Joey Gunning, strategic growth manager for Greater Spokane Incorporated, says manufacturing in Spokane will continue to see steady 2% growth in 2025, and he projects 8% growth over the next five years. 

"What makes manufacturing stand out is not necessarily its booming growth but its steady growth," Gunning says.  

Such growth in manufacturing has a significant overall economic impact, he says. According to Lightcast Data, the total value derived from manufacturing, including earnings, property income, and taxes totaled $3.8 billion in 2023. 

Gunning says that industries with a large share of the overall output of the regional economy tend to have a "significant multiplier effect, leading to broader economic activity."

Mark Norton, executive director of Northwest I-90 Manufacturing Alliance, says that while aerospace manufacturing likely will return slowly as Boeing Co. picks up steam, many Inland Northwest manufacturing companies have begun work in the satellite sector. He says that Project Kuiper, Amazon.com Inc.’s satellite internet service, which opened a facility in April in Kirkland, Washington, is driving growth in that field. 

“We have a number of companies here that are doing some level of work for that industry,” he says. “I expect that to be a growth sector for sure in the future.” 

 According to the Washington state Employment Security Department, there were 18,000 manufacturing jobs in Spokane as of 2023, compared with 15,100 in 2021. Furthermore, there are 568 manufacturing companies in Spokane. 

That growth is happening at a time when companies are investing hundreds of millions of dollars into their Spokane-area facilities. As reported previously, pharmaceutical manufacturer Jubilant HollisterStier LLC is in the second phase of a $285 million expansion of its plant in East Spokane. Also, Collins Aerospace has broken ground on a $200 million expansion of its West Plains facility. 

Chris Preti, CEO of Jubilant HollisterStier, says the facility's third manufacturing line is now operational and is generating 200 new jobs in Spokane. Once its fourth line is complete, it will add another 200 jobs, he says. 

Last month, HollisterStier was named the 2024 Manufacturer of the Year by the Association of Washington Business.

Kyle Ferguson, CEO of HollisterStier Allergy, says in a prepared statement, "Each year we anticipate growth in our sector as we deliver on our promise to improve the lives of patients globally."

Robin Toth, aerospace sector lead for the Washington state Department of Commerce, says there is a continued increase in the diversification of the aerospace supply chain, which isn't limited to commercial airliners but also includes parts for military and defense, uncrewed aerial systems, and other types of subsystems. 

Toth says that an emerging and growing field within aerospace is sustainable aviation fuel. Washington state has the nation’s first state-level tax incentive program for the manufacture and use of sustainable aviation fuel, which includes funding a Sustainable Aviation Fuels and Research Development Center.

Another development is the selection of Washington state-based Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub for a federal hydrogen hub designation worth up to $1 billion, Toth adds. 

Looking to the future, there are emerging sectors within the green energy field that are eyeing Spokane to help build their logistics networks, Norton says. 

Washington Vertical, led by a coalition based in Port Benton, Washington, is working to accelerate the shift to advanced clean energy technologies in the Pacific Northwest, and beyond. In the next couple of years, the sector will need about 10,000 new workers, Norton says. 

Two other companies in the green energy field that likely will enlist Spokane’s manufacturing hub to build out its supply networks are Washington Maritime Blue, of Seattle, and the Montana Photonics in Quantum Alliance, of Bozeman, he says.