A New Voice for Jefferson County Manufacturing

photo credit, PT Foundry

Jefferson County's manufacturers have a new organization, and a tagline to match: "We Are Makers."

The Jefferson County Manufacturing Association (JCMA) is the work of Pete Langley, owner of Port Townsend Foundry. He is building it to give the county's makers something they have not had. In his words, the Association exists "to provide a collective voice for those businesses and individuals making their living in the Manufacturing sector within Jefferson County and to promote the economic, political well being of our members and growth within our community."

Langley knows the work from the floor up. His Port Townsend Foundry has run continuously since 1983, casting marine hardware and more in silicon, manganese, aluminum, and white bronze, each piece tooled, poured, and finished in-house. The foundry's ingots come from an American smelter that specializes in recycled metal, a quiet version of the circular economy Langley now wants to build across the county.

He started the Association to close a gap he knows firsthand. "I started this due to the lack of Industry support, lack of collaborations, to support all industries equally, and share the knowledge throughout the community what we as makers do," he says. "How we affect the economy and to build a circular economy that is sustainable."

Those gaps, as he describes them, are "wide and complex": job training, a shortage of workforce, and access to capital for members and knowing how to find it. He wants members to "collaborate, to innovate instead of emulating."

For a manufacturer, the Association offers a chance "to be heard and understood by those that do not know what manufacturing means to the community," Langley says, along with a greater collective voice and training in skills "that are not taught, but are necessary."

JCMA is still in its development stage. Businesses and individuals can join as members by meeting the criteria in the bylaws, or as associate members. Langley is building the membership list now and welcomes anyone willing to help the Association grow. Interested parties can reach him directly at ptf@olypen.com.

"Door is always open," he says.