Changing the Narrative to Reflect the Realities of Manufacturing

By Patrick Boyle

Executive Director

IgniteLI, the Manufacturing Consortium

Long Island boasts almost 3,000 manufacturers employing over 71,000 of our friends and neighbors in technical, high-paying careers throughout the 11 industrial sectors that call Long Island home. True to our legacy, today’s manufacturers are on the cutting edge of technology and innovation as global leaders in the production of advanced technology and everyday essential products that saw the nation through the COVID pandemic, which is why Newsday’s comments in their May 2nd article titled “Which Long Island Public Companies had the Biggest Profits?” were out of touch with the situation on the shop floor.

For context, Newsday’s article discussed a few publicly owned manufacturers which are not representative of the network of 3,000 manufacturers that make up Long Island’s manufacturing community. Long Island’s manufacturers predominantly consist of small to medium-sized businesses ranging from 12-200 employees, making up the ecosystem of family-owned suppliers of products across aerospace, biotech, machining, distribution, farming, and many more industry sectors.

So, when Newsday reports that “A handful of manufacturers remain on Long Island” it’s not an accurate depiction of the reality, and counter to the work our Industrial Development Agencies, Education, Non-profit, and Governmental partners have done in building back the brand while advocating for family-owned businesses. Moreover, the choice to publish comments like, “When you look at the [Newsday] list, very few (manufacturers) actually manufacturer anything”, without making the distinction between the few publicly traded companies and the 3,000 companies employing over 71,000 workers, shows that there is a clear discrepancy in the narrative. The average reader is not going to make the jump from publicly owned companies and private manufacturers which is what I assume the author was hoping for.

My last comment to Newsday regarding the narrative of Long Island’s manufacturing community is this, it’s time to focus on the manufacturing ecosystem we have now, rather than harken back 30 years to the conclusion of the Cold War and the shrinking of the defense industry. Comparing the current manufacturing environment, with its industrial diversity, advanced processes, global interconnectedness, and family-owned businesses, to 1994 and one defense conglomerate’s dominance over the business landscape, is harmful to our region’s economic growth and the middle-class jobs provided by today’s businesses.

Instead, let’s focus on the growth opportunities ahead, with industries like offshore wind, which will call Long Island home for the distant future and change the face of energy delivery across the globe. Industries like biotech, with the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical sectors, that saw us through the COVID-19 pandemic. Industries like robotic automation, that is improving workplace safety and efficiencies right here on Long Island. And of course, we should always acknowledge our proud aerospace past, but the future is in the stars, and we should be talking about the Long Island manufacturer’s role in returning crewed spaceflight to American soil.

Manufacturing is alive and well today, in part, due to our partners in education, especially in the STEM fields. From middle school technology teachers to Hofstra University’s DeMatteis CoOp program and NYIT’s Engineering School, technical education and has always been Long Island’s leverage on the rest of the globe and continues to account for our greatest asset for growth. According to last year’s “Long Island Manufacturing Supply Chain Index Survey” conducted by Hofstra University’s Zarb School of Business “Two-thirds of Long Island manufacturers are expecting an increase in production levels and more than 40 percent are planning to add jobs” The report goes on to state that 62% of all executives expected new orders to increase in 2022 due to the emergence of “new customers or a new market as well as improved business conditions” coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The future of Long Island manufacturing is strong, as companies look to grow and capitalize on the opportunity in emerging markets. Manufacturing offers exciting career opportunities to high school graduates fresh out of the classroom, engineers who are innovating our products, and everyone in between. Apprenticeship and continuing education programs exist to help workers “earn while they learn” so that they can grow their families and build their skills. Changing the narrative in the manufacturing story is critical to that growth and our mission to keep businesses and families here on Long Island.