The leader of the Utah Manufacturing Extension Partnership is making a pitch for more state funding, saying current amounts limit the group to helping only 2 percent of the manufacturing sector companies.

David K. Sorensen, executive director, told the Governor's Office of Economic Development that state funding of $900,000 annually pales compared with $11.3 million that the agriculture extension service receives. "We have an opportunity to do something similar, for a greater economic impact," he said.

With the $900,000, "we really have to be selective about clients," he said.

The partnership is a nationwide network of not-for-profit centers in nearly 350 locations that assist small- and medium-sized manufacturers. Sorensen said that in 2006, Utah companies getting help from the network added 2,543 jobs, paid $87 million in wages and had $399 million in output.

Extrapolated over 12 years, those figures will reach to 30,000 jobs, $1 billion in wages and $5 billion in output. The group helped 303 companies but only 72 with large projects that had measurable impacts. The state's $900,000 investment led to $10.5 million in additional state tax revenues, Sorensen said.

"Manufacturing in the state won't continue to stay healthy unless we've got an extension service with adequate resource to have a reasonable cross-section (of manufacturers)," Sorensen said after the meeting. "We've been at it for 12 years and have only touched 1,600. Some, it's been 10 years ago since we helped them.

"I think ultimately a reasonable amount would be what ag is at, which is $11 million a year. If you look at that, that means we're spending $7.10 a day per farm employee with extension service. The money we get from the state spent on manufacturing represents 2 cents a day (per employee)."

Sorensen said manufacturing "tends to be an invisible sector" but needs help in accommodating process and product changes, and companies must pay above-average wages to attract and retain employees.

Utah manufacturers employ about 125,000 people, and the sector has added about 8,000 jobs since the beginning of 2007, he said. But he added that the wide diversity of manufacturing companies, while helping insulate the sector from certain problems experienced in states with one or two major manufacturing companies, can lead to a different set of challenges — trying to help many companies across a wide spectrum of activities.

"I think manufacturing here in Utah is more healthy than in most states and one of the reasons is because of the diversification," he said.

---

E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com