eye on business
Notes from the Road
Kris Johnson, AWB President
There’ s nothing like a road trip.
This year’ s Manufacturing Week bus tour— AWB’ s ninth-annual journey through the state— started early on the morning of Oct. 1 when our staff team climbed abord the big vinylwrapped bus and took off from our parking lot in Olympia.
The bus was stocked with Starbucks Coffee Travelers and coolers full of Coke Zero and Red Bull as we rolled north on I-5 in the pre-dawn quiet. Our first stop of the day was in Renton at Sekisui Aerospace, where we were greeted by AWB board member Daniele Cagnatel.
Sekisui Aerospace is one of the region’ s 1,200-plus aerospace suppliers. The company has transformed its business since Covid with an emphasis on automation and robotic assembly. At the same time that’ s it’ s focusing on automation, it’ s also adding staff, going from 780 employees to 1,100 in the last three years, proving that automation and employee growth are not at odds. If anything, a lack of automation is at odds with employee growth, Cagnatel told us.
“ If you don’ t incorporate automation, you go out of business,” he said.
One of the reasons I look forward to this annual trip is because it lets us put a spotlight on Washington’ s rich history of manufacturing. It’ s a story that resonates. We see great coverage from the news media in every market we visit, with more than 30 articles this year reaching an audience of more than 31 million readers and viewers.
But another reason the bus tour is a highlight of the year for me and so many of our staff is because it allows us the chance to connect directly with some of the 217,000-plus women and men who get up every morning and go to work for a manufacturer. The opportunity to meet in person and walk through their shop floors is priceless.
On day two of this year’ s trip, I was reminded how cool— and rare— it is to find multi-generation family-owned companies. Our stops that day included Eckstrom Industries, a company founded in Everett in the 1890s. Our tour guides— brothers Jerry and Nick Cloud— are the fifth generation from their family to lead the business.
That same day, we stopped at Rozema Boat Works, a small company in Bay View founded in 1955 by a Dutch immigrant
who manufactured wood boats. Today, the company builds state-of-the-art aluminum craft under the leadership of brothers Dirk and Jason Rozema, the third generation from the family to lead the company.
Meeting people like this and touring their businesses is a powerful reminder that manufacturing matters. But we can’ t afford to take it for granted. Unfortunately, as I shared in the third-annual Washington State of Manufacturing address, our manufacturing economy is at risk because of troubling policies coming out of Olympia and Washington, D. C.
In Olympia, Democratic majorities have enacted the largest tax increase in state history and layered on regulations that employers describe as“ rules on top of rules.” In Washington, D. C., Republican leaders are advancing broad trade measures that raise input costs, disrupt supply chains, and put Washington exporters at a disadvantage abroad.
If we continue on this path, Washington will struggle to meet the bipartisan and unanimous goal our Legislature set to double manufacturing by 2030.
But we shouldn’ t give up now. In fact, we should double down on the goal.
Because there’ s nothing like a road trip. And there’ s nothing like manufacturing to lift up the economy. fall 2025 13