Timmons Kicks Off Rethink, Showcases NAM Strategy

Way back in 1879, Thomas Edison called his manufacturing shop an “invention factory,” NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons told the audience at Rethink, the Manufacturing Leadership Council’s annual conference on digital technology and manufacturing innovation.

• “The most famous of the early U.S. manufacturers knew exactly what this industry would amount to,” Timmons pointed out.

What Rethink is: “At the MLC [the NAM’s digital transformation division], we call them the “‘factories of the future,’” Timmons continued.

• “Rethink exists—the MLC exists—to make sure the inventions and inventors behind those factories prosper…. and to help manufacturers build the smartest and most digitally advanced factories in the world.”
• The conference, which is taking place this week in Scottsdale, Arizona, brings manufacturing leaders together to explore best practices and culminates in the Manufacturing Leadership Awards—an honor presented to manufacturing leaders at the forefront of digital transformation.

Manufacturers are innovators: “Every manufacturer plays a role in securing America’s innovative might,” Timmons told the audience.

• “The energy we produce powers innovation. The technologies we develop accelerate it. The facilities and machinery we build make it possible. And our workforce uses it, delivers it, develops it, deploys it, perfects it—creating opportunities and prosperity in American communities.”

The comprehensive strategy: Timmons gave an overview of the NAM’s comprehensive manufacturing strategy, beginning with the monumental victory of last year’s tax law.

• “We shaped a new bill, H.R. 1, into a manufacturers’ bill, through and through,” Timmons said. “We saved six million jobs. And we positioned manufacturing for a once-in-a-generation transformation.”

Building out the policy framework: Timmons also highlighted the NAM’s groundbreaking work in support of permitting reform, the bipartisan highway bill and the expansion of America’s energy dominance. He also touched on the cost of burdensome regulations—$350 billion per year—and the urgent need to modernize and right-size the regulatory state.

• “We need clear, sensible guardrails that protect consumers, encourage trust and accelerate innovation instead of standing in the way,” he said.

USMCA: “Renewing the USMCA—President Trump’s signature trade agreement from his first term—is a priority for manufacturers,” Timmons said.

• “We want to renew it. We want to strengthen it. We want to double down on an investment that works,” he added.

The last word: Next week, the United States will celebrate its 250th birthday, Timmons told the audience in his conclusion to the keynote address.

• “There’s a reason we call this the American experiment. It goes back to Edison’s words—invention factories. So much of America is a tale of inventions and factories. And manufacturers have always played a leading role in America’s story.”
• “Use this time together to think about new ways to make things—and make things happen. To challenge what is possible. To imagine.… And to rethink.”

Other speakers: Rethink also featured experts including the following NAM, MI and MLC leaders: Rockwell Chairman and CEO and NAM Board Chair Blake Moret; MLC Founder, Vice President and Executive Director David R. Brousell; Manufacturing Institute President Carolyn Lee; NAM Managing Vice President of Policy Charles Crain; NAM Vice President of Domestic Policy Chris Phalen; MLC Senior Content Director Penelope Brown; MLC Senior Content Director Melissa Boom; and MLC Content Director Jeff Puma.