|
Click here to return to this month's Article Index The Cutting Edge™ October 2004Recap of Association Meetings, October 18 - 20, 2004WMMA® President Perez Reports on Fall Committee Meetings in Austin, Texas What happens when you get over 50 leaders in the woodworking industry together for several days? The answer is a lot of fresh, new ideas and powerful programs to benefit our 230 member companies. WMMA® inaugurated a new fall committee schedule in Austin, Texas October 18-20. Rather than each committee meeting independently during the fall as in the past, this year all WMMA® committees and the Board of Directors met in the same city over a three day period. It proved to be an exciting and productive event. The first day began with a workshop on Continuous Manufacturing Improvement hosted by the WMMA® Manufacturing Strategies Committee, a new committee formed as a result of our strategic visioning work a year ago. Bruce Hamilton from the Greater Boston Manufacturing Partnership led the workshop, the first in a series to be offered around the country in an effort to ensure WMMA® members are on top of the latest manufacturing strategies. A reception and dinner concluded the first evening where we welcomed new committee members and highlighted that the committee meetings and programs to be developed the next day should be guided by what our members have told us they want: education and information. I also reported that news on the manufacturing front from Washington is very encouraging. Governor John Engler, three term Michigan governor, became the President of the National Association of Manufacturing on October 1 and at his first Board meeting, our WMMA® application to enroll all our members in NAM was approved. What a tremendous member benefit now available to all WMMA® members at a significant savings. Other news: several days before the Austin meeting, Congress passed H.R. 4520, the American Jobs Creation Act which addresses the FSC/ETI export tax subsidies and also, has important tax and direct expensing benefits for all members. This is another important victory for our public policy committee. I applaud them for their efforts. I also updated members on my lunch in Grand Rapids with newly appointed Assistant Secretary of Manufacturing, Al Frink. I was pleased to learn that he is an avid amateur woodworker. Sec. Frink will be working to implement the recommendations in the Department of Commerce report 'Manufacturing in America, A Comprehensive Strategy to Address the Challenges to U.S. Manufacturers'. Sec. Frink is committed to strengthening manufacturing and creating new jobs. WMMA® will continue its dialogue with Sec. Frink and report back to the membership on developments and potential business opportunities. Day Two focused on four hour committee meetings scheduled in the morning and the afternoon. The Membership Services Committee reviewed the member benefits of their IWF promotional campaign, their ongoing work to promote the benefits of buying machinery in 2004 before the depreciation 'bonus' expires, and finalized a variety of 2005 programs. The Public Policy Committee prioritized issues to be highlighted during the February 2005 'Fly-In' in Washington, DC. This annual event continues to grow in importance as WMMA® members meet with their elected representatives to discuss issues of importance. The new Business Development Committee already has implemented a successful program of industry information. Working with data from the Institute for Trend Research (ITR), a professional economic forecasting firm, WMMA® members report that the ITR indicators (correlated to their company historical sales), have supported their plans to expand, to re-finance their business, and to hire more personnel. This important business tool is only available to our members. If you are not using this important new service, sign up today. It's inexpensive and guaranteed to help your company make better business plans in the future. This committee now is focusing on offering member assistance in business planning, something small and medium size member companies have been seeking. Stay tuned! The International Business Development Committee has been working on an on-line Export Manual which should be finished by year-end. Their Foreign Buyer Program brought representatives from a number of countries to IWF2004 to learn more about and to purchase U.S. produced machinery and equipment. Whether it is statistics, trade fairs, trade policy initiatives, or other export opportunities, this committee truly is repositioning WMMA® members to compete in the global marketplace. The Research and Engineering Committee also worked on the Export Manual and continued assisting in the development of ANSI O1.1 Standards. This committee is equipped to help our members with all aspects of emerging engineering technologies. The Education and Scholarship Committee oversees programs which hold great potential for all members who have indicated they want more 'education and information'. These Scholarship programs work in one of two ways: each member company can invest in the skills of their most promising employees by using WMMA® dollars to sponsor their further education; or, WMMA® matches up college juniors with a sponsoring member company as a mentor, while the student works on projects of specific benefit to the member company. The highlight of the second day of meetings in Austin included an in-depth presentation from our public policy consultant, John Satagaj, who congratulated WMMA® on our leadership in gaining passage of the Jobs Creation legislation. The third day was a wrap-up Board of Directors meeting. All agreed that the three day format had created opportunities for members to participate in two committee meetings as well as network all through the day and into the evening. The experiences of Austin led us to conclude that we will follow the same format in Washington in February 2005. The participation of such a large group in Austin confirms WMMA® is providing programs of worth and continues to lead through innovative programs that support domestic manufacturers of machinery, cutting tools, and supplies. I invite all our 230 member companies to become more involved so you get maximum benefits from your membership in WMMA®, an organization that has been leading the wood processing industry for over 100 years. See you in Washington February 14-16, 2005! Table of Contents
|
