Innovate to Compete: Manufacturing Supply Chain Report

Three sectors within the Connecticut manufacturing ecosystem play a key role in the health of that system: aerospace, shipbuilding, and medical devices.

In 2022, the three sectors directly employed more than 54,800 people and accounted for $16.3 billion in Connecticut GDP; represent approximately 3.1% of the state’s workforce and 5% of total gross state product; account for more than one-third of Connecticut’s total manufacturing workforce (35%).

As a result of their importance, the health of these strategic sectors is the foundation for growth and the creation of well-paying jobs in Connecticut’s manufacturing sector.

This report analyzes these three sectors using four factors of supply chain resilience: (1) innovation, (2) in-state sourcing of manufacturing inputs, (3) employment/workforce pipeline and (4) cost.

It weighs Connecticut’s experience against the performance of 15 other U.S .states with the largest number of workers in each sector.

Business growth consultants CONNSTEP engaged EY’s Quantitative & Economics Statistics practice to provide this assessment. EY used a multimethod approach to assess the major characteristics of Connecticut’s manufacturing supply chains in aerospace, ship building, and medical devices.

The analysis is supported by an original CONNSTEP/EY survey of small- and medium-size manufacturing suppliers in Connecticut, semi-structured interviews with trade associations and industry representatives, and quantitative economic analysis of public and propriety data sources.

In addition to the CONNSTEP/EY survey and interviews, EY used quantitative analysis of economic, employment, and purchasing data which provide a comparison of Connecticut’s experience with other benchmark states and offer a historical analysis of each industry changed over the past decade.