San Leandro Celebrates Manufacturing Week
San Leandro has a long history as a manufacturing center encapsulated in the slogan We Make Things. Early examples of industry influencers here include local-grown businesses like Daniel Best Agriculture Works which made agricultural combines in the late 1800s before rebranding (can you guess the name of this internationally known company?). Other brands like Chrysler and Kellogg’s and many others have also called San Leandro home over the years.
Today, that tradition continues both with internationally known brands like Ghirardelli Chocolates or Torani Syrups, but also with lesser known but upcoming companies hoping to follow in Daniel Best’s footsteps to create a business on the scale of Caterpillar (did you guess right?). Keep your eye on the next wave of manufacturers like Energy Recovery, which makes advanced equipment to extract energy from desalinization and other industrial equipment across the world and UrbanBloc, which repurposes shipping containers for retail, restaurants, and more. As well, there are cutting-edge companies tackling today’s tough problems through science – such as Swiftscale Biologics, whose protein synthesis technology can be used to create treatments for COVID-19; and New Culture, which is creating cheese without the cow.
The benefits of manufacturing also continue to be central to the health of San Leandro. In fact, roughly 1/3 of all San Leandro jobs are in the Manufacturing, Construction, Transportation and Wholesale sectors, employing over 16,000 people. These manufacturing positions offer career pathways for advancement and provide good, living wages to persons with a diversity of skill and education levels.
In addition, these sectors contribute significantly to San Leandro’s local economy. Manufacturing provides valuable goods and services to the community, as well as to other companies, generating a high volume of economic activity that in turn creates customers for local businesses. Together, business to business and construction activities generate around 33% of the City’s sales tax revenues, contributing over $10.8 million to the City’s General Fund annually.
For these reasons San Leandro is excited to get started with 2021 Bay Area Manufacturing week. Part of an annual national celebration from October 1st to October 8th, the local effort in collaboration with the San Leandro Chamber of Commerce and the Bay Area Urban Manufacturing Initiative will strengthen the national push to grow connections within the industry and raise the visibility of local manufacturing.
On September 28th, the San Leandro Chamber of Commerce will be holding their annual Manufacturing Industry Connect to touch on industry trends and City programs and policies important to the sector. On October 1st, manufacturers will get a chance to take a break, make connections, and enjoy brews and bites at the Manufacturing Meetup at the original Drake’s Brewery – proudly brewing in San Leandro for over 30 years.
The pandemic has made it clear how essential manufacturers are to our having so many of the goods that we want. San Leandro can be proud to know that local businesses are helping to provide those wanted goods and also pivoting to produce goods like masks and sanitizer that we hadn’t known we needed.
Join us in congratulating this pivotal sector! You can do so and find out more about manufacturing at events like:
- September 28th, 12:30-1:30 PM – San Leandro Manufacturing Industry Connect
- October 1st – 5:00 – 7:00 PM – San Leandro Manufacturing Meetup at Drake’s Brewing Company
- October 1st – Manufacturing Foundry Tour: APROE & Swope Design Solutions – Registration and Information
- October 5th – Global Shifts, Local Shape: Remaking Manufacturing for the COVID Era – MFG Week Panel – Registration and Information
- October 8th – Gilman District Wineries Tour – Registration and Information
- Other 2021 Bay Area Manufacturing Week Events
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