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Fairfield brewery hosts manufacturing forum
Various local business owners take a tour of the Anheuser-Busch Fairfield Brewery during Monday's Manufacturing Forum. Regional business leaders shared their experiences with manufacturing resources available to regional businesses. (Conner Jay/Daily Republic)
FAIRFIELD — A manufacturing forum at the Anheuser-Busch brewery Monday had a “Made in America” bent.
Rep. John Garamendi, D-Walnut Creek, gave the keynote speech. The event also included panel discussions on manufacturing strategies and a tour of the brewery.
“We can make it in America,” Garamendi told the audience of about 80 people. “We really can. American can once again become the great manufacturing power it was — it still is, but we don’t have the same intensity we once had.”
Twenty million Americans worked in manufacturing 25 years ago, he said. That’s down to about 11.5 million.
Garamendi has proposed legislation that would require transportation projects paid for with federal tax dollars to have 85 percent of the goods and equipment used manufactured in the United States. Federal legislation for Amtrak trains had a similar clause and a company that got the work opened a manufacturing plant in Sacramento, he said.
He has proposed similar legislation for energy.
“Public policy makes a difference here,” Garamendi said.
Harry Moser spoke on behalf of Reshoring America. Its goal is to get American companies that have moved operations to other countries to return the jobs to America.
Companies went to other countries because they followed each other “like a bunch of lemmings,” Moser said. But they didn’t take a close look at the total costs, he said. He believes that 25 percent of companies that have left the United States should come back based on their total cost of ownership.
Among the group’s tools is an online total-cost-of-ownership estimator. The group also publicizes companies that return jobs to the United States in an attempt to start a trend in that direction.
About 50,000 manufacturing jobs have returned to the United States since January 2010, Moser said. He sees potential for 2 million or 3 million more.
Bringing manufacturing jobs back to the United States has such benefits as reducing the federal budget deficit and unemployment, Moser said. He encouraged those attending the forum to spread the word about Reshoring America. Please go to http://www.reshorenow.org for more information.
Marion Aiken of the Solano Workforce Investment Board was among those taking part in the panel discussions. He talked about the board’s role as a link between employees and the job sector.
Reach Barry Eberling at 427-6929 or beberling@dailyrepublic.net. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/beberlingdr.
Barry Eberling
Discussion | 6 comments
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Mr. PracticalSeptember 25, 2012 - 6:50 am
Garamendi is on the wrong track. Mandating the use of American Made products is not the answer. Corporate tax reform and regulation reform would be a good start. Google "America’s Dirty War Against Manufacturing"
Reply |Danny BuntinSeptember 25, 2012 - 5:18 pm
They move overseas because at the end of the day they will make more money for themselves. No Healthcare No Regulations to follow (Environmental and safety). Very little chance for labor issues to come up. Less to share with others, is the bottom line. This and the phoney money marketers has stripped the middle class of any class. The comparison to Germany in the article(America’s Dirty War Against Manufacturing) is bogus. Germany has a 19 percent value-added tax (VAT) on anything entering the country. Couple that with the fact that they use credit to invest in the country, while we use it to consume.
Reply |Mr. PracticalSeptember 25, 2012 - 6:29 pm
Danny, public companies have a responsibility to their shareholders to grow stock prices. It's unrealistic for companies to loss money in the name of so called patriotism. Fix the tax code, reduced unneeded legislation and level the playing field, and manufacturing jobs will return. The exception is some tech companies (like Apple) that can't afford to manufacture here because we don't produce the components they need.
Reply |Danny BuntinSeptember 25, 2012 - 8:26 pm
I hear what you are saying. But the fact remains that Germany has more regulations then we do, and they thrive. This is due to their system that puts future generations of people ahead of the almighty dollar. Patriotism is only used to make money, when they can make more money - they throw patriotism under the bus. Giving corporations the right to spit on people, and the environment is not the solution. We need only to look to the south, to see how unregulated industry benefits the people.
Reply |Mr. PracticalSeptember 26, 2012 - 6:56 am
The qualification from my previous comment being "unneeded" regulation and there's plenty of it. Bottom line is we incent businesses to move jobs, and our wealth along with them, overseas.
Reply |Solano Business IncubatorSeptember 25, 2012 - 9:33 am
Interesting
Reply |