wednesday, Oct. 2: Kalama, Battle Ground, Vancouver
- Steelscape and TEMCO Kalama Terminal at the Port of Kalama
- Wolf Industries – Battle ground
- TigerStop, LLC Vancouver/Clark County
