Manufacturing Plant Tours Highlight Tough Times

Six NH manufacturers recently opened their doors to legislators in a series of plant tours held Dec. 8 to 15. The Business and Industry Association of New Hampshire organized the tours to highlight the importance of advanced manufacturing and high technology to the state's economy, and to demonstrate the challenges manufacturers face when competing with businesses in other states and countries with lower costs of doing business.

The advanced manufacturing and high technology sector is the most important component of New Hampshire's economy, contributing more to our gross state product than tourism, finance, construction, health care, wood products and virtually all other industries, said Jim Roche, BIA president. The health of this sector directly impacts government tax revenue, private sector job growth, per capita income, and our quality of life. It is important for legislators to appreciate that the decisions they make during the next six months, especially in this weak economy, will impact whether manufacturers and technology companies stay in New Hampshire or expand or relocate elsewhere.

More than 60 legislators attended the three-hour plant tours held at:
Goss International, Durham (Dec. 8)
Hitchiner Manufacturing, Littleton (Dec. 9)
Elektrisola Inc., Boscawen (Dec. 10)
Hendrix Wire and Cable, Milford (Dec. 11)
Sturm, Ruger and Co., Newport (Dec. 11)
Amphenol TCS, Nashua (Dec. 15)

Each session began with an economic overview from one of two economists Dennis Delay, deputy director of the New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies, and Brian Gottlob, principal of PolEcon Research followed by a tour of the host facility. During the last hour, company officials presented information about their facility's cost structure, operations and comparative data with sister companies doing business in other states and/or countries.

Manufacturers noted that the state's high cost structure puts them at a competitive disadvantage. Manufacturers often pay higher wages, taxes, healthcare expenses and electricity rates, which increases the overall cost of producing goods. This can mean lost business, especially when cost-conscious business customers choose one manufacturer over another based on a price difference of only a couple cents.

According to Roche, the goal of these plant tours was to raise awareness among legislators about the business climate manufacturers and technology companies currently face in New Hampshire and to urge them not to make decisions in the coming legislative session that will further erode companies' ability to compete in the global marketplace.

The business community already carries the bulk of the state's tax burden, said Roche. To attempt to solve the state's budget problem by further burdening businesses, especially during the worst economy in decades, is penny wise and pound foolish. In the short term, businesses will be forced to constrict operations and cut jobs. In the long term, they will expand operations or relocate to other states or countries, which means lost employment, decreased economic activity and lost revenue to the state.