The much anticipated, first Advanced Manufacturing Partnership for Southern California (AMP SoCal) Bi-Annual meeting was held Thursday, August 4 at the California Science Center. Nearly 160 attendees poured into the conference room overlooking the Expo Park Rose Garden in the Wallis Annenberg Building, awaiting the start of AMP SoCal’s industry-focused day packed full of useful presentations and panels. The audience consisted of a targeted blend of C-level leaders and management from the aerospace and defense (A&D) manufacturing industry and its supporting supply chain and members of the AMP SoCal partnership.
All videos and presentations from the AMP SoCal Bi-Annual Meeting are available here
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(Photographs by David Giannamore and Deirdre Flanagan) More photos |
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As the date approached, so much interest in the event was garnered that AMP SoCal staff had to confirm, reconfirm and eventually create a lengthy wait list for those still wanting to attend. Through the din of greetings, introductions and business card swapping, AMP SoCal Project Manager, Libby Williams, extended a warm welcome on behalf of AMP SoCal. She was responsible for orchestrating the event, and had personally called almost everyone in the room.
“Those of you present today should know that you are part of a select group of people because we had a long waiting list of people who wanted to be here today,” she joked. “You no doubt understand that as we called and emailed each of you several times to confirm your attendance, so we could squeeze in a few more people. But we are glad that you are here.”
Bi-Annual Meeting Welcome
Jay Williams, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development, had just arrived in Los Angeles from D.C. to visit the Southern California manufacturing community. He kicked off the program with opening remarks, reinforcing the role of AMP SoCal as one of the nation’s first federally designated regions of the Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership (IMCP) initiative, and highlighted the goals of EDA in creating sustainable job growth and strengthening American manufacturing.
Keynote Address
Panel #1: DoD Efforts to Assist Defense Manufacturing and the U.S. Industrial Base
The first of three panels was entitled, DoD Efforts to Assist Defense Manufacturing and the U.S. Industrial Base, and featured speakers from federal agencies representing the Department of Defense – Office of Economic Adjustment, Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SPAWAR), and the Department of Commerce – Bureau of Industry and Security. The goal of the panel was to offer manufacturers, who often have contracts and revenue affected by defense spending, a big-picture overview of the trends within the agency and funding opportunities available.
USC Welcome
The USC Center for Economic Development (CED) is an applied research center within the Sol Price School of Public Policy, and the facilitator of the AMP SoCal partnership. As part of the USC Price School, Dean Jack Knott, delivered a welcome. He spoke of the Price School’s illustrious history, being one of the oldest and highest ranked public affairs schools in the nation.”We are committed not only to producing innovative, impactful research and providing high-quality education, but also to making real-world contributions through our engagement with key decision makers and the broader public,” noted Dean Knott. “Economic development is a key focus of the Price School.”CED accepted the challenge laid out by U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker who said this initiative was about “nothing less that reinventing how economic development is done in manufacturing”.
Working Lunch/The Changing Face of Aerospace in Southern California Report
Over the lunch break, Mike Quindazzi, Business Development Leader and Management Consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers presented an overview of the report, The Changing Face of Aerospace in Southern California, developed by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) and the San Diego Regional EDC. Each attendee was given a free copy of the booklet with their conference packet, a PDF download of the report is available here.
AMP SoCal Interactive Townhall Discussion
AMP SoCal’s areas of focus are divided into six categories: workforce and training, supplier network, research and innovation, infrastructure and site development, trade and international investment, operational improvement and capital access. Each of the focus areas work together to form a cohesive industrial ecosystem. The goal of AMP SoCal is to identify and address gaps within the categories so that the aerospace and defense manufacturing network as a whole is strengthened.The categories each have a corresponding committee led by a member of the AMP SoCal Executive Council. They generally meet monthly via conference call, and their meetings help guide the direction of AMP SoCal by forming goals and lending expertise in their respective area of focus.
The Chair of each committee formed the panel for the townhall discussion. Each chair spoke about their goals, with all of them focusing on bringing new funding to support the A&D industry. Strategies, programs, accomplishments and initiatives facilitated by AMP SoCal staff and led by its committee members were explained. The interactive portion of the discussion was an open invitation for the audience to respond to questions posed by the committee chairs via text messaging from their phone. The results to the 24 different questions were displayed on the screen in real-time and shifted as additional information rolled in through bar graphs and word cloud graphics. The content from the questions and corresponding results can be viewed here.
Panel #2: Resources and Best Practices within the Region
The second panel was moderated by Jim Watson, President & CEO, of the California Manufacturing and Technology Consultants (CMTC), and AMP SoCal Supplier Network Chair. It encompassed a range of innovative approaches and best practices for manufacturing businesses within the industry.
Growth through innovation at Brek Manufacturing, a locally based manufacturer that specializes in complex structural aircraft parts, was discussed by the company president, Marwan Hammouri. Shortly after he was hired in 2013, the company faced significant loss in contracts and revenue due to defense funding cuts. Through a series of investments in new technologies and methods, Brek Manufacturing was able to mitigate the loss and see an increase in productivity and even sustained growth. The Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) was highlighted by Mike Swords, LACI VP of Partnerships. He gave a picture of its role in nurturing and building startups for growth and expansion in Southern California and beyond, which includes the provision of a world-class prototype manufacturing workshop, funded by the EDA, at its brand new La Kretz Innovation Campus Prototyping Center. Lastly, Martha Daniels, Founder, President and CEO of Information Management Resource Inc. (IMRI) spoke to the cyber security issues that private and public organizations and business face daily and steps that small companies can take to protect themselves.
Panel #3: The Characteristics of a Great Supplier Partnership
AMP SoCal brought together representatives from top A&D OEMs and tier-one suppliers, which included Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Aerovironment and Parker Aerospace, capped off the meeting by offering key observations and best practice instructions to the leadership of manufacturing suppliers in the room interested in procurement of contracts.
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Panelists from the The Characteristics of a Great Supplier Partnership Panel represented Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Parker Aerospace, Northrop Grumman and Aerovironment. (Photographs by David Giannamore and Deirdre Flanagan) More photos |
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All videos and presentations from the AMP SoCal Bi-Annual Meeting are available here
