Members of both the National Association of Manufacturers and the Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association announced the formation of a statewide group to educate and inform policymakers on key issues affecting industry.

Members of both the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and the Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association (PMA) recently announced the formation of a statewide manufacturing group to educate and inform candidates and members of Congress on key issues affecting manufacturing.

“We need the right battle plan in order for manufacturing to continue to lead our economic recovery, create jobs and compete in the global marketplace,” NAM Executive VP Jay Timmons said in a statement.

According to the PMA, the manufacturing sector is the largest contributor to Pennsylvania’s economy, generating 13.6 percent of gross state product and directly adding more than $75 billion in value every year. “Pennsylvania manufacturers sell almost $21 billion worth of goods overseas, representing 92 percent of all the state’s exports,” the PMA says.

Moreover, the state’s manufacturing sector was responsible for 94 percent of the state’s exports in 2008. (Source: Manufacturing in Pennsylvania: 2008 Industry Report)

Meanwhile, a significant portion of the state’s payroll is still in manufacturing. The U.S. Department of Labor’s latest figures indicate that nearly 558,000 Pennsylvanians are directly employed in manufacturing. On the NAM-PMA initiative’s role in manufacturing employment, Kennametal CEO Carlos Cardoso recently told the Pittsburgh Business Times, “We need policies that allow us to compete so that we can create new jobs and keep the ones already here.”

In addition to Kennametal, other companies leading the new effort in the Keystone State include: Mine Safety Appliances; the Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association; SAP America; Westinghouse Electric Company; The Hershey Company; Bayer; Alcoa; PPG Industries; Utz Quality Foods, Inc.; PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLC; Pepperidge Farm; U.S. Steel; Air Products; and Mack Trucks, Inc.

“Through our joint efforts, we will mobilize Pennsylvania’s manufacturers to ensure Congress and those seeking federal office take a comprehensive view of what policies are needed — and we will be asking them to join us in publicly supporting a pro-manufacturing agenda,” Timmons continued.

A key reference document for the new initiative is NAM’s policy guide and call to action, Manufacturing Strategy for Jobs and a Competitive America, released in June.

Also this month, the White House released a report on the National Export Initiative (NEI), the goal of which is to double U.S. exports within five years.

Much of the plan focuses on outreach to small and midsized businesses and improving coordination among government export-promotion programs. The NEI initiative, which is already showing positive results, has five key components:

• Improving advocacy and trade promotion for U.S. exporters;
• Increasing access to export financing;
• Removing barriers to trade;
• Enforcing of trade rules; and
• Promoting strong, sustainable and balanced growth internationally.

Now, nine months into the five-year plan, the new NEI report, developed by the Export Promotion Cabinet, outlines ways the U.S. government can expand efforts to help U.S. businesses win more foreign government contracts, find buyers worldwide, participate in more trade missions and trade shows, receive more export financing and learn new ways to sell products and services overseas.

Having applauded the Obama administration’s export initiative earlier this year, NAM last week acknowledged that the Cabinet’s blueprint plan to the president “does offer some encouragement,” but overall it “falls short of calling for important fundamental changes in U.S. policies and programs” the industrial trade association believes are “necessary to enable us to double our exports by 2014.”

“The United States can be the best country in the world to headquarter a company, the best place to innovate and a great place to manufacture to meet the needs of the American market and serve as an export platform for the world,” NAM President John Engler concluded in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette op-ed last week, discussing the formation of the new group to promote manufacturing issues with elected officials, candidates and the public. “And Pennsylvania can and should take a leadership role to help make this a reality.”

Do you think policymakers are taking the right steps in supporting manufacturers? Let us know what else you think should be done, in the comments section below.

Related

New Initiative Focuses on Doubling U.S Exports

White House Launches Export-Redoubling Strategy

Signs of U.S. Export Initiative Paying Off

Resources

Manufacturing Strategy for Jobs and a Competitive America
The National Association of Manufacturers, June 2010

NAM and Pennsylvania Manufacturers Partners on New Statewide Manufacturing Initiative
The National Association of Manufacturers, Sept. 22, 2010

Pennsylvania Manufacturing Facts
The National Association of Manufacturers

Gross Domestic Product by State: Pennsylvania
Bureau of Economic Analysis (U.S. Department of Commerce)

Manufacturing in Pennsylvania
International Trade Administration (U.S. Department of Commerce), July 2010

Manufacturing in Pennsylvania: 2008 Industry Report
Pennsylvania Dept. of Community & Economic Development

Economy at a Glance: Pennsylvania
Bureau of Labor Statistics (U.S. Department of Commerce), as of Sept. 23, 2010

National, State Manufacturing Groups Unite
Pittsburgh Business Times, Sept. 22, 2010

…The Export Promotion Cabinet’s Plan for Doubling U.S. Exports in Five Years
The Export Promotion Cabinet (via The White House), September 2010

White House Releases Report to the President on the National Export Initiative
The Export Promotion Cabinet (via The White House), Sept. 16, 2010

NAM Welcomes Administration’s Goal of Doubling Exports
The National Association of Manufacturers, Feb. 4, 2010

Manufacturers Say Administration’s Export Plan Not Enough
The National Association of Manufacturers, Sept. 16, 2010

Manufacturers’ Call to Action
by John Engler
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Sept. 23, 2010