Hundreds of Denver manufacturing jobs could be created if a leading energy company decides to locate its new plant in Colorado. Visit http://denver.jobing.com/jobs/manufacturing to see current openings.

Several local officials are joining together in an effort to bring General Electric's new solar panel manufacturing plant to Colorado.

After recently acquiring PrimeStar Solar Inc., a local company that manufactures thin-film solar panels, GE announced its plans to build a new solar panel manufacturing plant that will eventually employ about 400 people.

However, the company has yet to choose a location for the new facility. According to an article by the Denver Business Journal, GE is currently considering 10 states for the plant.

In an attempt to persuade GE to build the new solar panel manufacturing plant in Colorado, many local officials wrote a joint letter to the company, stating their support for renewable energy.

The letter was signed by:

• Gov. John Hickenlooper
• Sen. Michael Bennet
• Sen. Mark Udall
• Rep. Diana DeGette
Rep. Ed Perlmutter
• Rep. Jared Polis
• Rep. Scott Tipton
• Rep. Cory Gardner
• Rep. Doug Lamborn
• Rep. Mike Coffman
• Bruce Benson, president of the University of Colorado
• Joe Blake, chancellor of Colorado State University
• Bill Scoggins, president of the Colorado School of Mines

"Colorado is on the leading edge of clean energy economic development and we can't think of a better place to site such a facility," the letter notes. Our state is a demonstrated leader in clean energy research, innovation and manufacturing.

"As state and federal collaboration can facilitate innovative economic opportunities such as GE's proposal, we stand ready to provide any additional help to attract this facility to Colorado," the letter adds.

Although there will be fewer Denver manufacturing jobs for industrial production managers in the coming years, this is still a promising career to consider. Visit http://denver.jobing.com/cat/manufacturing-and-production to check out current job openings.

Industrial production managers are mainly responsible for planning, directing, and coordinating the production activities at a manufacturing plant. They work to maintain output and quality goals and remain within the plant's budget.

Most industrial production managers have a degree in business administration, management, industrial technology, or industrial engineering. Most employers prefer to hire candidates who also have some experience in production operations. Click here to learn more.

Many employers also will request that you undergo a criminal background check before being hired. Luckily, there are many employee background check services available.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were about 156,100 industrial production managers throughout the nation during 2008, and about 80 percent of those employees worked in manufacturing industries.

Unfortunately, employment of industrial production managers throughout America is expected to decline by 8 percent by 2018. Employment in the Denver area also is expected to decrease by 2019, but by a much lower 1.2 percent.

According to the Colorado Department of Labor & Employment, the top 10 industries that employed industrial production managers in the Denver area during 2009 include:

1. Management of companies and enterprises - 11.1 percent
2. Food manufacturing - 10.1 percent
3. Fabricated metal product manufacturing - 7.1 percent
4. Non-metallic mineral product manufacturing - 6.8 percent
5. Miscellaneous manufacturing - 6.8 percent
6. Machinery manufacturing - 6.2 percent
7. Furniture and related product manufacturing - 5.6 percent
8. Chemical manufacturing - 4.4 percent
9. Computer and electronic product manufacturing - 4 percent
10. Paper manufacturing - 4 percent

During 2009, industrial production managers in Denver earned an average wage of $40.84 per hour or $84,952 per year. Entry-level employees earned an average of $29.43 per hour or $61,225 per year, while experienced employees earned an average of $51.33 per hour or $106,761 per year.

One company is closing some of its operations in Denver and jobs are moving to Phoenix.

KB Home recently announced its plans to close the company's accounting and administrative services center in Denver and move those operations to an existing office in Phoenix. The transition will help the company better manage its costs and streamline operations.

According to an article by the Denver Business Journal, officials say the transition of accounting and administrative services will impact a total of 66 local employees, but will not affect the company's other operations in Denver.

"The consolidation will not impact our separate Denver homebuilding operation, division employees or current and future customers," Jeff Kaminski, executive vice president and CFO of KB Home, said. "We remain committed to the Denver market where we have nine new home communities open for sale, three additional communities opening by the end of the year and have recently acquired interests in new parcels of land to support further growth of the division."

The Los Angeles-based home manufacturing company is planning to offer some Phoenix jobs to fill the gap of those affected by the transition from Denver.

Candidates may be asked to complete a background check for employment. Take a look at this assembler job description to learn about this type of work.

The loss of jobs should not have too big of an effect on the Denver area's economy, which is continuing to recover from the recent economic downturn.

During August, the Denver-Aurora-Broomfield area's unemployment rate dropped to 8.1 percent after remaining at 8.2 percent for two months in a row, keeping it below the national average at the time of 9.6 percent.

The Denver area had a total non-farm employment of 1,189,300 workers during August, which is up from 1,187,800 workers during July and only a .7 percent decrease from last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.