Targeting Advanced Manufacturing IndustriesIowa Area Development Group (IADG) and its partners focus on firms in the industry cluster known as “advanced manufacturing” because of the unique availability of resources in Iowa and the comfortable fit, which a rural Midwest environment offers. The cluster includes metals, machinery, plastics, paper, printing and publishing, instruments and measuring devices, transportation equipment and lumber and wood products industries. Companies within these industries share a common interest in the use of advanced manufacturing processes, the rapid introduction of new materials and technology. Together, they all benefit from proximity to a community of firms that share knowledge, training, resources and suppliers. Iowa is also the heart of the heartland. Iowa sits in the center of an eight-state market of over 900,000 businesses, 36 million people and personal income totaling well over $900 billion. From Iowa, freight and rail shipments can reach vital markets like Chicago, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Omaha and Kansas City in just a few short hours. 
Why do advanced manufacturing firms consider Iowa to be a good fit? Supportive infrastructure: Iowa has the physical infrastructure to support the advanced manufacturing industries including an extensive road, rail and airport network that link Iowa businesses with the rest of the world, two of the nation's major river transportation systems and abundant energy and water capacity. - Highly skilled workforce: Iowa's well-educated and dedicated workforce is a recognized asset to advanced manufacturing firms. The state's network of University-driven manufacturing-oriented research and community college training programs help drive productivity.
- Pre-existing core competency: Iowa is a community of world-class advanced manufacturing firms that include many firms recognized for quality, efficiency and profitability.
- Government support: Iowa offers extraordinary industrial training programs as well as technical and financial assistance.
- Cluster collaboration: Iowa currently boasts supplier training programs and advanced research and commercialization projects as examples of inter-firm collaboration.
What has been the experience of manufacturing firms in Iowa? Iowa’s growth in the employment, income and product of advanced manufacturing firms substantially exceeded the nation’s 45% 
As represented in the graph above, - From 1970 to 2000, advanced manufacturing firms in Iowa have added 32% more workers to their payrolls. For the nation during that same period, the jobs in those industries grew by only 10%.
- From 1970 to 2000, Iowa's advanced manufacturing firms generated an after-inflation growth in income of 59% compared to the U.S. growth in those same industries of 33%.
- From 1987 to 2000, the value of the products produced by Iowa's advanced manufacturing firms grew by an inflation-adjusted 91%. The same industries across the rest of the nation experienced an increase in production of only 45%.
What does Iowa's advanced manufacturing community look like? - Members: the community consists of more than 2,200 firms with more than 3,300 plants employing about 170,000 workers with an annual payroll in excess of $5.3 billion.
- Size: the largest 18 firms each employ 1,000 or more workers. Another 35 firms employ 500-999. More than 3,000 smaller job-shops provide the supplier and sub-contractor linkages that create the synergies.
- Tenure: 89 of the firms have been in business more than a century. Another 359 firms have been in business more than 50 years. Iowa firms stay in business and stay in Iowa.
- Sales: 25 of the firms had sales in excess of $100 million. Another 150 firms had sales in excess of $25 million.
Who are some of the businesses in Iowa’s advanced manufacturing community? How does Iowa's physical infrastructure support the advanced manufacturing industry? Iowa has 113 publicly-owned airports, including 103 general and 10 commercial service airports. These facilities annually accommodate 1.5 million passengers, more than 93,000 tons of cargo and mail and more than 2,500 aircraft. 
Iowa is crisscrossed by 4,227 miles of rail freight track, used by 17 freight carriers to carry over 35 million tons of freight that originates in Iowa. Iowa also has two transcontinental Amtrak passenger routes. Waterways in Iowa carry more than 14 million tons of freight each year. With 112,904 miles of highway, Iowa's roadway system ranks 12th in the nation.
The State of Iowa has taken favorable action to provide for reliable, abundant and affordable electric utility capacity. Three new generation plants will be in place by 2004. Natural gas is readily available throughout the state. Iowa has 20 rural water systems that cover the state. They have the capacity to supply large volumes of affordable treated and non-treated water to rural locations. What advantage does Iowa's productive workforce offer to manufacturing firms? - Iowa's workers provide $5.62 in value-added labor per dollar of wages.
- Iowa consistently is in the top ranks in college entrance exam scores.
- Iowa students have an 84 percent high school graduation rate, placing Iowa among the top five states.
What synergies exist for advanced manufacturing firms in Iowa? Networking opportunities exist for Iowa manufacturers and others through the Iowa Quality Center. The center is a model for continuous improvement and provides leadership and support for performance excellence by connecting individuals, organizations and communities. The Iowa Manufacturing Extension Partnership (IMEP) is a comprehensive source of help for Iowa’s manufacturers. Recent projects include facility planning, product testing, ISO/QS, lean manufacturing, plant assessments, and e-business. One example of proactive cluster collaboration can be seen in the rapid prototyping Support for manufacturing industries goes beyond work-force development to include an initiative under way to foster the growth and profitability of Iowa manufacturers. A collaborative program organized by seven Iowa manufacturers -- Deere & Co., HON Industries, Fisher Controls, Maytag, Pella Corp., Rockwell Collins, and Vermeer -- the state of Iowa, Iowa State University, the University of Iowa, and the Advanced Manufacturing Research and Collaboration Cluster (AMRCC) is helping Iowa companies bring new products to market quickly. What roles are Iowa's major universities playing in this process? According to the National Science Foundation (NSF) in their report Science and Engineering Indicators, 2002, the University of Iowa and Iowa State University received 604 patents during the period 1982-98, 5 percent of the total number of patents issued to the nation's top 100 public universities. In FY2001, the NSF provided 246 awards totaling $35 million to 19 institutions in the State of Iowa as well as $311,000 in fellowships. In 1999, the state's universities spent $375 million on research and development -- about one-third of the more than $1 billion in R&D spending in the state. Iowa State University's aerospace and engineering mechanics department is one of the 10 largest in the country and is consistently ranked among the best. It's major strengths include acoustics, vibrations, noise control, biomedical engineering, theoretical aerodynamics and computational fluid dynamics, nondestructive evaluation, computational mechanics, finite and boundary elements, mechanics of materials, wave mechanics, ultrasonics, and flight mechanics, controls, and optimization. The Institute for Physical Research & Technology at Iowa State University assists companies in developing new products and processes or in improving existing ones through technical assistance and cost sharing. The University of Iowa Colleges of Engineering and Henry B. Tippie College of Business at Iowa offer a joint program leading to a Technological Entrepreneurship Certificate, earned along with an engineering degree. It is the first of its kind at any U.S. engineering college. Read what Inc. magazine has to say about this program. Are Iowa businesses online and on top of technology? The Progressive Policy Institute released it's The Best States for E-Commerce report on March 13, 2002. Iowa ranked fifth highest in the nation.
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