Smart
Production:
Investing in A Manufacturing Future
A
Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition Field Forum
Representative Mike Doyle
Representative Melissa A. Hart
Carnegie
Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, July 14, 2003
Summary
U.S.
Representatives Mike Doyle
and Melissa Hart
hosted a Northeast-Midwest Institute/ Manufacturing
Task Force Forum on July 14 at Carnegie
Mellon University in order to hear from Pittsburgh manufacturers
and area experts about the challenges facing manufacturers, what
works, and what still needs to be done.
Pittsburgh
has put together winning strategies for manufacturers, offering
partnership opportunities and support to companies in the area.
Despite these efforts, Pennsylvania lost 94,200 manufacturing jobs
between August 1998 and November 2002, and the job loss continues.
The forum's two panels of manufacturers and their partners focused
on the need for federal investment in research and development in
manufacturing technologies.
Representative
Mike Doyle (D-PA),
a member of the House Commerce Committee, emphasized the importance
of manufacturing to the economy's health, and he noted that the
Pittsburgh field forum was the first to be held in order to develop
an agenda that supports a manufacturing future. Representative
Melissa Hart (R-PA), a member of the House Science Committee,
pointed out that only 2 percent of the $90-billion federal research
and development budget supported manufacturing technologies, although
manufacturing contributed 17 percent of the nation's Gross National
Product.
Manufacturers
and university partners stated that new technologies and investments
in manufacturing infrastructure are required to ensure that U.S.
firms serve the emerging need for more customized products. They
emphasized the need for work on supply-chain integration, innovative
collaboration, and partnership opportunities in order to strengthen
the competitiveness of small manufacturers. As globalization threatens
to overwhelm small companies, speakers declared that the outreach
and coordination services are needed more than ever before. They
argued against cuts in federal support for both the Manufacturing
Extension Partnership and the U.S. Department of Energy's Industries
of the Future program.
 Click
here for extended summary
of event including details of each speaker's testimony. For full
testimonies, click on a speaker's name in agenda below.
Forum
Agenda and Testimony
Opening
Remarks
Panel
One
Globalization
Impact on Manufacturing
Importance
of Manufacturing to Regional Economy
| Dr.
Sunder Kekre, Professor and Director, Center for E-Business
Innovation, Carnegie Mellon University |
 |
It
Takes A Team
 |
Kevin
Carr, Director, Manufacturing Extension Partnership |
Panel
Two
Can
Small Manufacturers Compete?
| Dennis
Thompson, Executive Director and COO, Doyle Center for
Manufacturing Technology |
 |
Joseph
Magdic, Magdic Precision Tooling, Inc.
How
Can the Federal Government Help?
| David
Alan Bourne, Senior Scientist and Director of the Rapid Manufacturing
Lab, Carnegie Mellon University |
 |
 |
Thomas
Croft, Executive Director, Steel Valley Authority |
Press Availability. Adjournment.
Attendees
were encouraged to bring written statements summarizing the challenges
they face in the marketplace; the problems that need to be addressed;
and what public policies should be pursued. These statements will
be reflected in the report on the forum that will be shared with
other task force members (five-page limit, please).
Manufacturing
Home | NEMW Home
| Top of Page
http://www.nemw.org/mfg_Pitt0703.htm
|
