First Coast Manufacturers Association (FCMA)

As 2022 is behind us, we wanted to spotlight a few of our highlights from First Coast Manufacturers Association this past year. Our members have had many continued challenges regarding supply chain issues. Additionally, most of our companies are confronted with finding and keeping our workforce. Fcma remained a continual source of information for our members and a center of data for companies to share problems and issues being experienced. This year we hosted our First roundtable discussion with a wide range of our company members participating. We hosted several local leaders to discuss and consider opportunities in shipping and distribution of products. The roundtable also included key discussions regarding cyber security and emerging energy issues. Our members wanted more information, which was included in this year's symposium. This year our companies began to emerge after two years of the pandemic. Participation in our symposium increased by 20% over last year. Our topics included cyber security, retaining, and recruiting workforce, and statewide policy issues. Our event provided the opportunity to gain information useful for business practices in a continually changing work environment.government programs and policies continued to create many opportunities for our Manufacturers coupled with a few new challenges. Policies implemented at the state and federal level provided grant funding for training, which we helped lead our members to their benefit. Fcma continues to provide workshops and communications through our committees to share changes in policies and attitudes. As imposed impacts and mandates of the government changed over the course of the last year, we expanded communications to document edicts, mandates, and legislation as resources became available for dealing these issues.the Association is beginning to explore the impact of increases in energy. Additionally, new policies are on the horizon related to carbon emissions. We expect to address those issues as they emerge and keep our membership informed. We anticipate energy and carbon emissions will have a key financial impact to our companies and their operations.the year provided an opportunity for us to move into combined in person meetings and virtual meetings. We continue to believe that in-person meetings provide pathways and opportunities for our members to develop personal relationships. Our feedback shows we have successfully kept our members informed through our various outreach platforms. Our training courses were able to be renewed this year. While our classes earlier in the year were not at capacity, after the second quarter we saw a visible increase in participation. These programs are now being well attended and once again received as an asset by our members. Professional progress did not meet this year principally because of issues regarding government policies and employees who attend from those agencies. Professional progress is a popular program which has been offered by our Association for over 25 years. The purpose of the program is to introduce public regulatory agencies with private sector companies, thus, to build a better working relationship. We are beginning plans to start professional progress again in february. Our traditional legislative days were not held this year as the timing of the event conflicted with a high number of covid cases. Plans are underway to head to tallahassee in march of next year. We hope you will plan to join us and look forward to our communications regarding the event.the annual golf outing was held in may with near capacity levels. It was a great success with many of our companies and individuals enjoying the opportunity to get out and enjoy a round of golf while interacting with other members. Our excellence in manufacturing annual awards program to recognize our Manufacturers, partners and employees was held in october. The event was well attended, beginning to reach our pre-pandemic levels where we enjoyed recognizing our Manufacturers' accomplishments throughout the year and the employees who make our companies strong. Many of our companies participated either in the employee awards or the company awards; several companies participated in both. This year 16 awards were presented to our companies including our manufacturer of the year for two levels of employment and over 70 awards were given out to honor the employees. Interviews were conducted for the company awards in virtual meetings which provided great insight into the successes of our companies. The progress and innovation of our companies is truly amazing. Plans are underway to make next year's event even bigger and better. I look forward to sharing those thoughts with you over the next couple of months. Our leadership academy training courses are regaining high levels of participation. We are continuing to explore other training and informative programs for our members. This year we continued to expand our opportunities with floridamakes. Among the advances with our partnership, we were able to collect information that was used to identify resources for our members. We worked with our members to participate in a new platform for identifying resources and materials as the supply chain disruption has continued to have an impact on our companies. Connex was introduced to our members two years ago and continues to be a useful tool for our companies to help market their products as well as identify available products.this year has been successful in several ways as we look to new business practices and address emerging challenges. Our popular lunch with lake was expanded last year to include a lunch with clay (yarbrough), continues to give our members opportunities to socialize and network. The feedback we've gotten from these lunches has been that fcma has exceeded and excelled in our levels of communication beyond any other regional associations. We are looking forward to closing our year out with our holiday social in december with the hope that it sets the stage for an exciting new year.thanks to all who have worked to support and reinforce our Association. We hope that you will renew your membership and plan to participate with us.