If you follow the headlines, you might conclude that manufacturing in California is on a one-way slide. Rising operating costs, global competition, regulatory uncertainty, and energy reliability are real pressures. Many manufacturers feel them every day.

But that is not the whole story.

There is a region in California that continues to attract manufacturing investment, expand production, and build durable career pathways for local families. That regioxn is the Central Valley.

According to the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, California still has the manufacturing scale that most states would envy: more than 45,000 manufacturers, roughly 1.24 million manufacturing workers, and about $405.6 billion in annual manufacturing output, nearly 10 percent of the state’s GDP. Those numbers represent real production, real supply chains, and real paychecks. What matters most now is where the next chapter of that production is taking root.

Manufacturers expand where operations make sense. The Central Valley offers a practical mix that is difficult to replicate elsewhere: proximity to the world’s most productive agricultural economy; access to major freight corridors connecting north, south, and ports; a workforce culture grounded in hands-on skill, reliability, and upward mobility; and room to grow, with industrial land and facilities that allow companies to expand without leaving the state.

We are seeing this play out in real time. Community Infrastructure Investment Group, a Los Angeles-based firm, is establishing a wastewater treatment equipment manufacturing facility in Fresno, tied to a planned $12.8 million investment and 47 new full-time jobs. In Madera County, Gimme Health Foods, maker of the Gimme Seaweed snack brand, has announced plans to establish a manufacturing facility as part of a broader expansion that includes $20 million in investment and 102 jobs. Projects like these do not land in places in decline, they land where companies believe they can compete.

Even when incentives are part of the equation, fundamentals drive decisions. Incentives can help close a gap, but they cannot replace a reliable workforce, clear permitting pathways, or operational readiness.

Manufacturing is a proven middle-class strategy. These jobs create accessible pathways into production, maintenance, quality, logistics, and supervision, while strengthening local supply chains and keeping economic value circulating locally. That is why workforce alignment is the make-or-break issue.

Across the Central Valley, manufacturers are working with community colleges, workforce boards, and high schools to build hands-on training tied to real jobs, backed by unusually strong public-private collaboration that moves quickly from idea to implementation. Programs like Central Valley FAME train multi-skilled maintenance technicians through an employer-driven model that connects education directly to industry needs.

A manufacturing bright spot does not happen by accident. If California wants to remain a manufacturing leader, protecting and strengthening what is working in the Central Valley is one of the surest bets for building that future.

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Genelle Taylor Kumpe is CEO of the San Joaquin Valley Manufacturing Alliance.