Do-it-yourself strategy may be just the answer

When something needs fixed quickly, pulling up your sleeves and correcting the problem on your own can save time and money. Creating jobs, especially within the manufacturing sector, falls into this category.

Hit harder than the overall economy by the recession, manufacturing production was down approximately 12% in 2009, compared to an estimated 2.5% loss in GDP during the same time period. Between the start of the manufacturing downturn in December 2007 and the end of 2009, 15.6% of manufacturing jobs were lost.

The solution to this problem is simple. U.S. manufacturers need customers in order to create jobs. However, in a global market, waiting for the government to create jobs here in the United States is an exercise in futility. The time has arrived to reconsider the current mindset of “offshore outsourcing is cheaper” to a more realistic mindset of “sourcing local reduces total cost of ownership.”

This is the intent of the Re-Shoring Purchasing Fair (officially the NTMA/PMA Contract Manufacturing Purchasing Fair) developed by the National Tooling & Machining Association (NTMA), the Precision Metalforming Association (PMA), and AMT - The Association For Manufacturing Technology.  Scheduled to take place at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Irvine, CA, on May 12, 2010, it is anticipated that 50 to 100 OEMs currently off-shoring special tooling, metal stampings, precision machined parts and components, and assemblies will meet more than 200 U.S. job shop managers to review part drawings. The job shops will then have an opportunity to quote these jobs. Not only does this create opportunities that lead to employment gains, it also has the potential of improving the trade deficit as well as the overall tax base.