MCALLEN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Amid concerns over the state of the U.S. economy, one thing remains certain. The future of manufacturing in the Rio South Texas Region is set to thrive. The region, comprised of seven counties on the Texas/Mexico border from Brownsville to Laredo, is still seeing continued interest in growth in the sector.

“Manufacturing has been a core component of regional business for two decades, with the 'maquilladora' (twin plant) model providing more than 174,232 skilled labor jobs on both sides of our border,” said Keith Patridge, a member of the leadership team for the North American Advanced Manufacturing Research and Education Initiative (NAAMREI) and CEO of the McAllen Economic Development Corporation. “We are focused on advanced manufacturing and could become one of the top advanced manufacturing locations in the world if we continue to focus on the workforce preparation and infrastructure development required to support it.”

“The model is evolving to spur the next-generation of manufacturing jobs – advanced, rapid response manufacturing,” said Wanda Garza, executive officer for NAAMREI. “MEDC is currently working with more than 40 active prospects looking to expand operations, relocate entire business divisions or relocate all operations to the region. The region’s focus on producing a talent innovation pool is a major incentive to strengthening a company’s global competitiveness.”

Within the next year, NAAMREI and its 60 consortium members will continue developing a highly-skilled talent pipeline to fuel the needs of companies in the site selection process. And members of its education consortium are seeing big increases in enrollment in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields to provide the needed manpower for these companies on day one of operations.

“South Texas College, the largest college south of San Antonio, saw a 40 percent enrollment jump this year at its Technology Campus. The region trains professionals in a variety of gold collar careers including engineering, precision manufacturing, building technology and entrepreneurship,” Garza added. “The students see the future we are manufacturing here and they are jumping on the skill and intellectual bandwagon. In terms of the university level at The University of Texas-Pan American, more than 3,900 students are enrolled in STEM programs and the university conferred STEM area bachelor degrees to 370 students and STEM area master’s to 72 students in 2009 alone.”

And while the education members of NAAMREI continue creating the talent pool, the leadership of the consortium is busy planning the central piece of the region’s future – a rapid response technology campus.

“We hope to unveil plans for the campus within the next year, which will develop all facets of the advanced, RRM supply chain,” Garza concluded.

For additional information about NAAMREI visit www.naamrei.org or call 956-872-2770.

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