Commerce Department official lambastes U.S. lack of manufacturing vision

Based on an official transcript released under a Freedom of Information Act request, politics of productivity were top-of-mind at The Future Face of Manufacturing roundtable sponsored by the Department of Commerce last summer. The event was limited to two-dozen attendees and was closed to the media.

Manufacturing executives and academics on hand were looking for clear decisions to follow from the discussion. Many saw the future as "inherently a political question" that needed to be "higher on the national agenda." What they got instead from Deputy Secretary Samuel Bodman fell far short of encouraging.

"The inherent authority of this department within the government is modest," Bodman said, adding, "A lot of what I hear you all asking—we need a leader, we need somebody to take positions and do things—runs counter to the way the town works and you need to know that."

Before joining the Bush Administration, Bodman was CEO of Cabot Corp., head of Fidelity Investments, and a professor at MIT. He said his efforts within government were those of "a refugee from the private sector who is now an aspiring bureaucrat."

Responding to the stated need for a vision in support of U.S. manufacturers, he said, "I will tell you it is very hard for this government to have a vision on anything. We are totally stovepiped and we live within these compartments. This is not by way of a complaint. This is not by way of an excuse. It is by way of a fact."

Bodman said he understands the anxiety many feel for the future of U.S. manufacturing. Nonetheless, "At the risk of sounding too much like a Pollyanna, I'd point out we worked very hard here on both tax reduction plans. We are optimistic that we will see a turnaround in this economy, and one way or another, before we get anything profound done at our end... to the extent that the economy recovers, employment recovers. It will be quite interesting to see what happens in the manufacturing sector and get some measure of that."

Clearly, some in the audience expected more.

Canton, Ohio-based Timken Co.'s W. R. Timken, Jr., says he's encountered countless government officials "who simply don't understand the contribution of manufacturing to this economy. I'm a little afraid that if we stick with a report from Secretary of Commerce Don Evans, and that is all the further we get, it will not be enough."

The anticipated report—based on regional industry roundtables intended to assess the challenges facing manufacturing and considered the Department's main initiative in manufacturing in 2003—was postponed for release indefinitely as of December.

Leo Reddy, CEO of the National Coalition for Advanced Manufacturing, made one of the day's most pointed comments when he said, "We briefed the White House on [the need for a national effort]. We were not particularly impressed with its comprehension of what we're talking about, nor its responsiveness."

Jim Zawacki, chairman of Grand Rapids, Mich.-based G.R. Spring & Stamping, thought Bodman frustrated. "He sounded down, like someone who'd come to town wanting to make changes. He was frustrated."