Rockwell Automation held a media briefing today at the National Press Club, with Keith Nosbusch, chairman and CEO, leading the call for a national strategy and federal support to keep the U.S. manufacturing sector at the forefront of global competitiveness. From the news release:

“U.S. manufacturers absolutely must have innovative energy-efficient and productivity-enhancing technology to be competitive,” Keith Nosbusch, Rockwell Automation, Inc. chairman and CEO, told a press briefing at the National Press Club.

This transformation to smarter, safer and more sustainable manufacturing provides an opportunity for the federal government to help develop and make innovations in American plants to keep them competitive and to promote a sustainable U.S. manufacturing employment base, the speakers said.

Nosbusch noted that federal support for applied research was about equal with federal funding for basic science, but it has now fallen to 30 percent lower — $10 billion worth.

Also participating in the news conference were Emily DeRocco, president of the Manufacturing Institute, R. Neal Elliot from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy; Evan R. Gaddis, president of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, Tom Duesterberg, president of the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI. (Pictured, from left, DeRocco, Elliot, Nosbursch.)

U.S. industry is in a battle not just with countries with lower costs, but also with developed countries that are investing in new technology, said Emily DeRocco, president of the Manufacturing Institute and vice president of the National Association of Manufacturers.

“With high quality, inexpensive products flooding the market from every corner of the globe, competing on cost alone is a losing battle for most U.S.-based manufacturers,” DeRocco said.

Policy recommendations:

• Ensure legislative priorities are in line with those of manufacturers and the general public.
• Double federal funding for manufacturing innovation.
• Establish a $2 billion public-private partnership program to research and develop a manufacturing “greenprint” for smart, safe and sustainable manufacturing.
• Provide federal assistance for public-private partnerships to create demonstration projects that foster manufacturing innovation.
• Expand federal tax credits to apply to investments in advanced technologies that automate and modernize factories.

In “Nuts-and-bolts advice for the new manufacturing czar,” The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s business columnist, John Torinus, previews Wednesday’s press briefing by Rockwell Automation’s CEO, Keith Nosbusch, who propose a comprehensive national manufacturing strategy. (Rockwell’s news release.)

Torinus discusses the possible appointment of Ron Bloom, the White House’s person in charge of the automotive restructuring, as a White House manufacturing czar; he names several manufacturing leaders he regards as more qualified than Bloom, a former investment banker and Steelworkers union executive.

Torinus then proposes policies to compromise a manufacturing policy.  The first four suggestions:

• Keep the pressure on the Chinese government to harden the yuan. Henry Paulson got it done in the Bush administration when the yuan rose about 20% against the dollar. That was a big help to U.S. exporters, the most important job and wealth creators for the country.
• Push for balanced trade on a bilateral basis with China, so their exports to the United States are better matched to their imports from the U.S. The gigantic trade imbalance with China is one of the biggest destabilizing forces on the U.S. economy. It has to be fixed.
• Understanding that the U.S. cannot sustain itself with a lopsided service economy – we have to make things, too – drop or eliminate the corporate tax on manufacturing. Other countries have dropped corporate taxes without triggering trade pact violations. If necessary, go to a value-added tax on goods as a replacement, a consumption tax on consumers.
• Promote Toyota-like lean disciplines across the whole manufacturing sector, much as Wisconsin government is attempting to do. Persuade union leaders to support lean disciplines and junk work rules that get in the way.

There’s a lot to like in his list for strengthening the manufacturing economy. You could add other items, to be sure, such as enacting tort reforms to bring the cost of the U.S. legal system in line with other leading manufacturing countries. In the process, speak out against the campaigns by the alliance of trial lawyers and “consumer activists” that ignore risk and demonize safe products and ingredients. (Since we’re reading the Journal-Sentinel, the campaign against BPA comes to mind.)

Torinus says the “manufacturing czar” strategy repeats the Bush Administration’s practice. Not quite. There the advocate was an Assistant Secretary of Manufacturing and Services in the Department of Commerce. Admittedly, that’s post has a much lower profile than a White House point person, but it does require the vetting and accountability that accompanies Senate confirmation.

Thanks to the Van Jones debacle, we’re about to see a new round of debate about the wisdom of manufacturing czars. On Fox News Sunday this morning, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), a member of the Republican leadership, responded to a question about the radical-cum-green-jobs czar by calling White House czars “an affront to the Constitution”: “When you take all these people that make policy close to the president and the White House … and aren’t approved by the Congress, you’re just adding fuel to the fire by those who think Washington is taking over everything.”

We imagine most manufacturers would welcome a strong advocate in the White House to promote U.S. industry. Still, czars, prelates or factotums aside, most important are the policies the Administration and Congress pursue. First, as NAM President John Engler likes to say, “Do no harm.” And after that, there’s a lot of good substance in Torinus’ list, and we look forward with interest to the Rockwell briefing.

The old political saw is that personnel is policy. Sure. But in the case of the manufacturing economy, the primary strategy should be to have policy be policy. Good policy being good policy, that is.

From The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, “Rockwell calls for national industrial strategy“:

Warning that U.S. manufacturing competitiveness is “very vulnerable,” Rockwell Automation Inc. Tuesday lauded President Barack Obama’s decision to appoint a policy “czar” to shape the nation’s manufacturing strategy.

“American industry needs a transformation unlike any other in its history,” said Rockwell chief executive Keith Nosbusch.

Milwaukee-based Rockwell, which is widely regarded as a bellwether of the manufacturing sector, supplies automation technology that helps improve productivity of factories and refineries.

Rockwell issued a news release on the issue yesterday, also announcing a press briefing next Wednesday at the National Press Club.

Rockwell Automation is organizing a press briefing of manufacturing experts that will encourage the Obama administration and Congress to support incentives for U.S. businesses to make this transformation to smart, safe and sustainable manufacturing. That briefing will be Sept. 9 at 8:30 a.m. at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
Scheduled to speak are:

• Emily DeRocco, president, the Manufacturing Institute and senior vice president of the National Association of Manufacturers;
• R. Neal Elliott, associate director of research, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy;
• Evan R. Gaddis, president and CEO, National Electrical Manufacturers Association;
• Tom Duesterberg, president and CEO, Manufacturers Alliance / MAPI: and Keith Nosbusch, chairman and CEO, Rockwell Automation.

It’s still unclear how serious the Administration is about appointing a manufacturing czar; the only news we’ve seen on the possibility — and of former U.S. Steelworkers’ executive Ron Bloom being named to the post — comes from unnamed White House sources. The comments looked an awful lot like the floating of a trial balloon. And of course, the value of the position is distinct from the merits of the person placed in that position. And better no strategy than a bad strategy that harms U.S. competitiveness — but that’s why Rockwell is weighing in.

It’s several months old now and done in anticipation of the now-passed stimulus legislation, but there’s still plenty of interesting findings in a public opinion survey done for Rockwell Automation, “Public Attitudes on Manufacturing Technology and Automation.”

The top four bullet points from the executive summary:

• Most Americans believe that highly automated, modern factories are important to improve and grow the U.S. economy (82%).
• A majority of Americans (70%) also believe that it’s highly important that President Obama’s administration provides a stimulus package to increase the number of automated, modern
  factories.
• When considering a manufacturing company, Americans cite sustainable production issues including product and employee safety, and environmental issues as the most important attributes.
• Despite the economic downturn, support remains strong (and unchanged from the 2008 survey) for federal, state or local programs that would pay an incentive to U.S. companies that invest in technology and automation to stay competitive and keep manufacturing operations in this country. 79% said the government should provide such incentives.