New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program President and CEO John Kennedy welcomed hundreds of people in celebration of the occasion on Friday at The Marigold in Somerset. 

The Small Business Administration said it approved 72 loans for the industry in the Garden State creating and retaining, combined, more than 1,000 jobs.

Kenmore branded vacuums will now be offered through the Pine Brook-based company's various programs, including corporate gifting, sales incentives, employee recognition, loyalty programs and more.

The New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program is a nonprofit organization that assesses, consults, trains and advocates on behalf of manufacturing companies.

New Jersey manufacturers are struggling to find enough skilled employees even though the industry here pays an average salary of $90,000 annually.

Companies, like Newark-based apparel and accessories manufacturer Unionwear, focus on moving components quickly.

Since 2000, manufacturing employment plunged by nearly 5 million, or more than 28 percent, as the number of manufacturing establishments dropped by more than 78,000, a 22 percent decline.

How a family health crisis sent Kimarie Santiago down a path to small business success.

A North Jersey veteran in his late 20s who was working without much growth potential wanted make a career change into the growing advanced manufacturing segment. “The problem was, he didn’t have any manufacturing background,” recounted Patti Moran of NJMEP. “Fortunately, after reading about some apprenticeship programs, he was motivated enough to contact the U.S. Department of Labor, which referred him to us. In September we placed him in a salaried apprenticeship program.”

Florham Park-based World Wide Packaging Inc. will begin utilizing the eco-friendly packaging on all tubes manufactured at its Suzhou, China, facility effective Jan. 1, 2020.

New Jersey manufacturers are struggling to find enough skilled employees even though the industry pays an average salary of $90,000 annually in the Garden State. This and other ideas emerged Tuesday at an NJBIZ discussion moderated by New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program CEO John Kennedy.