a ‘forum’ with a purpose
TRANSCRIPT
www.metalfi nishing.com4 | metalfi nishing | May/June 2013
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“Don’t let good science stand in the way of bad manufacturing pol-
icy.” That was the overarching (and seemingly tongue-in-cheek) theme of the recent 2013 Annual Washington Forum, organized by the National Association for Surface Finishing.
This year’s Forum drew the usual suspects — scores of concerned chem-ical suppliers, surface fi nishers, NASF representatives and industry leaders — all seeking to effect more favorable policy changes pertaining to both existing and impending regulations impacting surface preparation and plating processes and guidelines. In keeping with Washington Forum events of the past, this year’s program was loaded with several days of inform-ative presentations and keynote speeches spanning a host of relevant manufacturing and environmental topics. NASF also facilitated top-level meetings between surface fi nishing industry players from around the country and their respective Repre-sentatives and Congressmen on Capi-tol Hill.
NASF’s messaging to Congress hinges on three distinct points:
1. The Administration should carefully assess the impact of new regulations on small business before imposing further regulatory burdens. Like many other industry sectors, the surface fi nishing sector is subject to inordinately high costs pertaining to environmental, health, and safety compliance. Despite the success of reducing releases and emissions over the past two decades, the regulatory burden on the surface fi nishing industry continue to mount.
“This industry has a great history of working with environmental groups,”
said Jeff Hannapel, executive vice pres-ident of The Policy Group (the govern-mental action arm of the NASF). “One of the most frustrating issues for us is, some of the environmental groups won’t even sit down with us!”
2. Congress is encouraged to support manufacturing in America by promoting workforce development, job training, recruitment, and placement programs. Surface fi nishing companies continue to face challenges recruiting qualifi ed employees. Data show that 600,000 skilled manufacturing jobs are currently unfi lled, with 2.7 million manufactur-ing employees expected to retire in 10 years. NASF believes advanced technical training and education are critical to the future of manufacturing in Amer-ica. To that end, the Federal Govern-ment needs to demonstrate its commit-ment to maintaining and strengthening the manufacturing base in the U.S.
“Many decision-makers in Washing-ton don’t grasp the connection between a healthy U.S. manufacturing base and the overall economy,” said Richard McCormack, editor of Manu-facturing & Technology News, during his closing presentation: U.S. Manufac-turing Competitiveness — Manufac-turing a Better Future for America. “If you don’t have an industrial base, you don’t have anything.”
One strategy entails working with government in support of training programs that encourage recruitment early on during students’ develop-ment. So says Omar Nashashibi of the Franklin Partnership. During his pres-entation, The Small Manufacturing Agenda on Capitol Hill — NASF/Preci-sion Metalforming Association Col-laboration, he said his organization
A ‘Forum’ with a Purpose
May/June 2013Volume 110 - Number 3
PublisherDavid Hopwood
EditorReginald Tucker
Assistant EditorLiz Nickels
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Metal Finishing (ISSN 0026-0576) is published 7 times per year in January/February, March/April/, May/June, July/August, September/October, November/December, and December (Guidebook) by Elsevier Inc., 360 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10010. POSTMASTER: Send all address changes to Metal Finishing P.O. Box 141, Congress, NY 10920-0141. Metal Finishing is free to qualifi ed metal fi nishers in North America. For others related to the fi eld the subscription rate per year, including a copy of the “Metal Finishing Guidebook and Directory Issue” and the “Organic Finish ing Guidebook and Directory Issue” is:
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www.metalfinishing.com May/June 2013 | metalfinishing | 5
has been working with industry and parents to target K-12 pipeline recruit-ment, with an emphasis on training, placement. Nashashibi also suggested employing these talking points for finishers when they’re in front of their government representatives: “ ‘Help me get my message out’ as opposed to ‘please support this program.’ ” He also strongly encouraged finishers to Invite their Congressmen and Repre-sentatives on a tour of their manufac-turing facilities.
3.The Federal Government needs to simplify the tax code, manage its costs, and balance the budget to support and sustain manufacturing. Under current law, inconsistent tax preferences and continuous tax code changes hinder the ability of businesses to make any meaningful plans while continuing to raise their costs of compliance. Small-business owners — and many metal finishing companies fall into this category — overwhelmingly agree that the tax code is too complex and requires major revisions. Many busi-ness owners agree that higher taxes cannot serve as the primary means to reduce the national debt, which, as of April, stands at more than $16.8 tril-lion.
These points were driven home by Andy Friedman of The Washington Update, during his opening keynote address to Washington Forum attend-ees. “Uncertainty regarding tax laws makes planning very difficult,” he said, referencing last year’s embarrass-ing episode regarding the so-called “Fiscal Cliff.” Fiscal compromise, he believes, did not fix or lower personal tax rate, nor did it immediately reduce spending. “You cannot address our budget problems by cutting discre-tionary spending alone — you have to get to the entitlements.”
For the foreseeable future, NASF’s top legislative priorities will key on regulations, taxes, spending, health-care, and, above all, advancing a sus-tainable future. The key to success, according to Christian Richter, NASF executive director, hinges on cultivat-ing relationships with policy-makers on the federal level. “We have to ensure that Washington helps, not hurts.”