Auburn promotes itself as Maine’s manufacturing hub in statewide outreach, touts workforce and site strategies

The city’s economic‑development team reported progress in manufacturing and industrial recruitment, describing partnerships, industry tours and a workforce transportation pilot that city leaders say are increasing Auburn’s visibility as a regional manufacturing hub.

Director Jay Branchick said the department created monthly manufacturing meetings that engaged local employers and statewide partners — including the University of Maine, the RU Institute and the Maine Technology Institute — to build supply‑chain linkages, training and technical assistance. He said Auburn was invited as the only municipality to be part of a state bio‑forest tech‑hub coalition and that the city leveraged a Main Community Energy Redevelopment program assessment to build a local property and industry dashboard.

Branchick highlighted a workforce transportation pilot with Western Maine Transportation Services that offers on‑demand trips to workers during nontraditional hours at low cost, and said the city helped manufacturers access roughly $10 million in state and federal technical assistance and grants for workforce and equipment needs.

The director said the city is compiling deeper site inventories of industrial parcels and working with the state to improve delegated permitting thresholds so prospect approvals can proceed faster locally for appropriately sized sites. "If we can get the state to make [delegated authority] 20 or 30 acres, then when we had a prospect we wouldn't lose them to another state," he said.

Branchick said Auburn will continue industry tours, student‑school partnerships for skills pipelines, and targeted marketing to convert local assets into new jobs and investment.