Their trade association, the San Antonio Manufacturers Association, which has been around more than 100 years, says their members employ more than 50,000 people and generate more than $40 billion in revenue for the local economy. Serving eight Texas counties, they have more than 1,600 members.
Wednesday they gathered at the Expo Hall at the Freeman complex to show off some of their best stuff.
The festive trade show began with a spirited robot parade, featuring local high school students who say they want to pursue tech careers.
Abigail Ashley is a senior at Brandeis High School. “It’s very, very exciting! This is my kind of world,” Ashley exclaimed while surveying a cavernous space filled to overflowing with ideas.
“I’m personally more of a mechanical person. I’m not much of a programmer, so just seeing all this physical stuff is a lot of fun,” Ashley said.
“There are lots of paths that engineering can take me like biomedical, chemical, robotics is especially what I am interested in,” Ashley said.
“It’s absolutely wonderful! I mean if you just look around there are so many cool machines it’s just insane,” said her robotics teammate, Eshwar Saikumar.
“I am an aspiring engineer so I really think this stuff is cool because it is about potential careers for the future,” Saikumar said.
Keeping the pipeline of future talent open and flowing freely is vitally important to the local economy, according to Bill Cox of Cox Manufacturing. Cox said he is the third family member to lead the 67-year-old company that was established here and has been able to thrive against all odds.
“That's a very important initiative that we've had. We actually started an apprenticeship program in 2008 and we have a very robust apprenticeship program to develop the next generation of machine, quality and maintenance technicians,” Cox said.
Cox said “I am proud that we’re a long-time San Antonio company, that employs San Antonio people. We’re proud of Made in USA.”
“I’m very proud that we are one of the manufacturers that held our ground and stayed the course and continued to grow the manufacturing base in the US,” Cox said.
Cox said his organization is future focused, developing their IT capabilities and looking forward to remaining viable.
Cox said they do everything they can to keep advancing
“The whole industry globally, there's an opportunity to leap into the fourth industrial revolution and we're transitioning from the third to the fourth ourselves and we are a leader in our industry.”
With so many seasoned veterans headed for retirement, Cox said planning for the future is essential.
“There's a huge amount of talent that's exiting from the workforce, the exiting baby boomers and we've got to not just replace them but we need to build the next generation that embraces this new technology,” Cox said.
Patrick Garcia is the board chair of the organization. Garcia agrees that local ties and long-term experience are valuable assets.
Garcia is the CEO and President of Division Laundry and Cleaners. Garcia said he has been involved in the 84-year-old family business for about 50 years.
Garcia said the world class manufacturers here are doing a great job of growing the local economy into the future.
“We have to create and preserve the environment for a great culture of the young students,” Garcia said, adding “We have to be behind these efforts. It makes a big, important impact.”
More information about the association can be found here.