Forget what you've heard about the offshore loss of Georgia manufacturing jobs. It has had to adapt to stay globally competitive, but manufacturing is thriving.

In fact, manufacturing comprises 12 percent of Georgia's $454 billion economy and supports more than 486,000 jobs.

On Oct. 3, National Manufacturing Day, Georgia Tech will bring focus to four key issues facing the industry: the skilled labor shortage, a need to ensure the sector's continued economic vitality, polish its image, and make it attractive to future generations. As part of National Manufacturing Day, Tech and its business partners are showcasing Georgia's successes with plant tours, education roundtables, and symposiums across the state including:

• Power Partners in Athens
• Win-Tech in Kennesaw
• Newton College and Career Academy in Covington
• Evco Plastics in Calhoun
• Armstrong World Industries in Macon

(For a complete list of tours and symposiums across Georgia and registration information, please visit Georgia Tech's dedicated National Manufacturing Day page via this link.)

Tech, through three key business and economic development units, supports initiatives and leads state efforts to keep manufacturing a robust part of the economy:

• The Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP), a federally and state funded unit of Tech's Enterprise Innovation Institute, works extensively with businesses across the state to reduce costs, increase productivity and revenue, incorporate best technological practices, and save or create jobs.
• The Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute leverages Tech's wealth of faculty research and expertise across the different fields that affect manufacturing, from management and engineering to robotics and policy.
• The Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMIC) partners with business, education groups, and local K-12 school districts throughout Georgia to ensure students' curriculum best prepares them in STEM -- science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

The tours and other events highlight the sector's importance, says GaMEP Director Karen Fite. She notes Georgia ranks 11th compared with other states in international exports and 84 percent of its exports come from manufacturing. What's more, employees in the manufacturing sector earn two to three times what retail employees make and roughly 30 percent higher than the Georgia average, Fite says.

According to Ben Wang, executive director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute, "Our ultimate goal is to engage all of our partners in understanding the major manufacturing challenges, leverage the expertise of Georgia Tech in addressing those challenges, and accelerate the process of getting products to market."

Tech's efforts underscore its longstanding role as a national leader in manufacturing, both in research and innovation, and in providing technical aid to small, medium and large manufacturers across Georgia and the Southeast. In 2012 President Barack Obama tapped Tech President G.P. "Bud" Peterson to serve on the steering committee for the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, charged with enhancing U.S. manufacturing's global competitiveness.

Fite says, "Although highlighted on Oct. 3 through this larger initiative, manufacturing is important to Georgia's economy every day and continues to remain an important focus of schools, the communities, and the state".