Background

Factory Built Housing includes all aspects of the construction of residential or commercial buildings that occur within a factory setting: panelized, HUD code and modular construction. According to data from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, the industry is made up of 27 establishments and contributes over 2,100 jobs to the Central Region’s economy. While these jobs account for less than 1% of total jobs in the region, this industry represents a niche market for the area as these jobs represent 35% of the total factory built housing employment across the Commonwealth. Factory built housing is a highly competitive cluster in the Central Region; the local employment concentration is 44 times the average industry employment found nationwide.

The industry continues to seek its own identity as it crosses over several statewide clusters – many of the desired skills in the workforce are similar to the skills sought by the traditional residential and commercial building and construction companies, but the factory environment lends itself to similar issues faced by the region’s manufacturers. The factory built housing industry has, for years, fought the misconception of poor product quality. The success of the industry is as much linked to its ability to compete with traditional stick-built buildings as it is competing within the industry and improving company efficiencies.

Since peaking in 2005, industry employment has experienced a slight decline and the industry is currently working to expanding its market share in spite of the housing market crisis and the overall economic climate. Although hiring and output has slowed, this is an ideal time to position the industry to become a product of choice when the housing market rebounds. The Partnership is attempting to take advantage of the circumstances to educate the industry on technologies, processes, trainings and products that can help make factory built homes even more attractive to the perspective builder and ultimately the consumer.

In the Factory Built Housing industry grouping, nearly 75% of all employment is found within 20 occupations. Production and transportation & material moving occupations are some of the most prevalent occupations. Typically, workers require on-the-job training and earn about $14.00 per hour.

Mission

To provide a professional network for training, education and research for the Factory Built Housing industry and to improve the market share of the industry in Pennsylvania and beyond.

Goals & Objectives

• Develop career tracks, related industry skill sets and career paths to improve the incumbent workforce and attract future workers
• Identify new technologies and processes that benefit industry stakeholders
• Improve the level of competencies of stakeholders by using existing technology transfer opportunities and the partnership’s research and development efforts
• Expand the stakeholder base beyond the nine-county Central Region

Accomplishments

• Been a frontrunner in implementing “Green” and energy efficiency practices into a manufacturing process.
• Using connections with statewide and national organizations and associations, the positioned itself as a contributor to policies and protocols that affect companies statewide
• Created a video series highlighting the career opportunities in factory built housing
• Expanded the geography of the Partnership to accommodate small pockets of the industry in other Workforce Investment Areas
• Trained over 200 individuals in industry-specific topics

Current Projects

Resources