Next month, Oregon Business & Industry will conduct its second annual Manufacturing and Innovation Roadshow. From October 2-4, the Roadshow bus will visit manufacturers in Central Oregon, Eastern Oregon, Hood River and the northern Willamette Valley. Each day of the tour will feature a roundtable discussion involving business and civic leaders as well as elected officials.
The Roadshow will highlight the ingenuity and variety of Oregon’s manufacturing sector and its importance to the state’s prosperity. Tour stops include manufacturers of cheese and liquor, cutting-edge trucks, HVAC systems and more.
The nine businesses participating in this year’s tour account for a small but important part of the estimated $33 billion manufactures contribute to Oregon’s gross domestic product every year. Manufacturers also provide more than 200,000 jobs in the state, according to research conducted by ECONorthwest. Meanwhile, the median income of manufacturing jobs exceeds that of jobs in other industries by 17 percent.
This year’s tour schedule includes the following stops:
- October 2: Pendleton Chamber of Commerce roundtable breakfast, Pendleton Woolen Mills, Tillamook Columbia River Processing (Boardman), Hood River Distillers
- October 3: Daimler Truck North America Proving Grounds (Madras), Bend Chamber of Commerce roundtable lunch, Epic Aircraft (Bend), BASX Solutions (Redmond)
- October 4: Freres Engineered Wood (Lyons), Salem Area Chamber of Commerce roundtable lunch, Machine Sciences Corp. (Tualatin), PGE Sherwood Training Center
OBI will celebrate the contributions of Oregon’s manufacturing sector throughout 2023. In addition to the Manufacturing and Innovation Roadshow, OBI has launched the Coolest Thing Made in Oregon competition, which will allow Oregonians to vote for the state’s coolest product. This year also will mark the inaugural Manufacturer of the Year Awards. On October 6, OBI’s Manufacturing Council of Oregon will present awards recognizing businesses in three categories: Excellence in Innovation, Excellence in Environmental Sustainability and Excellence in Workforce and Community Impact.
