Articles in this Jul-Aug 2008 Issue:
Members: Scroll down to download the formatted newsletter, or click on the links.
Visitors: The stories (text-only) are below.
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President's Message - Back to the Top
All That Glitters
Over the last two weeks , I checked into the Olympics, and watched the athletes from over the world strive for excellence in their sport. I watched our basketball team, staffed by NBA players, play other countries teams also staffed by NBA players, play for the gold, silver or bronze medals. But they really are playing for the $green, that’s in dollars. Are we good or what?
Other countries take the children from their parents, at an early age, 3 or 4 years old, and train them in a sport. I always thought that age belonged to cookies and mud pies. but I guess we do the same. One of my grandsons plays “T” ball, and flag football. So we are not so different, are we?
Watching the opening of the games I was amazed at the precision of 2800 humans trained as robots, hitting drums, pushing up boxes and lighting up the sky. What a sight to behold! The peasants in the fields planting rice, wearing straw hats, and rough clothing, not worrying that after work they would drive home to an apartment, watch the games and eat their dinner. Their homes were the shacks close by the fields.
On the other side of the world we have another sport, target shooting with cannons, targets made of humans, rockets red glare, these words are part of a song way back in our history. But then again, we have rockets and fire works going on in Iraq & Afghanistan; and don’t forget Darfur. Some of these people don’t even have guns.
The other day I bought an elastic stocking for an injured foot. The stocking was made in China, and was packaged in Mexico.
I’m not writing anything about manufacturing today, haven’t got my heart in it. The first page article explains why. When will our State Legislators wake up?
As I write this column, over 3800 members of National Guard and Reserve component units stationed in New Jersey Guard and Reserve units (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard Reserve), are on active duty somewhere around the globe defending our freedom. Shortly, some 2,800 of them, members of the New Jersey National Guard’s “JERSEY BLUES”, will be joining the fray in IRAQ. These are men and woman from our state, some being deployed for the 3rd. time in 7 years, many of them work for our companies. The families they leave behind need our support, a holding hand, a comforting word, a check made out to the family support group, the knowledge that when they come home they will have a job to come home to. That is, of course, if our government doesn’t give away their jobs to other countries that we fought and died for in defense of their freedom.
Please keep all of these “citizen soldiers” in your prayers. One way you can show your support for these brave men and women, is by signing an Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) “Statement of Support”. At a recent meeting of the NJTMA Board of Directors every member of the Board signed a Statement of Support.The ESGR Statement of Support program seeks to inform and educate employers about their rights and responsibilities toward their employees who serve in the National Guard and Reserve, and to also recognize and reward those employers who go “over and above” the requirements of the law.
A Statement of Support signing employer denotes the following:
- We fully recognize, honor and enforce the Uniformed Services Employment and Re-Employment Rights Act (USERRA).
- Our managers and supervisors will have the tools they need to effectively manage those employees who serve in the Guard and Reserve.
- We will continually recognize and support our country’s service members and their families in peace, in crises and in war.
To participate in the Statement of Support Program , please go to http://www.esgr.org/forms.asp?p=sos or contact our Executive Director, Carmen Venticinque at colcav25@verizon.net. He will have an ESGR Volunteer contact you about signing a personalized Statement of Support and presenting you with the certificate for mounting and display in your company offices! You do not have to be a current employer of a Guardsmen or Reservist to sign. To learn more about ESGR go to www.njesgr.org and/or www.esgr.org.
CAN DO LETS GO
Tony LaMastra, NJTMA President
Hone-A-Matic Tool & Cutter Co.
sales@honeamatic.com
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State Business Climate Not Friendly to NJ Business Leaders - Back to the Top
According to a recent study released by the of the The New Jersey Policy Research Organization, the think-tank affiliate of the New Jersey Business & Industry Association, burdensome regulations, high taxes and spiraling health care costs are the top concerns of the state’s business leaders. 42% of those surveyed, when asked about the state’s business environment over the next five years, and assuming that current policies don’t change, believed that the New Jersey business climate will deteriorate.
The respondents to the survey and those interviewed called for the state to invest more in training workers, funding university research and development, and supporting more partnerships between academia and private industry. All agreed that affordability factors such as taxes, energy, health care and regulation, can easily make or break a business and determine whether it will start or expand its operations in New Jersey or depart the state.
Less than 25% percent of survey respondents felt the state was doing a good or excellent job of making the state affordable to live in. 28% rated the state good or excellent when it came to affordable health coverage, 30% felt the same about a favorable state tax structure, and 31% felt the same about affordable energy.
Respondents were frustrated by the costs of doing business and dealing with an increasingly demanding environmental and labor regulatory bureaucracy within the state.
Alternatively, business executives considered New Jersey's highly skilled work force the state’s greatest resource, although many felt more should be done to provide blue-collar workers with the skills needed to succeed in industry.
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Falling Dollar Boosts U.S. Manufacturers - Back to the Top
A recent survey revealed that as the U.S. dollar continues to decline in value U.S. and international buyers are increasing their sourcing in the U.S.
Over 500 respondents completed the Sourcing Survey targeting Buyer members of MFG.com, a global online manufacturer marketplace. Forty two percent of the participants were purchasing professionals, engineers (33 percent), and operations managers/others (25 percent) who use MFG.com to source for manufacturing services and standard parts. More than $15 billion worth of manufactured goods have been sourced through MFG.com, with millions more sourced everyday by over 160,000 global members.
Survey highlights include:
- 40 percent of the participants stated the current value of the U.S. dollar had an affect on where they choose to source their business.
- 47% of the Buyers stated they were sourcing more business in the U.S. as a direct result of the declining value of the U.S. Dollar.
- 41% of the Buyers responded that they source for made-to-order parts in the U.S.
- 72% of Buyers surveyed plan to source for manufactured parts and services online through MFG.com in the coming year.
Additional survey findings include:
- 55 % of survey respondents source solely to U.S. suppliers.
- 92% of survey participants conduct a portion of their sourcing in the U.S.
Other MFG.com marketplace research revealed a modest growth in request for quotes (RFQs) awarded to U.S. manufacturers from international buyers. The number of RFQs awarded on MFG.com from January - May 2008 from international buyers to U.S. Suppliers nearly doubled when compared with the same timeframe for 2007.
The sourcing survey also uncovered the following:
- 38% of international buyers surveyed are currently sourcing to U.S. suppliers.
- 53% of Canadian buyers surveyed revealed that they too are sourcing to U.S. suppliers. This is good news for manufacturers.
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Costs Driving U.S. Manufacturing Firms Out of China - Back to the Top
Competitive labor market forcing low margin manufacturers to look elsewhere. China is losing some of its attractiveness to foreign investors as rising costs are forcing some U.S. manufacturing firms to leave the country, the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) said recently. More than two-thirds of AmCham's member companies surveyed in an annual white paper agreed that China was losing some of its competitive advantage in global markets due to rising costs.
Factors with the biggest financial impact last year included price pressures from competition and major customers, rising salaries and wages, changes in raw material prices, tax expenses and real estate cost inflation, the survey said. "For manufacturers, the seemingly endless supply of low-cost unskilled labor may be approaching its limits," Norwell Coquillard, chairman of AmCham in Shanghai said. “The competitive labor market poses difficulties for export-oriented manufacturers, especially in low-margin sectors such as toys, garments and shoes," and "they are looking to India, Vietnam, and other places," he said.
Human resources constraints, inconsistent regulatory interpretation, unclear regulations, lack of transparency and bureaucracy are picked as the top five business challenges in China, according to the white paper. But companies still see China as a strategically important manufacturing base because of its domestic market potential, it said. It added that 74% of companies were either profitable or very profitable in China and 89% of respondents had an optimistic or slightly optimistic outlook for the next five years of doing business in the country. More good news for manufacturers.
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NJTMA Welcomes our New Members - Back to the Top
Professional Associate Members:
The Stratford Financial Group is an employee benefits brokerage firm offering a full range of services including medical, dental, vision, disability, life, long term care and 401(k)/pension plans.
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