Manufacturing growth slows

The layoffs of 80 workers last month at

Chromalloy Nevada in Carson City provide a

snapshot of the challenges facing the manufacturing

sector in northern Nevada, says Ray

Bacon of the Nevada Manufacturers

Association.

Chromalloy, a specialist in high-temperature

coating of jet aircraft engine components,

draws much of its business from airlines.

But as airlines face rising costs and

tighter costs, they are more likely to mothball

older aircraft precisely the planes that

Chromalloy helped to maintain in the past.

The story, Bacon says, is repeated from

one industry to the next across the manufacturing

sector.

Makers of building materials are

crunched by the dramatic

slowdown in the

construction industry.

Makers of gaming

equipment suffer as consumers

spend less

money in casinos. The

multitude of northern

Nevada companies that

make after-market gear

for cars and trucks suffer

with the automotive

industry.

"Basically, almost no

one is hiring," says

Bacon.

The health of the

manufacturing sector

plays an important role

in the northern Nevada

economy especially

in the Carson City area, where manufacturing

accounts for more than 9.5 percent of the

total jobs. In Reno, by comparison, the 14,800

people who worked in manufacturing jobs in

October accounted for about 6.7 of the total

workforce.

Manufacturing employment in northern

Nevada was essentially flat in the past year,

but that counts as a victory in comparison

with other states, says Tom Dubin, president

of Manufacturers Directory, a national publication

that tracks trends in the sector.

Other states, Dubin says, have been posting

losses in manufacturing throughout most

of this decade while Nevada has recorded

gains or held steady.

Statewide,Manufacturers Directory says

2,020 manufacturers call Nevada home.

Many of those companies have faced stiff

competition from offshore rivals most

notably, Chinese manufacturers

for

much of this decade.

They might be getting

a break in coming

months, says Bacon.

He notes that the

slowing world economy

has claimed more

than 3,000 Chinese

manufacturing companies

since the middle

of 2008.

A smaller number

of Chinese competitors

coupled with a

strengthening U.S. dollar

and a steady hum

of safety concerns

about Chinese-made

products could combine

to create good news for Nevada manufacturers.

One of the companies that keep close tabs

on manufacturing developments in China is

Veterinary Ventures Inc., a Reno company

that markets drinking fountains for pets as

well as other pet accessories.

The company has been booming sales

growth has been running about 50 percent a

year and President Sean Rowe says the

company has kept a steady stream of orders

headed to Chinese factories.

While he's happy with his suppliers, Rowe

also worries a bit about the direction of the

U.S. dollar a strengthening dollar makes

imports into this country more expensive

as well as the political relationship between

the United States and China.

The manufacturing sector especially

high-wage advanced manufacturing is

among the targets of economic development

organizations in northern Nevada.

Those companies account for about 8 percent

of the companies that are seriously looking

at locations in the Reno-Sparks area, says

Tina Iftiger, director of business development

for the Economic Development Authority of

Western Nevada.

Those possible new manufacturers

include firms in aviation, fabrication and

electrical components, she says.

Also scouting the area are manufacturers

of solar panels and other green-energy equipment,

Iftiger says.

In Carson City and the counties that surround

the capital region,manufacturing

companies are actively looking for locations,

says Ron Weisinger, executive director of the

Northern Nevada Development Authority.

Among the factors that draw manufacturers

to the region, he says, is affordable and

available land.

Nevada Business Connections, a nonprofit

group that works to attract jobs to the Carson

City area, says manufacturers accounted for

seven of the 12 new and expanding companies

with which it worked in the last six

months. Those companies range from makers of

skis and sails to a manufacturer of mining

equipment, says Kris Holt, executive director

of the group.