The event was sponsored by the Cleveland Area Board of Realtors and drew a mix of regional business professionals looking to change the image of gloom and doom associated with manufacturing over the last two decades. John Colm of the manufacturers group Wire-NET said Northeast Ohio still clings to some old ideas.
COLM: The hard reality is that you can't think of manufacturing the way that we used to, as a big job generator. And I think the question is what can the region do to capture more of the growing firms, keep them here, what can we do to encourage start-ups?
Those issues will be discussed in-depth this July at the Great Lakes Manufacturing Forum. This Cleveland-event will gather manufacturers from eight states and two Canadian provinces for the purpose of drawing up a plan for developing, attracting and retaining new businesses in the Great lakes region.
