LOUISVILLE, Kentucky: Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear has launched a program to connect businesses to supply chains, entitled, "Supply Kentucky," that will bring together the state's manufacturers and suppliers, with the aim of creating a more interconnected state economy.

Manufacturing accounts for 12.5 percent of Kentucky's workforce, compared to 8.1 percent in the US.

Beshear stressed that the goal of the initiative is to increase job growth, reduce manufacturing costs and create more secure supply chains, stating, "We believe that this is the future."

"It is from company after company saying, 'We need our supply chain base as close as possible.' And our response being, 'OK, let us bring some of them to Kentucky, but are you willing to look at other Kentucky companies that are here right now?' And the answer has been, 'absolutely'," he said.

The initiative will give companies "access to one of the best tools in the marketplace to help grow revenues, secure necessary supplies and enhance job security for their workers," said Frank Jemley, president and CEO of the Kentucky Association of Manufacturers.

Beshear added that the new online platform will have a free searchable database of Kentucky manufacturers and suppliers, and local companies can register and search for other companies to do business with.

Kentucky is home to more than 5,000 manufacturing facilities employing about 250,000 people, he added.

In a news release, Beshear's said, "Supply Kentucky also will coordinate marketing efforts, provide workforce-related resources, foster growth of minority- and female-owned businesses and connect Kentucky companies to suppliers throughout the country when their supply needs cannot be met from within the state."

In a statement, state Republican Party spokesman Sean Southard said that Beshear's initiative as "window dressing" that "sounds like the bare minimum of what his administration should have already been doing."