New Chapter Signals to Worldwide Manufacturing Industry that New Mexico's Open for Manufacturing Businesses and Serious about Growing Industry

Albuquerque - Today, Governor Susana Martinez joined the newly-formed New Mexico chapter of the National Tooling and Machining Association (NTMA) at its inaugural event to celebrate its inception as the 38th Chapter of the NTMA. This is an important development for the state as it communicates to manufacturing businesses nationally and worldwide that New Mexico is welcoming to manufacturing investments and is home to a critical mass of "second tier" manufacturers that supply them. Also in attendance were Economic Development Secretary Jon Barela, Workforce Solutions Secretary Celina Bussey and Secretary of Public Education Hanna Skandera in addition to Ken McCreight, vice president of the National Tooling and Machining Association.

"As we celebrate National Manufacturing Month, I am pleased that New Mexico is recognized by the manufacturing industry as a welcoming place for their businesses," said Gov. Martinez. "Manufacturing jobs pay well and have a great multiplier effect on our economy, we are thrilled they know New Mexico is serious about growing this industry because of our tax competitiveness and education reforms."

Manufacturing jobs are significant contributors to an economy because they are typically higher-paid positions, and generate new business dollars/investment from outside of the state. According to reports from the Manufacturing Institute, manufacturing leads all other industry sectors in economic multipliers adding $1.33 cents for every $1.00 spent and 1.6 additional jobs for every manufacturing job created.

"Over the last three and a half years, New Mexico has worked hard to create an environment that welcomes manufacturing as it moves from a federally-dependent state to a more diversified private-sector economy," said Sec. Barela. "As a result of our efforts, New Mexico is ranked best in the West for manufacturing businesses according to Ernst & Young."

"We as a state have a lot to offer and we are just now beginning to realize how much talent we have in this state as well as our chapter," said Mark Bogue the New Mexico chapter president and president of Bogue Machine Company. "To bring more opportunities to the state, we as an industry must work as a team to advocate for key issues that face the industry like business friendliness, education, workforce development and supply chain development."

The top priorities for the New Mexico NTMA Chapter for this year are business development, educational and workforce development and political advocacy. The New Mexico chapter established six committees to focus on chapter priorities and goals. These committees are: Business Development; Educational Development; Chapter Problems; Political Advocacy, Membership Value and Recruitment. The New Mexico Chapter of the NTMA has met bi-monthly since January of 2014 to develop its priorities and agenda in order to synergize the talent and capabilities of its membership and to raise awareness of the fact that New Mexico is open for business in the manufacturing arena.

The New Mexico chapter was officially established on March 8, 2014 during the annual NTMA Manufacturing National Conference held in Scottsdale, AZ and has grown to 31 member companies and 11 associate members across New Mexico, and represents over 1,300 manufacturing jobs. This organization as well as the national organization is engaged in not only building up the businesses of its members, but also focuses on building the manufacturing industry overall.

The NTMA was established in 1943 to represent what was then called the custom tooling and machining industry and has grown to 1,400 member companies organized into 38 local chapters nationwide. These member companies represent more than $40 billion in annual sales. The NTMA is the largest U.S. trade group representing U.S. metalworking manufacturers. The NMTA's mission is to help members of the U.S. Precision Custom Manufacturing industry achieve business success in a global economy through advocacy, advice, networking, information programs and services by providing a united voice for U.S. manufacturers.