Brett A. Vassey, Virginia Manufacturers Association

Ask Brett A. Vassey why manufacturing is important to the economy, and he doesn't hold back.

"It is truly one of the only industries that creates wealth from nothing," he said.

That's not a surprising opinion considering that Vassey is one of the state's most visible advocates for manufacturing companies.

At age 39, he is now in his seventh year as president and chief executive officer of the Virginia Manufacturers Association, a trade group that works on behalf of more than 5,000 manufacturers in the state and exerts a powerful influence over public policy.

But Vassey has personal reasons, too, for his strident support of manufacturing companies.

"I dare say my entire family and my entire community would not have had the strong middle class and the opportunities we had, if it had not had the strong manufacturing it did," he said.

Vassey grew up near Kansas City, Mo., where his father worked at a Ford Motor Co. plant.

"He was a production worker," Vassey said. "He never worked anywhere else. He had one employer his whole career."

During summers, Vassey worked at his uncle's company, Mo-Con Laboratories, a manufacturer of rigid contact lenses.

"From working in that environment, I understood that manufacturing was many different things," he said. "It wasn't just a smokestack."

One thing that has stuck with Vassey during a career that has included work in state government, economic development and public-policy advocacy was the fate of his uncle's factory.

It closed more than a decade ago, "because of the speed of change in the industry," he said.

"As large international firms got into the U.S. market, and as the technology of soft contact lenses developed, small labs could not compete on price and technology," he said.

"For me, it has been a constant message that manufacturing can survive, but it can only survive through innovation," he said.

In his numerous public appearances, Vassey preaches the power of innovation, arguing it is key to U.S. competitiveness in a global economy. An environment that encourages innovation, Vassey said, "really comes down to two things."

It means having a regulatory and economic environment that supports and encourages the rapid transition of technology that is internationally competitive. And it requires a work force that is constantly upgrading its skills, he said.

Vassey also delivers a message of promise and peril in manufacturing, which remains a foundation of the economy, employing about 265,000 people in Virginia.

"[Manufacturing] produces over 80 percent of all exports out of the state, he said. "We are 22 percent of all state and local business taxes, and manufacturers still comprise over 80 percent of the industrial research and development in this country."

Yet Virginia's manufacturing employment has been shrinking for years, and the economic recession has cost about 17,000 manufacturing jobs in the state in the past 18 months, bringing the total number to a historically low level.

Signs show that the economic recession may be lifting, and manufacturing is stabilizing now and could grow next year, Vassey said.

Yet the long-term trend of erosion in manufacturing jobs reflects a more complex reality than many of the widely assumed reasons, such as the loss of jobs to foreign markets, he said.

"Most people see that [manufacturing] is reducing employment, and they think the industry is disappearing," he said. "But we are able to produce more with less. With technology, we really have escalated the productivity of our work force."

Vassey argues that public policy should encourage productivity advances and investment.

His group has successfully fought to make several changes in how Virginia companies are taxed by local governments on their machinery and tools. The organization argued the older forms of taxation hindered investment.

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Vassey got into the advocacy role through working in government and economic development.

He moved to Virginia in 1994 when his wife, Christina, a corporate attorney, took a job here. He got accepted to graduate school at Virginia Tech, where he earned a master's in public administration.

He worked in the public policy office of Gov. George Allen's administration, then went to the Virginia Economic Development Partnership and Virginia Department of Business Assistance, where he worked on trade and industrial development issues.

He joined the Virginia Manufacturers Association in 2002.

"I really wanted to be able to do something directly for the industry," he said.

Only 32 when he was hired, Vassey was the youngest chief executive in the organization's 80-year-old history.

Experience, he said, is less important than a willingness to learn and "roll up your sleeves" to take on tough jobs.

"I honestly believe the best thing a young person can do is embed themselves and get a diversity of experiences where you are on the edge of your comfort zone all the time in learning," he said.

. . .

Those who have worked with Vassey, or against him, say Vassey brings a calm demeanor, a gentlemanly style, and reasoned debate to the issues.

"He is one of the lobbyists that will come in and talk to you about both sides of the issue, and where his opponents stand and each of their arguments," said state Sen. Frank W. Wagner, R-Virginia Beach, who is chairman of the state's Manufacturing Development Commission. The commission was created in 2004 largely through the lobbying efforts of the manufacturers group.

Mike Jones, a group manager for Georgia-Pacific Corp. and chairman of the manufacturers association's board of directors, said Vassey has the right balance of analytical skills and a common-sense approach to problem solving.

"He is very articulate and has the ability to educate stakeholders on very complicated issues so that we can make decisions with a good understanding of their impacts and consequences," Jones said.

Jones also praised Vassey for his approach to an even bigger, looming issue for manufacturing that has more to do with demographics than economics or public policy.

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Even though manufacturing employment has declined, the industry in Virginia is facing a shortage of skilled workers, according to industry research.

"We have the oldest work force in the commonwealth. We are literally looking at about a quarter of our work force retiring in the next three or four years," Vassey said.

The association's solution has been to push for improved training programs for manufacturing, and to launch a campaign seeking to change public perception of manufacturing jobs.

Vassey said he counts among his chief accomplishments the association's partnership with the Virginia Biotechnology Association and eight companies to create the Virginia Council on Advanced Technology Skills which provides advanced manufacturing training to workers and people making career transitions.

His group, along with similar organizations elsewhere in the U.S., launched a campaign -- "Dream It, Do It" -- that seeks to attract recent high school graduates as well as older people going through career transitions or coming out of the military into manufacturing careers. The campaign presents manufacturing as a career that offers cutting edge opportunities in high-tech fields that have a major, positive impact on society.

"What we have found through our testing and market research is that young people . . . want to hear about what they are making that contributes to quality of life," Vassey told educators and business people at a recent manufacturing summit at John Tyler Community College.

"The industry is going to be here," Vassey said. "We are a foundation of this economy, but we have to address the work force needs."

Contact John Reid Blackwell at (804) 775-8123 or .