The White House has now posted a photo (left) of President Obama’s visit to Thompson Creek Windows in Landover, Md., last Friday where he announced his new White House economic team. (That’s the company’s president, Rick Wuest, to the rear.)

The Washington Post also followed up the President’s appearance with a nice report on the manufacturer and the tax credits that have helped boost the business, which has grown from 168 employees to 289 in recent years.

Wuest credits an emphasis on customer service and the firm’s efficient production model – as well as President Obama’s stimulus plan, which had allowed homeowners to write off as much as $1,500 on their income taxes by purchasing energy-efficient windows.

Thompson Creek has offered the discount to more than 6,000 customers, Wuest said.

“Anytime you can offer a product to a homeowner and Uncle Sam will pick up 30 percent of the bill, that helps,” Wuest said. “I can’t deny that.”

And if we may toot our own NAM horn:

Wuest said he was shocked when he got a phone call three days ago from a friend at the National Association of Manufacturers, a lobbying organization, who explained that Obama’s staff wanted to examine his facility. Before long, Secret Service officers were scouting the place, and plans were in motion for the president’s visit.

“We’ve been growing through a difficult time,” Wuest said. “I have friends around the country and locally with similar businesses. They’re not all enjoying the success we have. Knock on wood.”

The President definitely appreciates the value of a visit to a manufacturing plant. He was originally scheduled to travel to Schenectady, N.Y., on Tuesday to examine GE’s battery plant and its recently dedicated Renewable Energy Global Headquarters, where CEO Jeffrey Immelt would have hosted him on the tour. After the shootings in Tucson, the White House postponed the trip, understandably so.

The Philadelphia Inquirer profiles the Bridesburg, Pa., window factory thrust into the news by the Obama Administration, reporting on “Northeast Building Products – the window factory that Washington has anointed its star of stimulus spending.” The latest bout of attention came Friday, when Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan toured the plant, guided by company owner Alan Levin. (The company’s website is here.)

From “‘Crazy’ months for stimulus-linked factory“:

“You are the best example in the country,” Donovan told Levin, “of what the economic recovery act has done in getting the economy back on track.”

Not one of the best. The best.

Since last summer, more than $100 million in stimulus funds has flowed from HUD into Philadelphia’s housing and redevelopment agencies – and from there into construction-related businesses. At Northeast Building Products, thousands of orders for windows have come in.

Along with reporting that sales are up 39 percent, The Inquirer adds nice personal details about the Levins, and in doing so, makes the point that the expansion of domestic manufacturing also embraces investment abroad.

On Monday, Fran and Alan Levin were packing for a family trip to Germany and England when they got the call from HUD. Donovan wanted to visit.

Fran and the couple’s two children canceled their vacation, but Alan had to keep an appointment to inspect a new $2 million production line made in Stuttgart, Germany.

Washington Post, “Senate passes $140 billion in tax breaks, aid to unemployed“:

Beyond those provisions, the bill carries renewals of several expired tax credits, including those for research and development, biodiesel, energy-efficient home improvements, and the deduction of state and local sales taxes. Those extensions helped attract the support of Republicans and the praise of business groups.

Dorothy Coleman, vice president of tax and domestic economic policy for the National Association of Manufacturers, said the research-and-development credit extension will be a particularly effective job creator. “Going ahead and acting on these [tax extensions] gives companies some certainty” about how they can spend money in the future, she said.

NAM President John Engler also issued a statement in support of the Senate action, with some exceptions. Excerpt:

The NAM’s “Jobs for America” report finds that by increasing the R&D credit and making it permanent, we would encourage innovation and boost total employment by hundreds of thousands of jobs this decade. Similarly, by providing additional time for companies to make required pension payments, the retirement security provisions will put cash back in the hand of employers, allowing them to grow and create jobs. We are also pleased the Senate bill broadens the tax credit for energy efficient windows, doors and skylights by allowing them to meet the 2010 Energy Star standards. And, we welcome the provision that will allow companies to use their unused Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) credits based on hiring workers or making investments.

While we are pleased that the tax extenders and retirement provisions are included in the Senate-passed bill, we are disappointed that it also includes industry-specific taxes that will pile more costs on manufacturers and make them less competitive. We will continue to work with members of Congress to improve this critical bill so that it can foster job creation and global competitiveness without putting undue burdens on specific industries. It is important for lawmakers to remember throughout this jobs debate that government doesn’t create jobs, business does.

Ron Saxton, executive vice president of Jeld-Wen, an Oregon-based manufacturer of windows and doors, attended the White House Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth Thursday. The Nightly Business Report’s Suzanne Pratt conducted a good interview last evening with Ron, who’s also a member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Manufacturers.

PRATT: I understand you were one of the lucky ones today. The president sat in on your session. What did you tell him?

SAXTON: Well, I told him that I thought we had some ideas that could accomplish multiple, many of his goals. We, you know, the window and door industry part of construction has really been hurt the last number of years. There were over two million housing starts in America two or three years ago and we’re down to less than a half million. So I said if we focus on replacing inefficient windows and doors, especially windows, we get energy savings out of it. We create American jobs for manufacturing, American jobs for the construction to put them in place and we can do it immediately. The manufacturing infrastructure is already in place.

Tax credits for energy-efficient windows are already available, now there should be help for financing, he argues: It might be in the form of a low-interest loan, part of the mortgage or in a utility package.

The windows business is driven by new home construction, so the focus on retrofitting helps expand industry activity, he explained. As for hiring:

PRATT: One last question we just have a little time left. What would you need to see before you would feel comfortable to start hiring again?

SAXTON: Well, we need to see orders coming up. The economy generally is showing some positive signs, but we’re not seeing it much in housing or construction. So you know, we produce when somebody wants to buy. And we need to see people buying.