After decline, modest growth

A SIGN OF THE TIMES: Custom Design's point-of-sale display manufacturing business has seen double-digit yearly growth since 2013, while committing to build everything in the U.S. From left, account manager Taylor Kenney, production manager Jesse Godin and Vice President Adam Dias are seen at the North Kingstown company. / PBN FILE PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY
A SIGN OF THE TIMES: Custom Design's point-of-sale display manufacturing business has seen double-digit yearly growth since 2013, while committing to build everything in the U.S. From left, account manager Taylor Kenney, production manager Jesse Godin and Vice President Adam Dias are seen at the North Kingstown company. / PBN FILE PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY

Editor’s note: In celebration of Providence Business News’ 30th anniversary, staff writers and contributors examined the stories and trends that defined the region’s business scene for the period.
An interesting thing happened as manufacturing continued its steady decline in Rhode Island. By mid-2013, the number of people employed in manufacturing began to rise, according to statistics tallied by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

And it’s been growing, if very slowly, ever since. The Ocean State had 41,200 manufacturing employees in February 2016, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, which posts labor information on its website.

That’s down significantly from the 97,500 positions initially reported in January 1990, but it represents an increase from the 39,700 reported in July 2013, according to the government.

For manufacturing specialists, the statistics aren’t surprising. Rhode Island’s manufacturing base is continuing its slow transformation, incorporating new technologies and management techniques. The growth of so-called advanced manufacturing is something the state and leading employers are trying to encourage.

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Unfortunately, some of the efficiencies in manufacturing have meant job losses, and the industry in Rhode Island has shed many of the low-skilled, entry-level positions that once defined it, according to Bill McCourt, executive director of the Rhode Island Manufacturers Association.

At its peak, in the 1970s to 1980s, manufacturing in Rhode Island employed 120,000 people, he said. “It has been something of a steady erosion over time,” he said.

The portrait of manufacturing in 2016 is a more highly skilled profession, with jobs that pay well above the state’s median salary. The average production worker earns about $18 an hour, McCourt said.

Lean manufacturing, in which companies identify processes that create efficiencies, and outsourcing of some aspects of production have tempered job growth, according to McCourt, but they have also meant the survival of many Rhode Island manufacturers.

When manufacturers have added jobs, it is typically in small numbers, but across numerous companies, he said, rather than only one or two companies adding significantly to their workforces.

“It’s a lot of what I would call singles and doubles,” McCourt said. “Twenty- to 25-size shops adding one to two people.”

There is at least one exception to that rule, however. General Dynamics Electric Boat has grown significantly in the last few years and expects to greatly expand its workforce over the next several years to accommodate demand for a new class of submarine.

General Dynamics, one of the five largest defense contractors in the United States, operates an Electric Boat production facility at Quonset Point in North Kingstown, where it expects to increase employment from 3,500 to more than 5,000. The most significant hiring will occur after 2020, according to company officials.

The company is under contract with the U.S. Navy to produce 28 new Virginia-class submarines. Ten were under active construction in early 2016. Electric Boat is building a new, 113,000-square-foot facility to support the increased work. Beyond the Virginia-class subs, Electric Boat is going to build the replacement for the larger Ohio-class sub fleet that carry ICBMs.

Another manufacturer expanding in Rhode Island is Japan-based Toray Industries Inc., which through its Toray Plastics (America) Inc. subsidiary has leased a nearly 300,000-square-foot distribution and storage facility in East Greenwich.

The company has a facility under construction at its Quonset Point property, but has not disclosed the purpose, according to company officials.

Other manufacturers that have enjoyed growth in recent years include The Cooley Group, a manufacturer of industrial textiles, and Edesia LLC, which produces nutritious, ready-to-use foods for export to countries beset with malnutrition.

To increase jobs in Rhode Island and produce a fatter pipeline of talent for these jobs, state officials have created several programs aimed at manufacturers. Real Jobs Rhode Island, begun under Gov. Gina M. Raimondo, gives grants to employers within sectors, including manufacturing, that plan training programs tailored to their needs.

The P-Tech program, or Pathways in Technology Early College High School program, will involve the Providence, Westerly and Newport school systems in its inaugural year, and Raimondo is seeking to expand it to additional school systems in coming years.

The program provides a specialized curriculum in high school, followed by additional education through the Community College of Rhode Island, and mentorship and training at a Rhode Island company.

Advanced manufacturing and cybersecurity, identified among several growth industries in the state, are among the sectors eligible to participate.

Early advocates for the program include Vibco Inc., a manufacturer of industrial vibrators, and Electric Boat. •

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