Each year, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) recognizes U.S. legislators for their commitment to the manufacturing community. The Manufacturing Legislative Excellence Award is given to those lawmakers who score above 70 percent on NAM Key Manufacturing Votes.
This year, Arizona congresswoman and current U.S. Senate candidate, Martha McSally, was recognized with the award, scoring a 96 percent.
Arizona is proud to have champions of manufacturing advocating for sound, advantageous policies at the federal level.
Other Arizona lawmakers receiving the recognition include Senator Jeff Flake and Representatives Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs and David Schweikert.
Find the full list of U.S. Senate awardees here, and the full list of U.S. House awardees here.
Each year, the Arizona Manufacturers Council recognizes creators and innovators of all sizes and industries. This year’s award recipients represent the very best of the Arizona manufacturing community, and exemplify how manufacturing betters its communities and betters the state.
Congratulations to the 2018 Manufacturers of the Year!
Outstanding Large Manufacturer of the Year: The Boeing Company
Outstanding Medium Manufacturer of the Year: TYR Tactical
Outstanding Small Manufacturer of the Year: Novembal
Each August the Arizona Manufacturers Council, together with longstanding member Snell & Wilmer, convene leaders in industry and environmental policy for a robust two day conference in beautiful Prescott, Arizona. If you missed this year’s conference, we’ve made available this year’s presentations and agenda, and we hope you’ll join us next year. Special thanks to each of our event sponsors, presenters, contributors, and attendees.
Look at all of the innovative products coming from Arizona! While it’s still important, cotton doesn’t even make the cut in 2018. Read this article to learn more about the latest trends in Arizona manufacturing.
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Location: Prescott Resort & Conference Center | 1500 AZ-69 | Prescott AZ 86301
MONDAY, AUGUST 20 | 10 AM – 4:30 PM Elections Preview • Enforcement Panel • EPA Region IX Update • Lunch & Networking • Water and Energy Panels • Legislative Overview | 5 PM Reception hosted by the Arizona Manufacturers Council
TUESDAY, AUGUST 21 | 8 AM – 3:15 PM Breakfast • Energy Panel • ADEQ Presentation • EPA Keynote • Lunch & Networking • Sustainability Panel | Reception hosted by Snell & Wilmer and Haley & Aldrich to follow
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22 | 7:30 AM-3 PM Breakfast • Golf Tournament • Lunch & Prizes | Stone Ridge Golf Course • 1601 N. Bluff Top Drive• Prescott Valley, AZ 86314
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Group of young professionals visits PING, learns about manufacturing, trade and the workforce in Arizona
The Arizona Industry Fellows, a group of young professionals and future business and civic leaders, spent a day on-site at PING. The group heard from the Chair of the AMC and Workforce Arizona Council, and Corporate Counsel for Karsten Manufacturing Corp./PING, Dawn Grove about the unique environment for manufacturers in Arizona, the crucial role that the AMC plays in advocating for policies that benefit existing manufacturers and that help attract new manufacturers to the state, the challenges that exist with the workforce and ways to address those challenges.
The group took a tour behind the scenes of PING’s Phoenix operation, and was joined by special guest, Congresswoman Martha McSally. The fellows saw first-hand the amount of hand work that takes place in PING’s facility, many of them in awe of the amount of human power and attention to detail at play on the manufacturing floor. PING employees welcomed the group and Congresswoman McSally, and spoke enthusiastically of the company’s custom-engineered, custom-fit and custom-built premium golf equipment and their culture that values and treats employees like family.
The group got a look inside PING’s gold putter vault, where they store golden casts of all the tournament-winning PING putters.
The fellows’ program for the rest of the day included discussions with some of the industry’s most well-known experts on topics including trade relationships and border efficiency, Arizona’s mining industry, career and technical education and workforce training at the community college level and navigating Arizona’s policy landscape as a small manufacturer and business owner.
The AMC is revamping its Facebook footprint. For updates from AMC Executive Director Allison Gilbreath, brief interviews with industry leaders and inside stories from AMC members, keep up with us on Facebook.
Watch ED Allison Gilbreath’s introduction video for a preview of what’s to come:
In the News
Around the Nation:
U.S.News: Adaptability to Volatile Industries Key to Rocky Mountain Economic Success
State and local government officials across the country were sent scrambling back in 2013 when Boeing announced plans to significantly expand operations outside of its Puget Sound birthplace in Washington – potentially opening up new communities to the promise of high-paying jobs, larger tax revenues and more substantial economic development.
So valuable was Boeing’s business to the state of Washington that a nearly $9 billion package of tax incentives was eventually passed by state lawmakers hopeful that they could convince the company to stick around and keep its business in the Evergreen State. That bid failed, however, and Boeing eventually announced plans to beef up operations in states such as California, South Carolina and, notably, Utah – a Rocky Mountain state known in part for its advanced manufacturing output in which Boeing for years had maintained a presence.
Manufacturing Global: Attracting investors: tech in the manufacturing sector
Sweeping changes in technology are disrupting nearly all sectors of the global market. In the home, the shop floor, the factory and the hospital, and even our daily commute, technology is leading to huge changes in commercial business models. Why should manufacturing be any different?
This is the new industrial revolution — Industry 4.0 — and as with any rapid change, new opportunities have arisen and new ways of thinking have emerged. However, there are also new hurdles to overcome for businesses large and small.
Bloomberg: Nafta or Not, Quebec Is Putting Millions Into Manufacturing
The future of Canada’s trade relationship with the U.S. is in limbo but that didn’t stop Robert Belanger from investing C$3.6 million ($2.8 million) to upgrade his Quebec fabrics plant.
New weaving machines and a state-of-the-art dying system are helping his company, Belt-Tech Inc., produce enough of the webbing used in seat belts and pull straps to meet a 30 percent surge in orders from the North American auto industry. Part of the financing came from Quebec’s government, which is pushing manufacturers to modernize their factories despite uncertainties surrounding renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Arizona continues to be a haven for business and manufacturing
Phoenix Business Journal: Commercial Real Estate: West Valley scoring with cheaper land, access back to California
The timing is finally right for the West Valley and economic growth — at least from California businesses’ perspective.
Patrick Feeney Jr., senior vice president with CBRE’s Phoenix office, said Southern California businesses have reached the point where gathering products in California ports, shipping them to Phoenix for warehousing and then shipping them back to California for consumers has become a more affordable option than just keeping the products in the Golden State.
AZ Big Media: Arizona becomes additive manufacturing (3-D printing) leader
Polymer-based 3-D printing has been all the rage, well-known for faster prototyping or novelty items that can be made on the spot, but the world of 3-D printing is about to get a lot more metal.
Many Arizona-based companies, particularly firms in the aerospace and defense industry, have been working night and day to bring metal 3-D printing, or additive manufacturing, parts to market while also gearing up to create a workforce of the future.
Manufacturing Global: University of Arizona is developing holographic heads up display for vehicles
The University of Arizona has been developing heads-up display technology to be used in road vehicles and planes.
The technology allows for drivers and pilots to receive and read information, such as driving directions or flight data, whilst still looking through the transparent glass of the front window.
Researchers at the university are currently working on incorporating holographics to the technology, which will allow the user a wider view.
The Arizona Manufacturers Council is the voice of Arizona manufacturing. We are a community of makers dedicated to creating the innovations that safeguard and improve people’s lives and to providing the jobs that anchor Arizona’s economy. We are the official state affiliate of the National Association of Manufacturers and we aim to promote and enhance a positive business climate for manufacturing and related industries that operate within Arizona.
The end of January saw the sixth round of negotiations for the modernizations of NAFTA. The hope going into this round of talks, the longest yet, was that the players would finally tackle some of the more contentious issues that are far from resolved. Canada promised to enter the talks with new ideas for creative solutions while Mexico showed signs that it may be willing to compromise on some of its most important issues, such as automotive regulations within the deal.
This sixth round of negotiations still fell short of reaching any landmark decisions or compromises. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said to reporters in Montreal, “[W]e finally began to discuss some of the core issues. So this round was a step forward, but we are progressing very slowly.” Members of all three delegations seemed to walk away with the same cautious optimism about the trajectory of future negotiations, all recognizing that there is progress in the right direction but that some of the biggest obstacles remain.
Since the Dec. 22nd signing of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, numerous American manufacturers have announced plans to share the benefits of tax reform with employees and reinvest additional savings into expansion and updated infrastructure. The manufacturing industry makes up a significant percentage of the myriad of companies participating in tax savings bonuses, wage increases, extended benefits, raised retirement contributions and increased capital expenditures. An estimated 3.5 million Americans will receive or have already received a tax reform bonus, primarily due to the lowered corporate rate and full expensing on short-lived capital investments introduced under the new legislation. The list of manufacturers and businesses taking advantage of this burgeoning investment opportunity is continually growing. These are just a few notable examples:
Pivot Manufacturing, here in Arizona is now able to purchase machines and equipment that were put off for many years.
Nationally, Fiat Chrysler, announced that it will in
vest $1 billion in the United States, adding 2,500 new jobs to produce Ram trucks in Michigan.
Likewise, Apple is investing $30 billion in new capital expenditures and hiring 20,000 new employees for a new support center.
Boeing announced that it will invest $100 million in infrastructure alone. Boeing employs over 140,000 people worldwide, of which there are over 3,700 employees in Arizona.
IndustryWeek: Has US Manufacturing Been Unleashed?
“This legislation represents historic progress for manufacturers and for all Americans,” Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, said in response to passage of the tax reform bill, which lowered the U.S. corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%. With the new bill, Timmons promised, manufacturers will “increase capital spending, expand their businesses and hire more workers…” — and “nearly half will increase employee wages and benefits.”
Tax reform is just one of a series of policy changes the Trump administration and the Republican-led Congress are seeking that business groups have lobbied for in recent years. The president has already started to push back against regulations.
Engineers at Rutgers University-New Brunswick and Oregon State University are developing a new method of processing nanomaterials that could lead to faster and cheaper manufacturing of flexible thin film devices — from touch screens to window coatings, according to a new study.
The “intense pulsed light sintering” method uses high-energy light over an area nearly 7,000 times larger than a laser to fuse nanomaterials in seconds. Nanomaterials are materials characterized by their tiny size, measured in nanometers. A nanometer is one millionth of a millimeter, or about 100,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair.
AZCentral: Nikola Motor Co. to bring 2,000 jobs, $1 billion investment to Arizona
A maker of zero-emissions commercial trucks said it will establish its manufacturing operations and move its headquarters to metro Phoenix, bringing 2,000 jobs here.
Nikola Motor Co. announced it will establish operations in Buckeye, jump-starting the development of the Douglas Ranch section on the north side of the city. Gov. Doug Ducey called it a “huge announcement” that will include a $1-billion capital investment, with 4,000 construction jobs, too.
Phoenix Business Journal: New life for a shuttered Surprise manufacturing plant
A California company has bought a shuttered manufacturing building in Surprise and will expand its operations there.
The 51,000-square-foot building at Peoria Avenue and Litchfield Road in Surprise previously was home to plastics manufacturer Brentwood Industries.
The property was bought by Z&E Holdings Group LLC an arm Global Trading Marketing Inc. for $4.5 million.
AZCentral: Company wants to turn Fountain Hills into watchmaking capital of the United States
Move over, Switzerland: Fountain Hills appears ready to become a new hub for watch manufacturing.
Large-scale watchmaking has all but died out in the United States, but that could start to change with a new venture involving high-school students and adult workers in the East Valley, a small local company and one of India’s giant conglomerates.
The Arizona Manufacturers Council is the voice of Arizona manufacturing. We are a community of makers dedicated to creating the innovations that safeguard and improve people’s lives and to providing the jobs that anchor Arizona’s economy. We are the official state affiliate of the National Association of Manufacturers and we aim to promote and enhance a positive business climate for manufacturing and related industries that operate within Arizona.
Former speaker optimistic about getting to ‘yes’ on tax reform
During an event hosted by the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Former Speaker John Boehner addressed tax reform and trade, two pivotal issues for Arizona manufacturers. Mr. Boehner expressed confidence in both a successful tax reform package as well as a revised NAFTA agreement.
On tax reform, Mr. Boehner said the odds of it getting through are “frankly better than 50-50,” reiterating that Republicans know this is a must-do.
As for NAFTA, Mr. Boehner admitted that the nearly 25 year old agreement needs some updating, and that the public may see what looks like a completely new document. Regardless of whether or not the document gets a new name, Mr. Boehner is sure that the trilateral agreement will endure despite any rhetoric to the contrary.
The article below offers more details on the event and words from Mr. Boehner. AZCentral:
NAM now looks to the Senate to move forward with the bold tax plan it has laid out. NAM summarizes their continued engagement in the article below, including the five main objectives they will continue working to realize on behalf of manufacturers:
A corporate rate as close to 15 percent as possible.
Lower rates for income from small businesses and other “pass-through” entities.
A “territorial” tax system that doesn’t touch U.S. companies’ foreign earnings.
Preservation and enhancement of the research and development tax credit.
Manufacturers make clear what they need out of NAFTA
With the future of NAFTA still unclear after four rounds of negotiations, manufacturers have spoken out about the gravity of preserving the trilateral relationship and modernizing the agreement. The National Association of Manufacturers stresses the importance of enforcing certain policies identified in NAFTA in the article below.
Among the NAM’s top priorities are a functional investor-state dispute settlement system and a structure that encourages American manufacturers to invest at home and abroad.
Fox Business:Tax reform is the ‘single most important thing’ to grow economy, jobs: Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg
President Donald Trump’s pro-business agenda has been welcome news for U.S. manufacturing icons like Boeing. The airplane manufacturing giant inked a $13.8 billion deal with Singapore Airlines recently that would create 70,000 jobs in the United States.
U.S. News: Trump Announces Semiconductor Company’s Return to US
WASHINGTON — A $100 billion semiconductor company based in Singapore will legally relocate its home address to the United States, President Donald Trump announced Thursday. Broadcom Limited, which manufactures communications chips around the world, said it would relocate its legal address to Delaware once shareholders approve the move, bringing $20 billion in annual revenue back to the U.S. The move will allow Broadcom to avoid a cumbersome federal review process.
The Wall Street Journal: Forecasters Predict Nafta Withdrawal Would Slow U.S. Growth
The probability of a U.S. withdrawal from the North American Free Trade Agreement is roughly 1 in 4, according to private-sector forecasters, who said such a move would likely weigh on economic growth. President Donald Trump has indicated he may pull the U.S. out of NAFTAif efforts to renegotiate it fail. The talks are set to resume Nov. 17 in Mexico City.
12 News: ASU students are using robots to solve problems from health to public safety
MESA, ARIZ. – Arizona State’s Polytechnic Campus in Mesa is where students and professors are exploring the potential of robotics to help meet an array of challenges in the realms of health care, education, transportation, manufacturing, national defense, public safety, environmental health, communications, sustainable energy systems and earth and space exploration.
Daily Miner: Manufacturing Day: KAMMA tours give students a look at factory work
KINGMAN – Developing an educated and skilled workforce is a challenge for every rural community in Arizona, a tricky balance of providing high school graduates with specialized training and enticing them to stick around for meaningful employment.
The Arizona Manufacturers Council is the voice of Arizona manufacturing. We are a community of makers dedicated to creating the innovations that safeguard and improve people’s lives and to providing the jobs that anchor Arizona’s economy. We are the official state affiliate of the National Association of Manufacturers and we aim to promote and enhance a positive business climate for manufacturing and related industries that operate within Arizona.
The right mix of policy reforms and executive and legislative branch leadership has put optimism among manufacturers at a 20-year high.
The Arizona Manufacturers Council, an entity of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry, serves as NAM’s state affiliate for Arizona. I attended the summit on the AMC’s behalf and came away more excited than ever about what’s in store for this sector.
Manufacturing produces over $2 trillion in economic output and over 13 million jobs. In Arizona, we’re leaders in aerospace, defense and semiconductors. We also manufacture items ranging from golf clubs – PGA-tour-event-winning equipment by Karsten Manufacturing’s PING, for example – to the world’s best refrigerators from Sub-Zero and Wolf.
The sector is defined by cutting-edge technology and innovation, and it’s growing in jobs and output.
Summit speakers included Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. Leadership at the highest levels is behind manufacturing now more than ever, a vital sector for economic growth.
We need to convert this attention and energy into the passage of NAM’s legislative agenda. The four top legislative priorities highlighted at the summit:
Tax reform. Speaker Ryan called this a once-in-a-generation opportunity. The vice president also stressed the importance of tax reform. The keys to this effort are to reduce the U.S. corporate tax rate – the world’s highest rack rate – to 15 percent, and to reduce the personal income tax rate, which applies to two-thirds of manufacturers as well.
We need to move to a territorial tax system and eliminate the death tax that harms capital intensive family businesses. Maintaining and even enhancing the permanent research and development tax credit and reducing taxation on capital expenditures are also important for our efforts to accelerate innovation.
Infrastructure investment. Manufacturers need a modern infrastructure to move goods efficiently from shop floor to market. Complex supply chains and just-in-time inventory management require no less. For Arizona, a key here is to build out Interstate 11, which would connect Las Vegas and Phoenix, the nation’s largest cities not currently connected by an interstate.
Regulatory reform. This is an area where much progress is being made, and necessarily so. A 2014 NAM study pegged the cost of regulations for manufacturers at a whopping $19,564 per employee.
Speaker Ryan spoke of implementing reforms in waves.
The first wave was to use the Congressional Review Act to reverse regulations enacted at the end of the previous administration. This mechanism has been used now a record 14 times. Executive orders and other administration activity is also moving at a feverish pace to undo some of the overregulation of the past eight years. The reversal of the punitive gainful employment regulations for higher education is one example.
More difficult, but also important, is to pass into law regulatory reform bills that require more robust cost-benefit analyses to justify their necessity.
Workforce development. Skills, skills and skills. Both the vice president and speaker stressed this area. NAM is putting muscle behind legislation that would reauthorize and improve the Perkins Act, which covers career and technical education and vocational programs.
There was also excitement at the summit about the president’s apprenticeship announcement, intended to create a new workforce development program that other countries have used successfully to prepare willing workers for available jobs. As we enter what some are calling the fourth industrial revolution, workforce readiness is critical.
NAM’s work on international trade is also important. It has been a privilege to serve on NAM’s NAFTA Task Force led by Linda Dempsey, NAM’s vice president for international economic affairs. Linda is one of Washington’s most important players when it comes to the NAFTA modernization effort. NAM understands that a new and improved NAFTA is critical to our continent’s highly integrated manufacturing supply chains and our ability to sell products marked Made in the USA to the 95 percent of consumers who live beyond our borders. Let’s modernize and improve NAFTA and hold it up as a model for future trade agreements.
The energetic NAM president and CEO, Jay Timmons, cheerfully told the summit crowd, “This is our time.”
He’s right. Manufacturers have every reason to be excited.
Gilbreath will serve as Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry vice president of strategic initiatives in new role
PHOENIX (March 16, 2018) The Arizona Manufacturers Council has named Allison Gilbreath as its new executive director. Gilbreath will also serve as the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s vice president of strategic initiatives.
The Arizona Manufacturers Council is the official Arizona affiliate of the National Association of Manufacturers and works to promote a positive business climate for manufacturing and related industries in the state. In addition to advocating for pro-manufacturing public policy, the AMC also produces the annual Manufacturer of the Year Awards and Summit, and the annual Environmental and Sustainability Summit.
“Allison’s breadth of experience and understanding of the issues that are important to job creators in the manufacturing sector will serve the Arizona Manufacturers Council incredibly well,” AMC Chair Dawn Grove said. “I am encouraged to have Allison on board and am confident that she will amplify the voice of our manufacturers, helping them compete in the global economy and create more high-paying jobs in Arizona.”
Gilbreath joins the Chamber from the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, where she was vice president of business development and where she worked with companies across multiple industries looking to establish a presence in Greater Phoenix. Prior to GPEC, she spent nearly 10 years at the Arizona Commerce Authority, most recently serving as vice president of business attraction.
In addition to overseeing manufacturing issues, Gilbreath will work on legislative issues and initiatives relating to the Chamber’s technology and infrastructure priorities.
“We are thrilled to welcome Allison to the Chamber,” Arizona Chamber President and CEO Glenn Hamer said. “She knows what it takes to create jobs, and she has earned an outstanding reputation among business leaders and government officials across the state. I know she is going to do great things for the Arizona Manufacturers Council and the Chamber and will be an effective voice at the state Capitol, before state agencies, and regulatory bodies.”
In her career, Gilbreath has been involved in the attraction of tens of thousands of new jobs and billions of dollars in new capital investment to Arizona.
“I’m excited to get started,” Gilbreath said. “Arizona’s manufacturers represent some of the most innovative and creative leaders in the state’s business community. I am looking forward to advancing the AMC agenda and taking a leadership role advocating for tech and transportation infrastructure priorities.”
Gilbreath is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University. She resides in Phoenix with her husband, Matt, and their two dogs, Stella and Tucker.
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The mission of the Arizona Manufacturers Council is to promote and enhance a positive business climate for manufacturing and related industries that operate within Arizona.
The Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry is committed to advancing Arizona’s competitive position in the global economy by advocating free-market policies that stimulate economic growth and prosperity for all Arizonans.
Look at all of the innovative products coming from Arizona! While it’s still important, cotton doesn’t even make the cut in 2018. Read this article to learn more about the latest trends in Arizona manufacturing.
Each August the Arizona Manufacturers Council, together with longstanding member Snell & Wilmer, convene leaders in industry and environmental policy for a robust two day conference in beautiful Prescott, Arizona. If you missed this year’s conference, we’ve made available this year’s presentations and agenda, and we hope you’ll join us next year. Special thanks to each of our event sponsors, presenters, contributors, and attendees.
Each year, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) recognizes U.S. legislators for their commitment to the manufacturing community. The Manufacturing Legislative Excellence Award is given to those lawmakers who score above 70 percent on NAM Key Manufacturing ... Read More
Each year, the Arizona Manufacturers Council recognizes creators and innovators of all sizes and industries. This year's award recipients represent the very best of the Arizona manufacturing community, and exemplify how manufacturing betters its communities ... Read More
Group of young professionals visits PING, learns about manufacturing, trade and the workforce in Arizona. The Arizona Industry Fellows, a group of young professionals and future business and civic leaders, spent a day on-site at PING.
Gilbreath will serve as Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry vice president of strategic initiatives in new role
PHOENIX (March 16, 2018) The Arizona Manufacturers Council has named Allison Gilbreath as its new executive director. Gilbreath ... Read More
Glenn Hamer
