CBIA’s Eric Brown is bringing manufacturers together for the benefit of all
Eric Brown
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The Connecticut Business & Industry Association’s vice president of manufacturing policy and outreach, Eric Brown, has been a fixture at CBIA for exactly 25 years, serving as a highly effective strategist and lobbyist on behalf of the state’s businesses.
And his forward momentum shows no signs of slowing. Over the past year, he and his team have been spearheading new initiatives aimed at shifting the already vigorous manufacturing sector into an even higher gear.
After spending months assembling a list of policy recommendations for the new state administration, he said, CBIA has turned its attention to bringing some cohesiveness to an industry whose members often operate in silos. “We’ve been working with all the major manufacturing associations in Connecticut to bring them together as a single unit and a single voice.”
The new Connecticut Manufacturers’ Collaborative, as it is known, chaired by Chris DiPentima of Pegasus, will not only help manufacturers collaborate among themselves and do coordinated outreach to the community, but will give legislators, the media – or anyone else seeking manufacturing information – a central point of contact.
“We’re now reaching out and building relationships with manufacturers throughout Connecticut and discussing how we can work with a wide array of stakeholders around the state.”
He’s excited about the opportunities that lie ahead. “We don’t have natural resources like oil or gas or gold or precious metals in Connecticut, but what we do have is talent and tremendous job opportunities in manufacturing and other sectors.”
Brown, who completed science degrees at the University of Rhode Island and Boston College, and earned a law degree from Western New England University before joining CBIA in 1994, said bringing the state’s manufacturers together will make it easier to mitigate any negatives and jump at initiatives that could strengthen the industry as a whole.
For example, while a lack of qualified workers has been identified as a pressing challenge, “it’s also a great opportunity, all the way around. That’s why so many groups all around the state are working on this at a local, regional and state level. Someone is going to supply these jobs elsewhere, if we don’t do it. We’re all trying to pull together and make sure we meet the challenges.”
The CBIA also lent its support this year to a variety of proposed legislation that would help move the manufacturing industry forward – from evaluating student career pathways and expanding business tax credits to the appointment of a state “secretary of manufacturing” who would focus solely on issues like these.
Brown pointed to another key issue, saying Connecticut companies are in “a time of transition. It’s a challenge for manufacturers to gain awareness of technologies that might be helpful for them and to keep up – not just in the state but globally – with the technology associated with manufacturing advancements.”
And he warned that the pace of change isn’t going to change any time soon, except to speed up. “Manufacturing 4.0 – that’s coming. Our manufacturers tell us that over the next five years, the advancements are going to be rather dramatic. The industry is going to need higher skilled workers to not only use these technologies but to create them, to build them, to service them. So it’s going to be a continual uptrend with the need for higher skilled folks in this area. It’s a little bit under the radar but it will be a growing issue.”
Fortunately, he said, the state is becoming well positioned to meet this challenge head on – as evidenced by Stanley Black & Decker’s new “Manufactory 4.0” that opened its doors in downtown Hartford this spring, and the incredibly innovative work being done at the University of Connecticut, Yale, and the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology, to name just a few. “The good news is, Connecticut is recognizing this and investing in preparing for the workforce and workplace of the future, both public and private.”
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