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What should Congress and the president do to strengthen U.S. manufacturing? The National Council for Advanced Manufacturing () recently announced its manufacturing-related policy priorities as recommendations to the country’s elected leaders. If enacted and signed into law, NACFAM says these policies will go a long way to strengthening the nation’s advanced manufacturing sector by stimulating greater innovation, increasing productivity and expanding the competitiveness of American companies in ever-changing markets.

NACFAM Chairman and CEO Robert “Rusty” Patterson presented the list of policy priorities late last month. He is asking legislators to:

• Accelerate the development and deployment of innovative manufacturing technologies to small- and medium-sized enterprises by providing additional resources to federal agencies such as the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (now Manufacturing USA), NIST’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership program and the National Science Foundation.
• Enact training tax credits for employers who provide new and incumbent workers with the technical skills needed to utilize advanced manufacturing process technologies.
• Incentivize the use of industry-recognized certification and apprenticeship training programs to build a more qualified advanced manufacturing workforce.
• Provide federal education funding for state programs that enable secondary schools to hire additional career counselors to help students learn more about industry certifications, local job markets, and specific jobs/careers in those markets, especially in advanced manufacturing.
• Require rigorous and periodic review by federal agencies of the cost and impact of their regulations on advanced manufacturers experiencing ever-increasing market changes.
• Reduce the federal corporate income tax rate to 20 percent to stimulate greater innovation.
• Expand basic and applied R&D by federal agencies working with advanced manufacturers, research universities and public/private partnerships.
• Broaden the use of Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) between federal labs and advanced manufacturers.

Mr. Patterson urged NACFAM members and friends to call on policymakers to take action.