A former plant manager for Cormetech’s manufacturing facility in Cleveland, Tenn., has been named as director of the Tennessee Manufacturers Association.
Denise Rice, a 25-year manufacturing veteran who founded her own workforce development consulting firm in Chattanooga this past July, will head the manufacturers’ division of the Nashville- based Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Rice, who will continue to live in Chattanooga and operate Peak Performance Inc., started her new role March 1 and will work to help Tennessee build and grow its manufacturing workforce.
After shedding nearly 200,000 manufacturing jobs from 1990 to 2009, Tennessee has grown manufacturing employment by nearly 16 percent in the past seven years, adding back nearly 50,000 manufacturing jobs. With many aging baby boomers retiring from the state’s factories and new skill sets needed in today’s automated and modern factories, many manufacturers are facing labor shortages in skilled trades, Rice said.
“Too many people still think of factory jobs as dirty and declining, but today’s manufacturing is clean, dependable and highly skilled and it offers real opportunities for good-paying jobs,” she said.
Rice said she is eager to work with community colleges, trade schools and elementary and secondary schools to help more students recognize the value and potential of manufacturing employment.