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Alliance Forum Recap: Learn why Portland’s manufacturing sector is booming

February's monthly Forum focused on the booming manufacturing industry. Doug Badger, Executive Director of the Pacific Northwest International Trade Association (PNITA) led a panel discussion about why this sector is experiencing growth. Both homegrown companies such as Miles Fiberglass and Benchmade Knives have expanded over the years by diversifying their products and investing in employee training programs. Foreign-based companies such as German-based Solarworld are also expanding their manufacturing operations in the region.

So how does the Portland region measure up?
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the value of durable and non-durable manufactured goods made in the Portland/Vancouver region was $11.9 billion in 2001. By 2005 that number had increased to $22.7 billion, or an almost 90 percent increase in real GDP terms.

This is slightly higher than the manufacturing output of Cleveland, Indianapolis, and our neighbor to the North, Seattle. It's only slightly lower than the manufacturing output of Minneapolis.

Based on the latest U.S. Department of Commerce statistics, Portland/Vancouver is the 10th ranked metropolitan area in the country when judged by manufacturing output. Talk about fighting above our weight class.

As interesting as the numbers that indicate our growing manufacturing output is the fact that manufacturing is becoming a greater portion of our economy.

Manufacturing is now responsible for nearly 25 percent of our local economy, which is up 9.4 percent since 2001. In a story late last year, the Portland Business Journal put this in context pointing out that manufacturing in Detroit only accounts for nearly 19 percent of their economy.

So, Portland now relies on pounding aluminum and fabricating metal more than the Motor City.

As a result of the robust manufacturing sector, our overall economy landed in the second quintile for growth among West Coast metro areas between 2004 and 2005.

These strong manufacturing numbers are also producing strong export numbers for the Portland/Vancouver region.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Portland/Vancouver region exported $11.2 billion worth of goods and services. In just one year, that figure increased by 30 percent to $14.5 billion.

This places our region as 15th in the nation in terms of the value of our exports.