How to Make It in America: An Interview with the Austin Regional Manufacturers Association (ARMA) Executive Director
ARMA (Austin Regional Manufacturers Association) is a non-profit organization based in Austin, TX, on a mission to ‘be the voice and advocate of manufacturing in the Austin metropolitan are.’ Formed in 2013, with just eight members, they have grown from strength to strength and currently have a membership of over 165. We met with Ed Latson, ARMA’s Executive Director and one of its founding members, to find out more.
Let’s start with a short bio and a brief history of how you started ARMA.
My background is in consulting and business development. Prior to working with ARMA, I was the director of marketing for a group called TMAC (Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center).
TMAC is non-profit, and receives a grant from the Department of Commerce to provide consulting services to small and medium-sized manufacturers. The Department of Commerce recognized the strategic importance of manufacturing in the United States, so they created the MEP (Manufacturing Extension Partnership) program to provide expertise on operational efficiency, quality management, and other strategic resources. The affiliate program in Texas was TMAC.
Then my wife got a couple of international assignments, and we moved overseas to live in Ireland and Malaysia. When I got back two years later, I was looking for a project. I knew there wasn’t a manufacturing association in Austin, so I proposed it to my old group, and they supported the idea with funding.
We started ARMA four years ago, as a way to bring manufacturers together and solve problems, as well as making sure companies are forming the local relationships they need to strengthen their business.
What does ARMA do now?
Since we’re a start-up, initially we were limited by bandwidth, but four years into it and we’ve grown tremendously. We’re at 165 members now, and our three focuses are on Advocacy, Workforce Development, and Networking.
Under Advocacy, we’re out trying to influence policymakers and make sure they know what’s important for our businesses to survive. We’re also promoting manufacturing to make sure that people in the region understand the kind of businesses that are here, understand that manufacturing is hi-tech –not old world smokestacks and dirty jobs. We’re talking about people who make cell phone chips, IV bags, gas pumps — some really advanced products. Some great customized furniture as well for your office — I’m sure you guys can speak to that — but there are some really solid companies in the Austin area.
For Workforce Development, we’re looking at the skills gaps in the community — what companies need out of the labor pool to succeed and grow. We partner with groups like ACC, Texas State Technical College, and other training providers to make sure that they are focused on our needs.
Then with our Networking, we bring people together to make sure peer relationships are being built that can support people’s professional development.
Awesome. Out of curiosity, what’s something that you see as a major gap in the workforce development?
I hear a couple of things a lot. Welders are always one of the top ones. Another one is machinists, and I’m hearing more and more about maintenance technicians as well. Those are the three that we’re focused on.
Since oil and gas have turned down over the past couple of years, there are more machinists and welders coming this way from Houston and some of the big oil production areas, but sometimes some of the skills are a little bit different and don’t always translate, so we’re trying to increase the skills in that area.
Can you help fund their education with the universities and different groups you’re partnering with?
No, not yet, but we are working on grants to help do some of that. What we can do, is get ACC (Austin Community College) and the Texas Workforce Commission involved, as well as the workforce board. They can provide funding to get that training in place. It’s almost like a sounding board — we start ringing the bell and waving our hands and making sure the people with the dollars understand where to direct them.
One of your missions is to be the voice of manufacturing in the greater Austin area; could you share a recent success story with us?
Sure. When we started, the idea was that we could do more together than we could apart, and I think that really came into play with the recent rate case for Austin Energy.
For those people that don’t follow energy policy, Austin Energy is a municipally owned utility, and they had become non-competitive. So, if you set up Formaspace in Austin, you pay about 40% more for your energy than you would if you set up in a deregulated market like Dallas or Houston.
For many reasons we felt like that was unfair — especially for a municipally owned utility — so we were highly involved in the rate case, which was a formalized process to dispute the rates that the utility charges every five years. We actually ended up getting a $42m concession for industrial and commercial classes. I think it’s a great example of what people can do when they come together and focus their voice.
Great. How long did that process take you?
It was probably a year and a half on several different levels, chipping away and getting everybody in line. We weren’t the only ones that were focused on that, but ARMA was engaged with it for over a year.
How would you compare and contrast Texas’s role in manufacturing — especially Austin’s role — to the rest of the nation?
I’m not a national expert, but Texas is a unique place, and…
