The Georgia Manufacturing Alliance is pleased to announce the addition of Bill Stankiewicz as the Coastal Chapter Director for GMA. Mr. Stankiewicz is a Supply Chain Consultant in the Savannah area and has over 20 years experience in Industrial Facility Operations, Business Development, and Food Grade Distribution.

"It is an honor to be working with the Georgia Manufacturing Alliance,” said Bill Stankiewicz, GMA Coastal Chapter Director. “I support Georgia manufacturing jobs and will continue to address workforce development needs for manufacturers and supply chain centers. Our region is looking forward to hosting plant tours and educational events and supporting GMA with joint activities aligning with APICS, TAG, Savannah Traffic Club, Propeller Club, and Pooler Chamber of Commerce.”

The Georgia Manufacturing Alliance has 4 tours set up in the Savannah region on July 26 and 27th as part of their Buy From Georgia plant tour series. These tours include:

Savannah Bee Plant Tour • July 26 • Savannah
Featured as a “Small Business Success Story” on CNN, the Savannah Bee offers some of the world’s finest honey and beeswax body care products available.

EmployAbility Tour  •  July 26  •  Savannah
EmployAbility provides people with disabilities vocational skills through custom screen printing, specialized assembly training, full-service catering services, and packaging assembly.

Ghost Coast Distillery Tour • July 26 • Savannah
See over 900 barrels of Vodka and Whiskey and their 17,000 sq. ft. distillery with a 500 gallon, American made, Vendome copper pot still where they produce a wide array of super-premium spirits.

Daniel Defense Plant Tour • July 27 •  Black Creek
Daniel Defense is one of the largest competitors in the AR-15 firearms market, producing over 50,000 rifles per year at their 300,000 sq. ft. facility for consumers and the US Special Operations Command.

Manufacturing is the largest part of Savannah’s economy, with 251 manufacturing facilities in Chatham County registered in 2002 with annual payrolls exceeding $713 million. The largest plant and employer in the region is Gulfstream Aerospace which is an executive jet aircraft manufacturer. Mark Burns, CEO of Gulfstream, will be the Keynote speaker of this year’s Georgia Manufacturing Summit which will be held October 10th at the Cobb Galleria in Atlanta, GA.

The Summit is produced by the Georgia Manufacturing Alliance and will attract over 800 industry professionals from across the state. This year’s theme focuses on the Aviation Industry and the broad impact it has on the manufacturing community. Eric Rojeck, VP of Sales & Marketing with Thrush Aviation, will also be a Keynote Speaker at the Summit. Over 30 industry experts will address issues important to the manufacturing community including Financial Issues, Workforce Development, Disruptive Technologies, International Manufacturing and Supply Chain & Logistics.

“Bill is known as the 'supply chain guy' in the Savannah area, and we are excited to have such a well-known community leader join the Georgia Manufacturing Alliance as our Coastal Chapter Director,” said Jason Moss, CEO of the Georgia Manufacturing Alliance.  “Bill is also on the Logistics Technology Corridor Task Force & Coastal WorkSource Board of Directors, and he is well versed in issues that affect the manufacturers in our state.”