While Gov. Jay Nixon said many in the country have given up on the manufacturing industry, last Thursday he offered a positive perspective in an attempt to silence the skepticism. The governor announced during a visit to Wright City that 10,900 manufacturing jobs were created in Missouri between December 2010 and November 2011. That figure was released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics last week. During his visit to the area last Thursday, Nixon toured Tech Manufacturing's plant located in the industrial park. Also attending were state Reps. Bart Korman (R-99th District), Chuck Gatschenberger (R-13th District) and Ed Schieffer (D-11th District) along with city officials. Nixon touted the moves made in the past year to assist in creating new jobs and applauded the work force statewide. "They said (manufacturing) was dead, it was gone, they said those jobs had moved overseas," Nixon remarked. "I want to tell you they were wrong." He added, "The bottom line is technology has changed the game, but it has not changed the worker. Missouri workers show up early, stay up late, focus on quality, embrace training and are ready to compete with anyone in the world." Tech Manufacturing has done its part to provide new jobs. Since 2008, the company's work force has grown by 22 percent, which amounts to adding an average of five new employees each year. Overall, the company employs 73 workers. It manufactures hard metal and aluminum parts for the aerospace industry, such as military jets. Charles Stout, Tech Manufacturing president, attributed the company's continued growth to remaining on the leading edge of technological advances and serving its customers. "It takes a lot of effort and a lot of people to pull it off and make it work," Stout remarked. "We have a very active relationship-management program with our customers and prospects to let them know what we're doing internally and to find out what their needs are. Usually in this industry, because we're technically oriented, there is a technical solution to a lot of the challenges they are facing." A push for job-creating projects statewide has been boosted in the past couple of months by growth in the automotive sector. In October, Ford announced that it was adding 1,600 jobs at its Kansas City plant as it will begin assembling the full-size transit van and adding a second shift for production of the F-150 pickup. Nixon noted last Thursday the Ford van is currently only built in Europe. Two weeks later, General Motors announced it was creating an additional 1,660 jobs at its Wentzville plant. As part of the expansion, the company will build the redesigned Chevrolet Colorado pickup at the plant and add a second shift for its two existing van lines, the GMC Savana and the Chevrolet Express. Stout said he appreciated the governor for taking time to tour the Wright City plant and learn more about the company. "It's a remarkable compliment to the people in the company," he said. "He's right about coming early and staying late. I marvel at the skill level and dedication level of our employees. This crew we have today is the best group of people we've had at the company in the last nine years we've owned it."