{"id":31003,"date":"2019-08-20T11:50:24","date_gmt":"2019-08-20T11:50:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dvirc.org\/insights\/report-the-state-of-urban-manufacturing\/"},"modified":"2023-03-08T14:05:37","modified_gmt":"2023-03-08T14:05:37","slug":"report-the-state-of-urban-manufacturing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dvirc.org\/insights\/report-the-state-of-urban-manufacturing\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: The State of Urban Manufacturing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Emerging small-scale manufacturers and the role they play in their local economies<\/em><\/p>\n

A few years ago, The Urban Manufacturing Alliance<\/a> set out to get a better idea of what kind of new, small-scale innovations were being \u201clocally made\u201din six cities\u00a0(Baltimore, Cincinnati, Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and Portland, Ore.)\u00a0across the country. \u00a0A snapshot<\/a> of what they found out about Philadelphia\u2019s ecosystem was published in November 2017. \u00a0Recently, the Alliance released its National Report<\/a>, which offers a unique view of the new kinds of \u201cmaking-of-things\u201d going on across the country. \u00a0The goal was to increase the collective understanding of what the small-batch manufacturing sector looks like in cities, who its entrepreneurs and employees are, and what can be done to help these firms thrive and grow into larger employers that build wealth in their communities.<\/p>\n

As an organization that has been working with the regional manufacturing community for the past 30 years, DVIRC<\/a> has been fortunate to learn about and connect with this population (often referred to as \u201cdesigners\u201d or \u201cmakers,\u201d) in Philadelphia recently.<\/p>\n

Given the concentration of academic institutions in the region, we were not surprised to find a series of robust communities with extremely talented and creative people making new things of all sorts for many niche markets. And we learned that most of these small businesses and makers are interested in growing to scale, and are looking to partner or find an appropriate space to support production<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The challenges facing these Philadelphia entrepreneurs are similar to the ones facing small firms everywhere: getting new customers, finding working capital, attracting talent, and making connections.<\/strong>\u00a0 The recommendations in both reports are sound, not hard to put into place, and can be summarized by saying we can all do a better job of sharing what we know, making connections, and learning more about these communities and their place and interest in the manufacturing ecosystem.<\/p>\n

The groundbreaking \u201cdesign\u201d and \u201cmaker\u201d communities in Philadelphia are borne of the city\u2019s rich history of valuable innovations and as one of the world\u2019s industrial centers. Now, with a greater understanding of Philadelphia\u2019s manufacturing landscape, several opportunities have emerge dthat can bolster urban manufacturing in Philadelphia and support the industry\u2019s growth:<\/p>\n