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Inaugural Manufacturing for Growth meeting draws hundreds

More than 650 manufacturing executives attended the inaugural Manufacturing for Growth (MFG) meeting, held March 3-6 in Chandler, Ariz. The event was organized by AMT-The Association For Manufacturing Technology, the American Machine Tool Distributors' Association (AMTDA), the National Tooling and Machining Association (NTMA), and the Precision Metalforming Association (PMA).

Manufacturing has made its way to the big screen recently, and the meeting featured the highlights. Friday led off with a Tom Brokaw feature from a recent episode of "NBC Nightly News" that discussed the changing face of manufacturing and featured some of the companies in attendance at the meeting. On Saturday the debut of "The Edge Factor Show" drew an emotional response from the audience with an episode about the manufacturing process behind the drill used to rescue the Chilean miners last October. That drill was made by Center Rock Inc. of Berlin, Pa., and the company was cited by President Obama in his State of the Union address. Center Rock COO Dan Bagley also made a presentation at the meeting.

The event also featured numerous business sessions, including a keynote from noted demographer and futurist Kenneth Gronbach, as well as roundtable discussions and social events for participants to network with their peers.

The four associations have announced plans to hold a second conference March 8-11, 2012, at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in Orlando, Fla.