October marks national Manufacturing Month and it’s no surprise that advanced manufacturing is big business in the San Antonio region. The sector supports over 61,000 jobs, having grown 19% over the past five years, and $13 billion GDP across 1,600 locations.
There’s a lot to celebrate - from our strengths in Automobile Manufacturing and Aircraft Sustainment to Food & Beverage. Automobile OEMs, anchored by Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas and International Motors (formerly Navistar), and their Tier 1 suppliers directly employ 10,000 San Antonians and experienced 51% growth over the past five years. Aircraft Sustainment, anchored by Boeing, StandardAero, and ST Aerospace, employs over 6,700 and enjoyed 31% growth in the past five years. And there’s a whole lot more in the pipeline.
2024 Manufacturing Wins
It’s been an exciting year in San Antonio. We’ve won fourteen projects in various manufacturing industries, totaling 1,597 new jobs and $939.7 million in capital expenditure.
The majority of new jobs have been the result of Automotive and General Manufacturing projects, including a major Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas expansion and the location of Genesis Marine Technologies, which will bring 275 jobs to the area to build its cutting-edge hybrid wake surf boat.
Advanced Manufacturing Talent Pipeline
Feeding the 19% local growth in advanced manufacturing employment is the San Antonio region’s technical training partners, colleges, and universities’ commitment to producing qualified talent.
Between 2019 and 2023 completions in 24 selected advanced manufacturing study areas, ranging from aerospace engineering to electromechanical technologists, went up by 8%. Those areas of study that went up the highest, percentage-wise, were chemical engineering and aerospace (for which new programs were launched), and electromechanical technologies, at 237%.
Sixteen area colleges and universities provided completions toward these totals. They include UTSA, which graduates the highest number – averaging 659 each year – and new entrants such as the College of Biomedical Equipment Technology, which launched programs in 2023, graduating 197 in Electromechanical Technologies during its first year. Next Highest is St Philips College, which has averaged 227 completions between 2019 and 2023.
Advanced Manufacturing in SATX
San Antonio is twenty-first century manufacturing. Growth in this target industry outpaces the local economy as a whole and is projected to expand another 15% by 2028. Thanks to our strong base in motor vehicle, machinery, and aerospace, San Antonio will benefit from a growing supplier base, such the expanding Texas-Mexico Automotive Supercluster. With a proud workforce of makers trained by our extensive local education pipeline, we’re confident that the stage is set for more record-breaking months and years ahead. Through accessible training, San Antonians can climb career ladders with greater ease and take part in the community-wide wealth generation that manufacturing enables.
Read more about our region’s advanced manufacturing achievements here.
