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  his year’s Manufacturing
Appreciation Week culminated in a luncheon at the Georgia International Convention Center with an attendance of more than 1,000 people from across the state. Gov. Roy Barnes spoke to a sellout crowd of business and industry leaders and economic developers, urging the group once again “to remember that manufacturing is still one of the most important keys to Georgia’s economic success.”
“We are the third fastest growing state in the nation, and we’ve experienced unprecedented prosperity in the last ten years—prosperity that is directly tied to our ability to educate, train, and keep workers,” said the governor. The governor further stated that training and keeping workers will be one of the state’s biggest challenges to its current prosperity and listed three tools he finds essential in selling Georgia to potential employers: Quick Start, business incentives, and education.
 Education remains Gov. Barnes’ main banner in the charge for sustained, high-quality employment in Georgia. He stated that providing a solid base and background are essential to economic health, starting with K-12 and on to postsecondary schools, including technical colleges and universities. Thirty years ago, the governor noted, a high school diploma guaranteed a job and 65 percent of the jobs required only a high school education. “Now it has shifted,” said Barnes. “Now 65 percent of our jobs require at least two years of postsecondary education. This meant our comprehensive education reform had to be based on a business model where service and delivery performance are the main issues. We had to adjust to the ‘market’ of employers,” he explained. The governor also pointed to the success of the Certified Manufacturing Specialist Program, which is administered through the network of technical colleges across the state, as being representative of the kind of practical, yet visionary approach to training workers that will help ensure a healthy economy for Georgia. Department of Industry, Trade & Tourism Commissioner R. K. Sehgal joined the governor at the M.A.W. luncheon, noting that manufacturing is absolutely essential to the state’s prosperity.
 Corporate sponsors underwrite the Annual M.A.W. Awards Luncheon. Pictured here (l-r) are: Phil Jacobs, President, BellSouth; Becky Blalock, V.P., Community and Economic Development, Georgia Power Company; Ken Taormina, Sr. V.P., KPMG Consulting; Jerry Silvio, V.P., Pattillo Construction Company; Jim Reese, COO, Randstad North America.
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Noting that manufacturing accounts for approximately 600,000 jobs at more than 11,000 facilities in Georgia, the governor urged the audience to keep in mind the most essential ingredient to successful business growth: keeping a trained workforce.
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