After being kept alive for four years by the work of volunteers, the Santa Maria Manufacturers Association has official backing again and is drawing big crowds of business leaders.
 

The association is a once-a-month, free-membership gathering that brings together some of the city’s biggest private-sector employers. Its April 27 meeting showcased officials from Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and Southern California Gas Co. to talk rebates, incentives and financing available for energy efficiency projects at factories. It drew 55 attendees, nearly double the turnout in recent months.

“A lot of people don’t know there’s a manufacturing element on the Central Coast. It’s here. It’s thriving,” said Jay Hardy, whose Hardy Diagnostics employs 155 people making microbiology testing kits.

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