Northwest Aerospace News October | November Issue No. 5 | Page 37

Fiona McKay
Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance (PNAA)
F
iona McKay, deputy executive director for PNAA, said,
“There are a range of groups that all have slightly different
missions, but overall we are all here to support the aerospace
community.” She likes the idea of coming up with com-
plementary events and engagements between many of the
attending groups instead of each operating autonomously.
around the treatment of metals, machining, fabrication, and
advanced composite materials,” said McKay.
Tiffany Scroggs, program director for Washington Procure-
ment Technical Assistance Center (PTAC), stated, “Our
mission is to increase government contracts for businesses;
this is a good opportunity to connect.” She said in general
McKay would like to see combined strategic goals across the she is a supporter of PNAA events and wanted to be a part
organizations to show that, “We can promote each other’s in- of the discussion.
terests and demonstrate a commitment to the aerospace com-
Another attendee, Randy Gardiner from the Center for
munity and how the collective groups support the industry.”
Advanced Manufacturing Puget Sound (CAMPS), felt that
She said that the region, comprised of Washington, Oregon, once he heard about the event, “We need to be a part of
this to leverage our memberships and to discuss workforce
Idaho, and Montana, manufactures nearly 90 percent of all
development.”
commercial aircraft in the U.S. In Washington, exports are
worth 70 billion dollars, which is 60 percent of all exports.
McKay noted that in Washington we have been “Anchored
But there are assets within this cluster in each state. In Ore-
to Boeing,” but that outside our region many other com-
gon, there has been an investment into UAVs; in Montana it
mercial aircraft manufacturers have taken notice.
is castings; in Idaho there is support of UAVs, Quest Aircraft,
electronics and composite materials. Even British Columbia The cluster is also becoming known for space and UAV
and Alberta are in the game with “Robust systems support
manufacturing.
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