Page 26 - Murfreesboro, TN Comprehensive Plan: Chapter 7, Economic Development

7.26 Chapter 7

DRAFT 12.02.15

7.4 Position For Modern a main focus of “Rutherford Works” - Rutherford County
Chamber of Commerce’s multi-pronged economic
strategy (as discussed on page 7.8). A major Chamber
Manufacturing initiative is to help debunk negative attitudes toward
manufacturing jobs by helping expose students to
myriad manufacturing career options and career-tracks.

Although the City’s stated economic priority is to Its Career Pathway Partners program works with area
attract more professional white-collar jobs, well-paying K-12 schools, higher-eds, and participating industries, to
manufacturing jobs have been a long-standing staple of cultivate technological aptitudes and instill interest in
a healthy, well-diversified economy. (This includes the manufacturing careers among high school students. It
Metropolitan Nashville economy that historically has then lines them up with internships and apprenticeships
had a strong manufacturing sector.) Increasingly clean, with area manufacturers.
lean and automated, today’s advanced manufacturing Rutherford Works is also involved in helping develop
jobs require highly skilled workers with some post- customized training programs by aligning the resources
secondary technical education and analytical, problem- of MTSU and area technical colleges to helping meet
solving skills. the workforce needs of area manufacturers. Further
Although manufacturing will never employ the numbers mobilization and alignment of private industry,
it once did, today’s specialized, precision, additive educational institutions, and the broader workforce
manufacturing requires more brains than brawn and development system is a central theme of the recently
involves customized applications of highly sophisticated published “Pathways to Prosperity” report prepared for
technology such as 3D printing, laser technology, Rutherford County by the Harvard Graduate School of
computer-assisted design (CAD) along with complex Education.
robotics and supply-chain management software. Such With major auto-related production well-established
manufacturing jobs are also increasingly well paying. locally, as well as renewed regional emphasis on
Developing the talent pipeline for Rutherford County’s advanced manufacturing, Murfreesboro should
increasingly skill-needy manufacturers, in fact, has been position itself to attract clean, modern, sophisticated