BUFFALO, N.Y. – It has been a tough couple of months for manufacturing plants in the area, between New Era announcing it is closing its derby plant in March and Bak USA shutting down operations in Buffalo, there's a new push on social media to bring new companies to Western New York and highlight the workers who are already here.
This week, the non-profit Invest Buffalo Niagara is encouraging companies to use #BuffaloWorksHard.
"To celebrate our incredible, talented, productive workforce in the Buffalo Niagara region, “says Jenna Kavanaugh. "It's what Invest Buffalo Niagara uses, the workforce, to really recruit businesses here."
After several companies announced this fall that they are leaving our area, Jenna Kavanaugh and her colleagues at Invest Buffalo Niagara are continuing to aggressively recruit new businesses. Kavanaugh is the COO of Invest Buffalo Niagara.
"When we hear closings, such as Bak USA and New Era, we are obviously incredibly disappointed, but we take that, and we turn that into an opportunity for this region. We talk about the workforce that we have, the real estate that we have, and we market it to site selectors," says Kavanaugh.
Kavanaugh will be in Nashville meeting with site selectors next month. One of her co-workers is going to Miami to do the same thing.
"What are some of the key things you tell them about the workforce in Western New York that's ready to go?" asked 2 On Your Side’s Kelly Dudzik.
“We have 21 colleges and universities in our community. We have a heritage of manufacturing excellence. You combine that with the technology coming out of universities, it's an incredible intersection with a highly productive workforce," says Kavanaugh.
And Kavanaugh says those are things that make Western New York a great fit for companies looking to expand.
"We are definitely attracting businesses here in the manufacturing cluster. We recently did a study this year to examine that to see what best fits the needs of our community, and we are targeting additive manufacturing, plastics manufacturing, medical device, sensor technology,” she says.
The pennants that you'll see in #BuffaloWorksHard tweets are made by a Buffalo company, Oxford Pennant, which just opened a new store on the 700 block of Main Street in September.