Manu Assoc Fla_web

came out last September, larger companies say it’s just the cost of doing business, but the impact of changes like that could put smaller business owners completely out of business. Consider a single company having to eliminate two jobs because of this one increase.With the thousands of manufacturers in Florida, if each SMB had to eliminate even one job because of this policy decision, how many more unem- ployed Floridians are we going to have? “If only one or two of our members let us know their concerns, that’s not a good majority we can serve the industry with. It takes hearing how all sizes of companies are impacted, and how we can we illustrate their stories and speak on a larger scale. For our mom and pop shop in central Florida that doesn’t have any legal platforms, how can we make sure their story is heard? We have the large entity to bring it forward with force.” BVM: How do you reach out to potential members? What are some of the perks of MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION OF FLORIDA membership? Bowen: “Most new members come to us either by word of mouth, or networking with current members. A manufacturer’s biggest sup- plier is another manufacturer, so they work a lot with each other. “In addition to advocacy, we do education- al outreach programs.We have training tools that introduce them to internship programs for incoming workers and workforce issues, and advance that workforce pipeline – for members only. A common question: ‘How are we going to sustain our business; make it appealing to the local community?’ Our educational pro- grams engage members with their community. We connect them with schools –do a robotics competition, so the students know who they are. Pick up internships, and we’ll help get them off the ground. “Our annual awards program has become quite prestigious for the manufacturing and dis- tributing industry, where we get to know your company on an in-depth level. Our judges do onsite inspections and interviews; look at your strategic goals, and help you analyze where you’re going in the future, and how to develop We just let everyone know our memberships are accessible to anyone in the industry; it’s not an exclusive club. AMANDA BOWEN MAF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR