• Identify common issues, challenges and opportunities across individual employers;

• Collectively address the priority needs of industry;

• Communicate industry priorities to policy makers and workforce development partners, enabling them to design responsive solutions;

• Address current and emerging skill gaps, both short- and long-term;

• Provide a means to engage directly with industry across traditional boundaries;

• Better align programs, education/training curriculum and other resources serving employers and workers.

• Systems change in response to business needs

• Reduced duplication and system inefficiencies

• Maximized resources and services

• Results in more streamlined services

• Helps manufacturers fill jobs more quickly

• Creates a pipeline of future workers

• Builds career pathways with seamless transitions from one educational stepping stone to another

• More powerful voice

• Influence training programs

• Impact policy

• Attract funding

• Mechanism for ongoing feedback loop with various education, training and workforce programs

• Better results (placement, earnings/benefits, retention, productivity)

• Firm-to-firm networking

• Led by employers – to ensure the system is truly demand-driven and will lead to better outcomes for individuals

• Focused on a single industry – to allow employers to connect with peers from their own industry, identify needs beyond basic workplace skills, and dive deeply into the technical needs of the industry

• Regional – to address unique needs of subsectors while reflecting the true dynamics within a regional economy

• Convened by a neutral intermediary – to align all relevant partner programs and resources as solutions to identified industry needs