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Building a nation of makers* Expand technology and engineering certifications to help employers know worker skills* Government-backed talent investment loans to hire needed workers* Commerce department and state programs to diffuse latest technologis to small manufacturers* National supply chain initiative to map manufacturing ecosystemsSource: Milller Center Milstein Syposium ideas to acceleration innovative capacity of manufacturers
A panel of scholars from the University of Virginia’s Miller Center on Friday returned to what the leaders often call the center’s birthplace in Chattanooga to outline their recommendations for making America’s small and midsized manufacturers stronger in the global marketplace.
Their ideas for making America great may not be getting the headlines and TV air time of those suggested by Donald Trump in his presidential campaign. But the suggestions to improve worker training and the sharing of information and technology reflect the bipartisan and scholarly approach the Miller Center has employed over the past 40 years to develop what its leaders insist are practical and effective plans.
Dan Frierson, the CEO of Dixie Group who served on the Miller Center board for 29 years, said the late Chattanooga attorney Burkett Miller wanted a center that would encourage a thoughtful, research-based approach to contemporary problems. Miller was a partner in the Chattanooga law firm of Miller and Martin, which still supports the center housed at the University of Virginia where Miller graduated.
“In the aftermath of the Vietnam War, Burkett Miller wanted a place for civil discourse between parties and he wanted an institution that would be nonpartisan to do research and to look at present day issues to inform the public,” said Frierson, who recalls Miller being a scholarly and thoughtful gentlemen who helped his hometown in a multitude of ways. “The Miller Center has been a great balance to the hyper partisanship we see today in Washington.”