Northwest Manufacturing Initiative

The Pacific Northwest Defense Coalition PNDC has been working since 2007 to create, launch and maintain the NWConnectory, an online buyer-supplier network for the Pacific Northwest industrial and technology companies across all industries at every level of the supply chain. What began as an earmark in the 2007 Defense Appropriations Bill has grown to become a regional economic development tool that gives economic development professionals unprecedented access to near real-time information on the businesses that are operating in their region. The purpose of the NWConnectory is to create a regional buyer-suppler network that will connect businesses to each other and enable them to strengthen their supply chain with in the region. The NWConnectory also provides information about the industrial and technology base of the Pacific Northwest economy, and includes profiles of other critical assets including federal labs, university and private research centers. This funding is a major part of building the research and teaching capacity of the faculty at the Lundquist College of Business to engage with the Industry in the Pacific Northwest in particular with firms in the manufacturing eco-system of defense supply chains. Special emphasis was placed to increase the manufacturing competitiveness in the region by engaging in problem solving projects with firms, offering experiential education that can train and excite students to pursue thriving careers in operations and supply chain management, and undertake research to address the problems of import to the industry. A major emphasis was also placed on engaging in interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary endeavors when possible. A special effort was made to build gainful collaboration between faculty in the areas of operations and marketing to study problems at the operations-marketing interface and also in areas such as sustainability.