Yesterday, U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-Mich.) introduced the National Institute of Manufacturing Act. The proposed legislation would create a central, independent hub for federal manufacturing programs. This hub would be led by a Chief Manufacturing Officer (CMO) and would serve as the manufacturing industry’s liaison to the White House and the entire executive branch. AEM was the first group to call for a comprehensive national strategy for manufacturing this past April and is now working Sen. Peters and others on a bipartisan effort to move the legislation forward.
“Equipment manufacturers represent 12 percent of the entire U.S. manufacturing sector and supports 2.8 million family-sustaining jobs across the country,” said Dennis Slater, president of AEM in a statement supporting the bill yesterday. “We need a comprehensive, coordinated, and competent national effort in support of the manufacturing sector and its workforce. This legislation will reduce redundancies and improve efficiencies across existing federal manufacturing programs and ensure that the federal government is better positioned to respond to rapid changes in the global manufacturing landscape. Sen. Gary Peters knows firsthand the challenges and opportunities facing equipment manufacturers, and he has been a steadfast advocate for the industry in the United State Senate. We urge all Democrat and Republican Senators to back this legislation, ensuring the federal government is better positioned to support our industry.”
The goal of creating the National Institute of Manufacturing is to address short-term manufacturing problems, such as supply chain issues due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as long-term problems that arise due to a lack of a cohesive, federal strategy. AEM has previously expressed that implementing a comprehensive national strategy for manufacturing would strengthen the economy, create new jobs and opportunities, and “ensure the U.S. is the best place in the world for equipment manufacturers to innovate, manufacture, and do business.” Currently, there are 58 manufacturing-related programs across nearly a dozen federal agencies, making it unnecessarily difficult and expensive to carry out missions and impossible to estimate total federal investment in manufacturing. That’s why AEM also believes a coordinated national effort would significantly increase efficiencies and collaboration across existing federal manufacturing programs, reduce wasteful spending and improve the ability and accountability of the federal government to respond to rapid changes in the global manufacturing landscape.
Michigan manufacturers also lauded the bill’s introduction. AEM member Morbark welcomed the concept for a centralized federal manufacturing strategy. “With a long and rich history of manufacturing hundreds of world class products in Winn, Michigan, we know first-hand the critical role that manufacturing plays as the engine that drives the economy by creating jobs, opportunity, and prosperity for Americans,” said John Foote, senior vice president at Morbark. “This has been especially true in our rural central Michigan area. We also recognize the need for a more far-reaching and strategic approach to ensure that the manufacturing sector and its workforce receives the resources and leadership they need to continue to innovate and manufacture in Michigan and across the United States. We would like to thank Sen. Gary Peters for his steadfast leadership to strengthen the sector and ensure the future competitiveness of U.S. manufacturing in the global economy. We hope that his colleagues in the United States Senate will support his legislation and work in a bipartisan and collaborative fashion to make America the best country in the world to manufacture.”
Learn more by reading AEM’s one-pager about the need and benefits of establishing a national manufacturing strategy.
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