ICYMI: NAM’s Jay Timmons and David Farr Discuss Latest Outlook Survey, Manufacturing Day on CNBC
Click Here to Watch the Interview
Timmons on Manufacturing Day
“We have 2,600 facilities across the country, some of them at Emerson and other members of the NAM opening their doors to students and their parents today showing them what modern manufacturing is all about … [Augmented Reality], and virtual reality and 3D printing, and all these things. We were lucky to figure out that we could actually fax a piece of paper across the country when I was a kid.”
Farr on Manufacturing Day
“We have over 50 facilities in the United States. And we open up our facilities every year, each day to allow the parents to bring their kids in and encourage them to show what we’re doing in manufacturing. It’s a lot different when I was a young boy, and my dad was a plant manager. He worked for glassworks for 30 some-odd years. I used to walk the floor with my dad. It is completely different today. I mean, there’s a lot more technology. You have to be educated. You have to be skilled. And I think the government understands this, manufacturers understand this, and we are working extremely hard to try to get the workforce trained for the next generation.”
Timmons on Latest NAM Outlook Survey, Skills Gap Crisis
“Three-quarters of manufacturers report that finding skilled labor is their number-one concern. It’s the headwind that we see right now, Contessa. If you look at tax reform and regulatory reform, those are the things that are responsible for that 92 percent positive outlook … Dave is a perfect example of what a company can do and what the leadership of the company can do, but what the federal government is doing is they certainly have lots of training programs and hopefully those are going to be consolidated so that we don’t have 65 different programs. We’re really impressed with the Trump administration’s focus on the apprenticeship program. And a lot of our manufacturers are participating in that as well. So there’s a very large focus on this.”
Read the NAM’s Q3 Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey here, and to learn more about Manufacturing Day, visit MFGDay.com.
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The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) is the largest manufacturing association in the United States, representing small and large manufacturers in every industrial sector and in all 50 states. Manufacturing employs more than 12 million men and women, contributes $2.25 trillion to the U.S. economy annually, has the largest economic impact of any major sector and accounts for more than three-quarters of private-sector research and development. The NAM is the powerful voice of the manufacturing community and the leading advocate for a policy agenda that helps manufacturers compete in the global economy and create jobs across the United States. For more information about the Manufacturers or to follow us on Shopfloor, Twitter and Facebook, please visit www.nam.org.