On National Manufacturing Day, Oct. 7, the Urban Manufacturing Alliance (UMA), will kick-off a partnership with the Made In Baltimore Campaign, the University of Baltimore's Jacob France Institute, and the Baltimore City Planning Department to make Baltimore a case study city for its State of Urban Manufacturing (SUM) report. To launch the national trend study, a steering committee, comprised of community members, business owners, government and foundation representatives, and university partners, will hold their first meeting at Open Works, Baltimore’s newest—and the nation’s sixth largest—makerspace.
The report will create a snapshot of urban manufacturing activity across 13 urban areas (Baltimore, Buffalo, New York, Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Houston, Atlanta, Charlotte, San Jose, San Francisco, and Los Angeles), with primary data collection and focus groups in Baltimore and four other cities. This effort will explore the linkages between manufacturing and the equity imperative, with a particular focus on the job creation tied to small-batch production and the maker movement.
The research this year will have a particular focus on the relationship between makers and manufacturers, which includes consideration of issues such as the maturation of makers as evidenced by business formation and growth, and trends related to combining design and production versus design and contract manufacturing. The data collected in the report’s first year will form a baseline for analyzing year-to-year shifts in urban manufacturing.
Moreover, the surveys will capture city-level data on employment, wages, job quality, workforce demographics, trends in maker entrepreneurship and business growth, and manufacturing career pathways. With this primary data, UMA will be able to analyze recent shifts in urban manufacturing, including maker entrepreneurship and its relationship to traditional manufacturing enterprises, and the tools in place that are encouraging manufacturing growth.
UMA’s primary goal is to improve economic development services at the national and local levels by providing new insights into the impacts, opportunities and challenges of urban manufacturing. As such, the report will be broadly accessible to policymakers, practitioners, media, public officials and the general public.
"Made In Baltimore is proud to partner with the Urban Manufacturing Alliance on their State of Urban Manufacturing Report,” said Andy Cook, Founder of the Made in Baltimore campaign. “We believe that light manufacturing is experiencing a renaissance in Baltimore, and we look forward to learning through this study what kind of economic impact this sector is having on our city. In the coming months and years, Made In Baltimore will be working to support this growing sector, and we intend to use the SUM report as a baseline from which to judge our progress, and the progress of the many companies creating high-quality products and living-wage jobs in Baltimore City."
“We are excited to be the site where this critical study will be launched, and also have one of our own representatives, Amy Bonitz, Baltimore Arts Realty Corporation’s President & CEO on the steering committee,” said Open Works’ General Manager Will Holman. “Our mission is to help support local talent, develop traditional and advanced fabrication skills, and incubate small manufacturing businesses to help grow our economy. By studying the existing conditions and activities, we can have a better understanding of what local manufacturing policies and systems need to be in place to support makers and manufacturers.”
This month, Open Works will launch its weekly business development speaker series to support maker entrepreneurs, Workshop Wednesdays.
“We see tremendous synergy between the on-the-ground data collection efforts tied to our State of Urban Manufacturing report, the business incubation services offered by Open Works and the network-building provided through Made in Baltimore,” said Lee Wellington, Executive Director of the Urban Manufacturing Alliance. “This research is ideally timed to identify best practices locally in Baltimore and nationally to support the acceleration of production activities and jobs within the City of Baltimore. We are pleased to be forming such a powerful coalition with the City, the University of Baltimore and OpenWorks.”
The SUM report will begin with a profile of current manufacturing activity based on existing datasets and a literature review. Early partners in this research include the Abell Foundation, the Kauffman Foundation, Etsy, Google, the Pratt Center for Community Development, the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, University of Baltimore’s Jacob France Institute, and the City of Baltimore.
About Urban Manufacturing Alliance
The Urban Manufacturing Alliance is a coalition of 450 members across 125 cities that are sustaining and growing manufacturing in urban centers. Through conferences, original research, policy development, and our newly launched Communities of Practice, UMA is working to ensure that cities continue to be places where we make things. For more information, visit www.urbanmfg.org.
About Made in Baltimore
Made In Baltimore is an economic development initiative of The Baltimore City Planning Department’s Office of Sustainability aimed at creating living wage jobs and growing the local economy by strengthening Baltimore City’s small manufacturing sector. Made In Baltimore focuses on business development, workforce development, and building capacity in the small manufacturing sector to create a sustainable business ecosystem capable of meeting the needs of local and regional markets.
About Open Works:
Through affordable memberships and month-to-month space rentals, Open Works makes tools, technology, and the know-how to use them accessible to all. The 34,000-square-foot state of the art fabrication facility was built by the Baltimore Arts Realty Corporation, a non-profit developer, and houses a wood shop, metal shop, and digital media studio along with a digital fabrication shop (CNC routers and laser cutters), a 3D printing studio, an electronics lab, and a textiles studio. In addition, Open Works offers 140 individual micro-studios (7’x7’ work spaces) for designing, assembling, and finishing projects. For more information visit www.openworksbmore.com.
