Alstom Chattanooga Hosts CEO-Level Forum on U.S. Competitiveness

Press releases and news 21 Jun 2011

Alstom Chattanooga Hosts CEO-Level Forum on U.S. Competitiveness

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12%. 67%. 18 million.


These are important numbers for anyone concerned about Americas long-term economic competitiveness.

The numbers tie back to manufacturing - one sector of the economy that has played the largest role in U.S. innovation for over 100 years. Here are the details:

  • Manufacturing accounts for 12% of U.S. GDP, down 25% from 50 years ago.
  • Despite the decline, manufacturing accounts for 67% of all U.S. R&D activity.
  • Today, U.S. manufacturing supports 18 million jobs.

Manufacturing also was the focus of national-level strategy discussions held today at Alstoms state-of-the-art factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

During todays event, Alstom and its partners at the Council on Competitiveness and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, hosted leaders from the business, labor and academic communities. They came together for a discussion on how smart investments today in the right infrastructure are the foundation for a new generation of U.S. manufacturing that will impact the countrys ability to compete in global markets.

Deborah Wince-Smith, President and CEO of the Council on Competitiveness, told attendees The infrastructure that fueled a century of American innovation is not just aging, it is lagging behind a wave of modernization sweeping across the globe. Advanced manufacturing cannot function without highly-integrated networks of people and technology, state-of-the-art control and support systems, and robust, secure communications.

Wince-Smith went on to say the purpose of the Councils Out of the Blue Strategic Manufacturing Dialogues is to identify specific recommendations for infrastructure investment policies that will attract next-generation businesses to locate manufacturing operations in the U.S. She cited manufacturings role in driving technological innovations as central to maintaining competitiveness in the 21st century.

The Chattanooga forum explored specifics aspects of Americas business support infrastructure, such as:

  • Specialized energy, transportation and water systems
  • Railways and transit, commuter and mass transit systems
  • Electric power networks and emerging smart grids

Alstom is a perfect example of how the right infrastructure investments attract businesses that cascade benefits throughout the local and national economies, added Pierre Gauthier, President & CEO of Alstom in the U.S. and Canada. Our decision to build a new $300 million turbine factory in Chattanooga was driven by the areas superb transportation infrastructure and other factors that make it possible to deliver sophisticated, large-scale power generation equipment to customers throughout North America.

Dr. Will Sutton, Dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, reinforced that education plays a major role in the push for competitiveness. Some organizations rank the U.S. as 19th worldwide in math and science education, he said. We have to take steps today to ensure that companies emphasizing a trained, highly-skilled workforce in their decision to locate new manufacturing operations have confidence in Americas ability to get the job done.

Recommendations assembled during the Out of the Blue dialogues will be incorporated into the National Manufacturing Strategy, which the Council on Competitiveness will present during the National Manufacturing Summit in Washington, D.C. on December 7-8 2011.


Press Coverage of the Chattanooga Infrastructure Investment Forum:


Chattanooga Times Free Press 

WDEF-TV CH 12 (CBS) 

Nooga.com 

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