Issue link: http://savannah.uberflip.com/i/1202658
22 5 moderately. If the trade war escalates, the drops will be steep. In contrast, a major de-escalation of the trade war would improve prospects for Georgia's manufacturers. Additional factors dimming the prospects for manufacturers in 2020 include past appreciation of the U.S. dollar, a slowing global economy, and subdued levels of business confidence. More positively, it will help that many of the manufacturing economic development projects announced over the last few years continue to build out, partially offsetting the drop in industrial production due to the trade war. Georgia's largest manufacturing industry is food processing. Although the trade war limits immediate prospects for food exports, many of the economic development projects announced over the last few years are food processors. Production is poised to increase substantially once the trade war is over. Examples of recently announced agribusiness and food processing projects include Coca-Cola UNITED, Mars Wrigley Confectionary, Tyson Foods, Forquimica, Harrison Poultry, Purdue Farms, The Linde Group, Colorado Premium, Diana Food, Farmax, Star Snacks, Aviagen, Lake Foods, Starbucks, and the Corvaglia Group. Georgia's vehicle parts manufacturing industry will benefit from political pressures that encourage foreign manufacturers to invest more in U.S. production facilities and to buy automotive parts from U.S. manufacturers. In addition, there are more assembly plants in the Southeast. Vehicle parts manufacturing projects announced in 2018- 2019 that will bolster growth in Georgia's vehicle and vehicle parts manufacturing industry in 2020 and beyond include Sangsin Technology, Nivel Parts & Manufacturing, Acoustics & Insulation Techniques, Hitachi Automotive Systems Americas, SK Innovation, Toyo Tire North America, VINTECH INDUSTRIES, Nisshinbo Automotive Manufacturing, Groupe PSA, SEWON America, and Fox Factory Holding Corp. Due to the build-out of previously announced advanced manufacturing projects, Georgia will see increases in advanced manufacturing activity and employment. Advanced manufacturing projects announced in 2019 include Boehringer Ingleheim, ZKTeco, Hitachi Automotive Systems America, Plethora, Elma Electronic, Union Agener, Rivacold, and Barco. Advanced manufacturing projects announced in 2018 include SK innovation, OFS, Corvaglia Group, Hanwha, Q CELLS Korea, Manus Bio Inc, Gildan Yarns, and Gulfstream Aerospace. Effective economic development policies, low electricity and natural gas prices, rising wages and production costs in China – and other overseas locations – are factors that support Georgia's manufacturing sector. Concerns about trade policies, product quality and management of the risks associated with increasingly complex – time-sensitive – supply chains also make manufacturing in Georgia more attractive than manufacturing overseas. Additional factors that will help Georgia attract manufacturers include a superior transportation, logistics, and distribution infrastructure, low costs of doing business relative to other highly developed economies, a favorable tax structure, highly ranked colleges & universities, excellent work-force training programs such as Quick Start, and very competitive economic development incentives. To become a state where manufacturing activity – as well as factory jobs – truly concentrates Georgia will need to: (1) develop a better educated, more highly skilled, and more productive manufacturing workforce that can use the newest technologies; and (2) become a more fertile ground for developing and quickly adopting innovative productivity- enhancing technologies. In developed economies, the manufacturers that thrive will be extremely capital intensive, not very labor intensive, productive, and innovative. The minimum skill requirements for factory workers therefore will rise rapidly as manufacturers utilize much more sophisticated manufacturing technologies. That is especially true for the new factories built in the U.S. The Georgia BioScience Training Center, which supports training for Baxalta's new facility, is a good example of providing much needed skills to Georgia's workers while simultaneously incentivizing life sciences companies. The Georgia Tech Research Institute and Georgia Tech's Manufacturing Institute promote growth advanced manufacturing and technology industries. The recent announcement that the Technical College System of Georgia will build an Aviation Academy in Paulding County will support the growth of Georgia's aerospace industry, which consists of over 800 aerospace companies. The many manufacturing layoffs and closings announced in 2019 dim the prospects for Georgia manufacturing. For example, Husqvarna closed its factory in McRae, which cost Telfair County over 1,000 manufacturing jobs. Gulfstream announced layoffs in Savannah, costing Chatham County 362 jobs. Valmiera Glass closed its plant in Dublin, costing Laurens County 350 jobs. Exide Technologies closed its battery making plant in Columbus, costing Muscogee County