Are manufacturing jobs important to our 10^th District?  It’s said we are becoming a “service economy”; an economy based on services, and that we should forget about manufacturing.  That is wrong!  Now, there are many who are very good at service jobs and we need them doing what they are best at and happy doing.  But, many of us are not service people.  I’d go nuts sitting on a phone all day, taking care of other’s needs, driving a truck, researching, repairing, etc.  Some of us need to be producing something.  That’s what we’re best at, be it a craft or mass production product; we are Manufacturers!

Having manufacturing in our area does more than just fulfill our joy in productivity, more than provide just the individual a job.  I own a manufacturing plant which makes industrial fans.  We actually make things out of metal and ship them across the country and around the world.  Here’s an insight; for every job I have in “the back” where they weld, powder coat, and assemble our Patterson Fans, there are four jobs in “the front”.  These jobs include Accounting, Sales, Marketing, Payables, Human Resources, and Management.  That’s a 4:1 ratio, meaning every job in manufacturing creates FOUR jobs in the rest of the company.  That is huge!  So, yes, manufacturing is very important to individuals who are manufacturers and for additional job creation in our district.

Given we need manufacturing, how do we become stronger in our jobs?  Ah, now we’re getting into the Problem Solving phase of the jobs issue, something our professional politicians never seem to do. 

In business, when we have a problem we look at three areas:  1. People 2.  Product  3.  Process. 

People – To solve a problem you have to have the right people involved; people who have knowledge, experience, and are passionate about the issue.  And who are these people in manufacturing?  They’re the ones who are manufacturers, not service people.  They’re ones who have been in manufacturing, studied it and know the difference between “cost added” and value added”.  They are the people who still have the American Ingenuity and Free Enterprise Spirit and aren’t afraid to try and fail, then try again, and again!  They have the spirit that built this country and its industry from the ground up without government involvement!  Those are the people we need involved in bringing jobs to our district.

Product – The product is jobs.  More to the point, in our culture the product is jobs that create wealth.  Not rich wealth, but wealth with which we can support our families and help us “get ahead in life.”  Here in lies a huge difference between the U.S. and Asia.  Let me explain. 

China is driven to create jobs for their people.  Their number one goal isn’t world domination but keeping their population busy.  I know; I’ve been there and talked to them.  They have to create 25,000,000 new jobs every year or they have a real problem!  Thus they (and other countries) will subsidize their industries just to keep their people busy.  (This is part of Communism and Socialism.)  In contrast, the United States has to create 1,524,000 a year to stay even.  But, we’re not about creating just jobs; we’re about jobs that create wealth and well being for our families.  That’s why every generation has done considerably better than their prior generations – up until now.

Has there been a problem with our jobs that create wealth?  You bet there has!  For too long we’ve been losing these jobs and not replacing them.  We need to create jobs that can’t be exported.  More to the point, we need to create manufacturing jobs that can’t be exported.

1.  Rebuild the economy.  A robust economy is the quickest and greatest job builder.  To rebuild the economy the government needs to provide stability for businesses to plan and grow. 

A.  Fiscal Responsibility

B.  Steady Money Growth

C.   Reasonable Interest Rates

D.  Fair Tax System

E.  Free Trade Among States

F.  Fair Trade Among Countries. 

Given that stability business can plan and begin to grow our economy, creating not only jobs but new products, processes, and industries.

 2.  Roll back NAFTA.  We need to roll back NAFTA and renegotiate an agreement based on what is best for the United States.  In negotiating with another country our job is not to save the other country, but to do what is best for the United States.  When America does well, our neighbors do well.

3.  Work with the communities to determine what kind of jobs they want.  Do the communities want Manufacturing, Services, Retirement, Historical, or Recreation?  Our communities first need to step and decide on their own agendas.  There is a huge difference in each of these industries as to what they are looking for in a community.  When talking about incentives, taxes are not everything to an enterprise considering a move, and we should not concede our tax base just to attract business.  We need that tax base to support our communities.  Enterprises are looking for Skilled Labor, Transportation, Communications, Education to support jobs and families, Permitting, Security, Recreation, and Quality of Life.  These all play an important role in why companies locate into an area.

4.  Identify the federal programs designed to help the community agendas.  There is a lot of work to be done on the Federal and State levels to bring the desired enterprises into our communities; not only existing businesses but also new start-up ventures.  There are programs for improving transportation, communications, education, Federal and State tax relief, and others.  These need to be targeted from the national and state levels to our 10^th District communities to fit our local agendas for development.

5.  Research databases for companies looking for the communities best meeting their needs.  There are databases constantly being updated with enterprises searching for communities that will meet their needs in Skilled Labor, Transportation, Communications, Education to support jobs and families, Permitting, Security, Recreation, and Quality of Life.

PUSH – PULL METHOD -  #3, #4, and #5 are known as “Push/Pull” methods in business for creating a desired result.  We are pulling in the communities, developing the atmosphere to attract the desired enterprises.  We are pushing from the national and state levels with programs designed to aid in developing communities, along with researching the databases of companies desiring locations matching their agendas.

What kind of manufacturing jobs can’t be exported?  Not the item which is to be manufactured, but more importantly the type of manufacturing which can’t be exported. 

I was listening to NPR recently and they were interviewing the mayor or East Lansing, Michigan.  This mayor was speaking about “Advanced Manufacturing”; one type of manufacturing which cannot be exported.  Advanced manufacturing is more than just someone standing at a machine punching out pieces all day, or an assembly line of people plugging parts into a product as it goes by.  Advanced Manufacturing is about individuals with the talents, training, knowledge, and a passion for the product.  They are constantly improving, updating, and innovating the product and the process. These individuals are daily adding value to their jobs; making them the kind of jobs that cannot be exported!  This is a prime example of what used to be called American Ingenuity.  We’re taking a weakness; fixing it, and turning it into strength.

So, where do we get these jobs?  What is the Process to create manufacturing jobs that can’t be exported?  First of all we need to realize there is more than one right answer to any problem.  Knowing this opens our minds to all possibilities because we’re no longer afraid to make a mistake.  We’re not just thinking outside the box, but also inside the box; everywhere!  And, this means there are already some right ideas out there in the process, which are working and creating jobs.

Example:  Our State Senator, Jimmy Jacumin has authored a bill in our State Legislature; “The Endangered Manufacturing and Jobs Act”.  This common sense approach to job creation doesn’t petition the U.S. Government for money.  It taps into private money; grants and loans available at low rates from industries and individuals interested in re-energizing our manufacturing economy.  Other states are benefiting from our Senator’s work; why aren’t we?

Since 1964 “The Manpower Training Development Act” has been providing federal funds for our community colleges to assist in retraining displaced workers.  This is good.  But it is time the programs in the schools be enhanced to provide those skills necessary to establish manufacturing jobs which cannot be exported.  These programs are developing in many states with their community colleges, and this needs to be done in our 10^th District.  Local business leaders, experienced manufacturers, and LOCAL school administrators should direct this movement.

You’ve heard people say we need to offer more enticements for large corporations to come into our area.  But, this is not a guaranteed solution as has been seen from Winston Salem’s experience with Dell Computer.  Here the community offered huge tax incentives for Dell to come in and build a network of manufacturing which would generate 1,100 new jobs.  What happened?  They built the facilities, created 900 new jobs, and then decided to close after only five years because of economic conditions.  Manufacturing moved to Mexico.

Would this same move have happened if such a company had been started from the ground up, by local founders and completely local employees?  If these jobs had been created on the basis of advanced manufacturing principles, jobs that could not be exported; wouldn’t they still be in Winston Salem?

How can government help?  Community, County, and State Tax incentives are a pittance compared to Federal Taxes.  Remove the burdens of Federal Government.  How?  (Remember, there is always more than one right answer.)

A new company’s most difficult problem is cash flow: having enough cash to pay bills and payroll is its life blood.  Knowing this, the Federal Government can forgo ALL taxes and fees, and relax backbreaking restrictions and regulations on a new business.  This will greatly increase the cash available so a fledgling company can get going, pay its bills, create well paying jobs, and establish its brand.  A new company’s most difficult time is the 3^rd year out, so cut all taxes and fees and modify regulations until the 4^th year.  Knowing they’ll have to deal with the governments the start-up company will be prepared, healthy, and a productive supporter of the community, State and Country. – One right answer.

Jobs: the most important issue in our District.   They are not difficult to create, if you have the right answers.  I’ve offered a few answers as to how it can be done, but more importantly I’ve laid out a process for developing the right answers.  We need to move forward with this process, and rebuild our manufacturing jobs!

J-O-B-S – the number one issue in The Real World America today.  Certainly it is the number one concern in our 10^th District here in Western North Carolina.  Our unemployment is close to 15%, way above the national average.  But, let’s not get into citing a bunch of statistics, we know it’s bad.  So, what do we do about this?  Do we look to the Government for help?  Is that what our parents did when they went through difficult times, or our Founding Fathers?  Were they better at providing for their families that we?  Silly as it sounds, “I am my father’s son!”  I learned when there is a problem to stand up and confront it.  It is up to us.  How often is it up to us?

How do we take on our problem of high unemployment?  How do we create jobs to replace the jobs lost due to Economic downturns and Globalization?  Well, let’s attack Globalization first. 

Globalization – something we’ve been hearing about for 20 years now; my kids heard about it in school as they grew up; the importance of “globalizing” -  spreading our free enterprise system around the world, and opening our country to the world’s way of doing business.  I tried that in my businesses, but a funny thing happened; I ran into cultural differences, something they don’t tell you about when expounding on the importance of globalization.  We need to “Level the playing field.”  Does that sound familiar?  Easy to say, but an “unlevel” playing field has a lot to do with different cultures around the world; something people who have no real world experience don’t know about.  But, I’ll save that for writing.

I attended a Tom Peter’s (renowned author and business guru) seminar about 20 years ago and remember him saying there were hungry, intelligent, competitive thriving cultures with workforces of 4 billion people just seconds away by phone or fax.  (This was before the internet.)  And, that the Asians were targeting the United States with all their efforts.  Why were they targeting us?  Because we were, and still are the center of the Global Economy, the economic breadbasket of the world!

Tom Peter’s was right.  They came after us and attacked us in our weakness – our bloated, inefficient manufacturing industries.  This wasn’t the fault of the employees, but rather management who let these economic giants flounder and decay from within.  I remember in my early days of small business, people talking about “getting on with Delco, or Chrysler”.  Getting on!  Not going to work but getting on!  If I hired one of these people for my small business they’d be gone in a minute if Delco called.

So, what happened in these large corporate facilities?  Anybody who worked in one saw and knew what made those companies grow and prosper in the glory days, the original owner’s management style and passion for the industry was long gone, along with the passion of the original labor force.  When globalization hit with a cheap work force “There was nothing that could be done.”, so they said.  That was wrong!  What built those industries was not cheap labor to be taken away:  it was American Ingenuity and the Free Enterprise System working together.  That’s what was lost first, why the companies stagnated, decayed, and why the jobs were then lost.  The Asian continent attacked our weakness and our jobs suffered; lost to overseas manufacturing.

But, what happens when you attack someone’s weakness?  Well, in war you get to kill them, but that’s not legal in business.  When someone attacks your weakness in business what do you do?  You fix it.  And now what have you done?  You just made yourself stronger.  This is what we need to do; we need to make ourselves stronger in our jobs!