Thank you, Don, for your kind introduction and for your service as chair of NEMA’s Board of Governors.
NEMA has a long history of setting the standards for the electrical manufacturing and medical imaging industries in this country. At the Department of Commerce, we are proud to share a deep partnership with NEMA and its members. Sometimes I feel like you know the Department of Commerce even better than I do.
From providing your expertise as part of the Industry Trade Advisory Committee to your collaboration with our National Institute of Standards and Technology on issues like nanotechnology standardization and cybersecurity, no other association leverages Commerce resources as effectively as you do.
As Secretary of Commerce, I lead a department that creates the conditions for your companies to compete and win in markets around the world.
To meet this goal, the Department of Commerce is focused on areas necessary for your global success, including training our workforce, so we utilize 100 percent of our talent; investing in innovation, so we can remain on the cutting edge; and expanding trade and exports, so U.S. companies and our workforce can compete on a level playing field.
To create long-term opportunities for our workforce and build the talent pipeline needed to manufacture your products, we must invest in our greatest resource: our people.
Winning the war for talent is imperative if our country is to out-compete and lead the rest of the world. Your industry employs more than half a million highly skilled, talented, and innovative people. Your future success depends on your ability to not only train existing employees on the latest technology but also to engage the next generation of these workers.
President Obama understands that apprenticeships are a fantastic tool for exciting and preparing young people for the jobs of the 21st century – which is why he has designated this week National Apprenticeship Week.
When Siemens – a NEMA member – opened a new factory in North Carolina, they partnered with a local community college to train their new machinists, assemblers, maintenance workers, and welders.
This effort grew into a four-year apprenticeship program combining part-time employment and classroom instruction. Graduates receive a degree in mechatronics and the advanced engineering skills necessary to start their career in a Siemens’ factory – all without any college debt.
This approach has been so successful that Siemens is creating three additional apprenticeship programs in their facilities across the country, and the first 22 graduates of the program have transitioned to full-time, secure positions with vast career potential and salaries well above average for their age group.
At the Commerce Department, through our “Skills for Business” initiative, we are working with the Departments of Labor and Education to achieve President Obama’s goal of doubling the number of registered apprenticeships by 2020.
We are also partnering with leading foundations and Case Western Reserve University on the first-ever U.S. study analyzing the return on investment for employers who offer apprenticeships. We want to make it easy for all of you to explain why you are investing in this kind of training.
These steps are just part of our broader strategy to provide all of you in this room with the talented workforce you need to compete and to create more rewarding, middle class career opportunities for America’s workers.
To sustain our long-term competitiveness, we must also nourish and support our innovators.
Having a cutting edge manufacturing sector that remains a step ahead of the global competition is not simply a “nice to have” – it is a “must have” if our country’s economy is to thrive, now and into the future. Recognizing that America’s competitiveness is at stake, President Obama created the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation.
This initiative breaks down silos between the U.S. private sector and academia to collaborate on taking industry-relevant technologies from lab to market over the near term. In just three years, the network has grown to over 725 partners from industry and academia and is actively working on 120 technology development projects emanating from the first four institutes.
Several NEMA members are already taking advantage of the opportunities presented by the NNMI institutes.
Two NEMA companies – CREE and Toshiba International – are working with the PowerAmerica Institute at North Carolina State University to develop the technology necessary to bring more efficient, more reliable, and less expensive semiconductor devices to market. This technology will not only benefit CREE and Toshiba – it will also have a cascading effect and improve the products made by everyone in this room.
Each of our NNMI institutes is looking to partner with manufacturers from across the country, particularly small and medium sized enterprises, that share a commitment to innovation and collaboration in advanced manufacturing. I encourage you to connect with my team and learn more about how your company can benefit from joining one of the institutes.
The Department of Commerce plays two important roles in the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation.
First, we run the network of seven existing institutes – an effort to enhance the institutes’ impact through sharing of best practices, identification of gaps in America’s technology base, and dissemination of information about newly developed technologies and processes.
Second, our Department has the unique authority to establish new institutes in technology areas selected by industry. In our latest budget, we have requested funding for the first two new institutes where YOU, in the private sector, can guide the technology focus.
I want to thank NEMA and its members for your support for NNMI.
To ensure that your innovative products can be sold around the world, we must also increase opportunities for your businesses to access markets abroad.
Just last month, we saw a substantial win for global trade and for your industry when we closed negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Yesterday, we released the full text of the agreement, so that your companies can better understand the historic opportunities available to you in the fastest-growing region on the planet.
TPP will increase market access, streamline customs, create more transparency in rules, and eliminate tariffs on all industrial and consumer goods. Last year, more than half of all U.S. electroindustry exports worth about $24 billion went to TPP countries. The Trans-Pacific Partnership ensures that you can build on that success.
Finally, I want to highlight a tremendous opportunity for your companies to reach new markets in 2016: Hannover Messe, the largest industrial technology trade fair in the world.
Hannover Messe is an unparalleled opportunity for your companies to promote your technical skills and engineering capabilities to thousands of advanced manufacturing representatives from all over the world.
For the first time ever, the United States is the official “Partner Country” for the April 2016 event. This is a chance to showcase American businesses – YOUR companies, the most innovative and forward thinking manufacturers in the world – front and center in both the exhibition hall and during special events.
For SMEs that attend, we have your back. At the fair, our team of international trade specialists will provide insights into global industry trends, identify the best market opportunities for your products, and facilitate introductions to international buyers, distributors, and investors.
To the larger companies, this is an opportunity to exhibit your world-class products in key real estate on the trade show floor, advertise to a global audience, and engage your senior executives with key policy makers and business leaders from around the world.
Do not miss this incredible chance to strengthen your company’s global standing.
Let me just close by saying we – at the Department of Commerce – are your partner in your companies’ success at home and around the world. There are members of my team who have been proud to work with NEMA for their entire careers, some for as long as 40 years. We are a customer service organization at heart. You are our customers, and my door is always open to you.
Thank you for inviting me here today, and I look forward to our discussion.
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce
