A’S FUTURE

WINTER 2017 VOLUME 8, ISSUE 1

DATES TO REMEMBER: Details available at: www.pghntma.org

Pittsburgh Chapter NTMA/MSC

Apprentice Competition March 3, 2017

NCC Training Innovation Center Pittsburgh, PA

BotsIQ Preliminary Competitions

March 9, 2017 Butler Co. Community College

March 17 & 18, 2017 Westmoreland Co.Comm. College

2017 BotsIQ Final Competition

April 28 & 29, 2017 California University of PA

NTMA Legislative Conference

May 1-3, 2017 Washington, DC

NTMA Apprentice Graduation

June 14, 2017 Stratego’s Banquet Centre

North Huntingdon, PA

NTMF 21st Annual Golf Outing June 19, 2017

Westmoreland Country Club Details TBA

INSIDE THIS

ISSUE:

Overcoming Manufacturing Challenges

pg. 2

What Does it Take to Close the Loop? You.

pg. 4 3D Event Comes to Pittsburgh

pg. 6

A Tribute to Joan Sikora pg. 7

How Does Your Company Measure Up?

pg. 8

NTMA Legislative Conference pg. 12

NTMF Golf Outing 2017

pg. 15

The MFG Meeting pg. 16

We have just completed

the most public

presidential transition in

recent memory as the

incoming administration

formally assumed control

on Jan. 20. As with any

campaign, whether for

high school class president

or our nation’s, the voters

expect that you deliver on

“SWAT Team” of trade-

enforcement officials leading the

Commerce Department, Office

of U.S. Trade Representative,

and the newly created White

House National Trade Council.

It remains unclear whether the

administration will address

China and Mexico through

direct blanket tariffs or by

talking directly (or via Twitter)

(Continued on page 5)

INCENTIVIZED, REWARD-BASED HEALTH PROGRAMS PROVEN

TO DECREASE HEALTH CARE AND WORKERS’ COMP COSTS By Mark Zukowski, EHD Insurance

each campaign promise.

However, all quickly realize if

you try to do too much you

may accomplish too little.

The incoming Trump

Administration has set lofty

goals for itself not only based

on campaign promises, but

also in its high profile cabinet

selections. They have a

We understand that businesses today face two distinctly different, yet related problems.

First - escalating health insurance premiums. Second - costly workers’ compensations

claims. In order to manage your risk, you have encouraged, promoted and led separate

workplace wellness and safety programs for the past several years - like other companies.

These traditional programs focused on employee education, identification of risk factors


MANUFACTURING AMERICA’S FUTURE

FROM CAMPAIGN TO REALITY: TRUMP’S TIME TO GOVERN By Omar Nashashibi, The Franklin Partnership, LLP

TRADE REFORM ORGANIZATION ENDORSES BIPARTISAN

CONGRESSIONAL BALANCED TRADE RESOLUTION By Paola Masman, Coalition for a Prosperous America

The Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) expressed strong support for a newly filed House

resolution (H.Con.Res.175) calling for a national goal of balanced trade, with a special emphasis

on manufacturing and goods. Leading the resolution are Representative Dan Lipinski (D-IL-03)

and Representative Mo Brooks (R-AL-05).


OVERCOMING MANUFACTURING CHALLENGES A message from Chapter President Chuck DeVentura, Kurt J. Lesker Company

PRECISION PITTSBURGH

As most of us know there are many challenges to running a manufacturing business. Perhaps more so than many other types of businesses. I thought I’d write a series of articles with the intent to spark some thought on ways to overcome some of these challenges and at least let people know they are not alone in trying to overcome certain issues. It’s also important to mention that I will only scratch the surface on most of these subjects from a standpoint of a person who has to deal with them every day. There are countless books and other sources of information that can provide much granularity on all of these subjects.

This first article will be based around one of the most

important aspects of any business; finding and

winning good orders. In this case the definition of a

“good order” is one that does not cause undo

manufacturing problems, allows you to meet the

customers’ quality and delivery expectations and is

profitable.

The first issue most people struggle with, is how to

find new orders. This subject alone is extremely

broad, ranging from employing your own sales people

to using representatives along with where and how


www.allekiskiind.com

531 Hyde Park Road, Leechburg, PA 15656

(Allegheny Twp. - Congressional District #12)

Phone: 724-845-2799 fax: 724-845-2797

Kevin Hartford, President

Ed Newell, Vice President

MACHINING, FABRICATION AND ASSEMBLY

Pittsburgh Business Times 2011 Manufacturer of the Year

The goal of this resolution is to express:

... the sense of Congress that Congress and the President should prioritize the reduction and

elimination, over a reasonable period of time, of the overall trade deficit of the United States.

The resolution addresses America's 40 straight years of

trade deficits, which have substantially increased in the

past 25 years. In 2015, the overall trade deficit of the

United States was $532 billion, including a massive

$758 billion deficit in goods.

“Trade deficits are a drag on economic and

employment growth. The recent election made clear

that America’s dismal trade performance is a major

voter concern,” said Michael Stumo, CEO of the

Coalition for a Prosperous America. “We appreciate

Congressmen Lipinski’s and Brooks’ efforts to refocus

national policy on roughly balancing trade, with a focus

upon goods, over time. This is an important effort to

move past the misleading and simplistic 20th century

rhetoric of free trade versus protectionism.

The resolution states:

Whereas a robust manufacturing capability is essential

for national security;

Whereas trade imbalances are unhealthy for the global

economy and stagnate economic growth in deficit countries such as the United States and especially in the manufacturing sectors of such countries;

Whereas certain foreign trading partners of the United States are running persistent trade surpluses against the United States as an economic growth alternative to fostering the domestic consumption of their

manufacturers;

Whereas persistent trade deficits hinder the ability of the United States to reach full employment and

increase underemployment and reliance on low-wage and often part-time service sector jobs;

"Current trade statutes and administrative goals focus

upon exports only without considering net trade,"

continued Stumo. "Exports are expansionary and create

jobs while imports are contractionary and destroy

jobs. Net trade is the crucial performance metric. Many

do not realize that sector by sector tariff and non-tariff

barrier cuts have little to no correlation with our overall

trade performance."

(Continued from page 1)


BALANCED TRADE (Cont.)


As an educator for

12 years, I strived

to prepare my

students with the

skills needed for

their future.

Whether it was

observation and

data collection,

inference and

problem solving,

or organization

and time-

management, I aimed to instill these inquiry skills throughout

my science curriculum. Now, as the program manager for

BotsIQ, I have moved out of the classroom setting, but I am

still working to prepare our future generations.

This exciting move has taught me so much about

manufacturing and the opportunities that exist for our

children. Through tours at several manufacturers, such as

Hamill Manufacturing, Oberg Industries, and Stellar

Precision Components, I have seen state-of-the-art facilities,

learned how advanced technologies are changing the

industry, and talked with many of the hard-working

individuals who are making an impact and building our

future. As the program manager, my eyes have been opened

to an entire world of possibilities that exists for our students

and I am excited to share it with parents, teachers, and

students.

In addition to visiting industries around the Pittsburgh

region, I also have had the opportunity to check out many of

our 62 participating schools for BotsIQ throughout

Southwestern PA. These visits have given me a chance to

meet the teacher advisors and students who participate in the

BotsIQ program, and see their classrooms and workspace

that are used to design, prototype, and fabricate their

Bots. I have been amazed at the technology that

students are using with Inventor and SOLIDWORKS to

intricately design their Bots. I am also impressed by

how many schools have expanded their workshops with

the additions of 3D printers, laser engravers and cutters,

and CNC machines. Our future workforce is really

developing a lot of serious technical skills and I cannot

wait to see the results of their hard work and creativity.

Students participating in the BotsIQ program are

learning the 21st century skills needed for a career in

manufacturing, but they need you to “Close the Loop.”

What does that mean? Through BotsIQ the students

have learned about manufacturing, toured their industry

advisor’s facility and worked through the manufacturing

process to fabricate their Bot, but they need you to

continue them along the path to a career in

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO CLOSE THE LOOP? YOU. By Michel Conklin, BotsIQ

manufacturing. By volunteering at the BotsIQ preliminaries

and final competitions, you have the opportunity to speak

with more than 1,000 high school students who are

interested and

engaged in our

project-based, job

-driven, STEM

program. By

volunteering, you

are able to build

a relationship

with the teachers

and students on

the BotsIQ

teams. By

volunteering, you are able to create an affiliation to offer

summer internships or co-op opportunities to the students

and determine which students are the best for your

company and hire them upon their graduation. By

volunteering, you are able to “Close the Loop.”

The 2017 BotsIQ Preliminary Competitions will be held

March 9 at Butler County Community College and March

17 and 18 at Westmoreland County Community College.

The 2017 BotsIQ Final Competition will be held on April

28 and 29 at California University of Pennsylvania. Please

visit our BotsIQ Website (www.botsiqpa.org) for more

information about volunteering at our events. If you are

unable to volunteer, please join us at the BotsIQ Finals on

Friday, April 28 at California University of Pennsylvania for

the Industry Lunch at 12 p.m., followed by tours of the Pit

Area where you will have the opportunity to see the students

working on their Bots firsthand. There are more than 1,000

students in southwestern PA that have the skills needed and

the awareness necessary for jobs in the industry. Now, it is

up to you to turn those prospects into your employees.

with select industries and companies as

we saw during the transition.

On the campaign

trail, Trump made

clear infrastructure

projects and a

stimulus package will

remain a top

economic priority.

Sources indicate staff are collecting a

list of ready-to-go projects that could

receive funding directly from existing

funds within the Executive Branch if

Congress does not move stimulus

legislation on its own. Regardless, we

expect to see strong Buy America

language with additional domestic-

content requirements included.

Promoting the defense industrial base,

while also focusing on cyber security,

(Continued from page 1) will also likely receive close attention in

the first six months of the new

administration.

The “Day One” low-hanging fruit task is

to address regulations in a multi-step

process. The White House will issue

Executive Orders halting enforcement of

regulations or previous orders where it can

as the quickest way to roll back harmful

rules. For regulations formally finalized

and implemented, each federal agency will

begin the process to reissue new rules

overturning existing policy, which must

typically go through the standard public

regulatory review process. To provide

stability for manufacturers, the White

House and Congressional leaders will

push legislation to block future

administrations from exceeding their

statutory authority as we have repeatedly

seen with the EPA, NLRB, and OSHA.

Clearly, the

most

controversial

move is

repealing the

Affordable

Care Act, or Obamacare.

Congressional Republicans are using

a Budget Reconciliation process

allowing them to impose a special

process needing only 50 GOP Senate

votes to pass a repeal measure. They

will instruct the four major

Congressional Committees to begin

drafting replacement language they

hope to have ready by the 2018

elections, if not later this year. The

“replace” negotiations will not likely

involve many Democrats and most

talks will occur between the White

House, a few dozen conservative


TRUMP (Cont.)

NATIONAL 3D EVENT COMES TO

PITTSBURGH THIS SPRING

This spring,

Pittsburgh

welcomes

RAPID +

TCT to the

David L. Law-

rence Conven-

tion Center

May 8-9. RAPID + TCT is an additive manufacturing

event that showcases product innovations and offers col-

laborative learning opportunities to ultimately accelerate

the adoption and advancement of the technology. The

two industry leaders in 3D technology

events, SME and Rapid News Publications Ltd., are

combining their nearly 30 years of insights and experi-

ence to produce the annual RAPID + TCT event start-

ing in 2017.

At RAPID + TCT, you’ll have the opportunity to en-

gage with influential players in the 3D technology com-

munity. You may also explore the future of the industry

through interactive experiences, more than 200 hands-

on exhibits, keynotes, and conference presentations

from industry leaders.

Attendees can experience the newest products, technol-

ogies, and materials in 3D printing, additive manufac-

turing, 3D scanning, CAD/CAE, metrology and inspec-

tion technologies.

At RAPID + TCT, you can:

Engage with the most experienced and influential

community in 3D manufacturing.

Learn how to use 3D technologies to reduce time to

market, produce stronger and lighter parts, improve effi-

ciency, reduce waste and cost, and create complex ge-

ometries.

Consult with industry experts before you make

equipment decisions.

Visit hundreds of 3D technology manufacturers in

one room.

Network with thousands of attendees and see how

they’re addressing challenges.

Experience the largest, most respected additive

manufacturing conference in North America, with over

150 knowledgeable speakers.

Collaborate with users and manufacturers to ad-

vance applications for 3D technologies.

For more information and registration, visit the event

website at: RAPID3Devent.com *Information provided by SME.

http://s36.a2zinc.net/clients/sme/Rapid2017/public/eventmap.aspx?shMode=E

http://s36.a2zinc.net/clients/sme/Rapid2017/public/eventmap.aspx?shMode=E

RAPID3Devent.com

TRIBUTE TO JOAN SIKORA By Kevin Hartford, past Pittsburgh Chapter president, Alle-Kiski Industries

The Pittsburgh Chapter has been a

Star Chapter for the past several

years. We have a hardworking

board, along with many chapter

programs and special events. But

our chapter success is largely be-

cause we have an outstanding chap-

ter executive in Ed Sikora, who

many of you know. However, al-

ways supporting Ed (and all of us),

was Ed’s wife Joan, who was a star

in her own right.

Joan Sikora passed away last month

after a valiant six-month battle with

cancer. Sadly she left us way too

soon.

Joan took care of many of the details

that are typically taken for granted

and all too often go unnoticed. And

she did so with a charm that made

everyone feel welcomed and special.

Whether it was simply helping to

host our events or helping to organ-

ize the apprenticeship graduation

dinners Joan was always there for

us.

Joan spent the last 26 years working

alongside her husband at their busi-

ness, Jatco Machine & Tool Co.,

Inc. Prior to that, she worked as a

registered nurse at Presbyterian-

University Hospital and later

Sewickley Valley Hospital after

graduating from the Presbyterian-

University Hospital School of

Nursing.

Her spirit is carried on by her hus-

band, daughter Erin, married to John

Wilfong, son Justin, married to Doro-

thy Fowler Sikora, daughter, Elyse

and her five grandchildren whom she

loved and adored, Owen and Quinn

Wilfong, and Reef, Searra and Saylor

Sikora.

On a personal note my wife, Sue, and

I had the pleasure of getting to know

Joan and spending time with her and

Ed at NTMA events over the years.

In brief, Joan was a blast! We always

laughed and Joan’s smile could light

up the room. We truly enjoyed our

time with Joan and will cherish those

memories.

Joan was a nurse at heart and loved

caring for others. A scholarship has

been established in her honor with

the Presbyterian-University Hospital

Nurses’ Alumnae

Association. Donations can be sent

to PUHNAA, 608 Quince Road,

Monroeville, PA 15146 c/o Joan’s

Scholarship.

HOW DOES YOUR COMPANY MEASURE UP? MAKE THIS THE YEAR YOU PARTICIPATE IN THE OCEC – NOW IN A SIMPLIER FORMAT.

By John Mackay, Mackay Research Group

“Like most businesses, we are experiencing increases in labor costs, in costs for insurance for both liability and health care, in equipment and fuel costs, and in costs of parts and services we purchase from outside vendors.”

The result of all of these increases in

costs, unfortunately, is that profits

decrease.

Sound like your business? You

probably aren’t alone. The question,

of course, is how do your increased

costs compare with other

manufacturers? Are these cost

increases industry-wide? Will the

industry raise prices due to the cost

increases or will competition keep

prices down and will profits suffer?

The NTMA Operating Costs and Executive Compensation (OCEC)

survey can help you answer some of

these challenging questions. You

will see how your costs for labor,

insurance, utilities, and more

compare to other manufacturers.

See how your gross margin, the

difference between where you price

your products and what it costs you

to make the products, compares to

the industry. More importantly, see

how your bottomline compares to

others in the industry.

The OCEC is a benchmarking

process of comparing the costs of


Manufacturing Programs for NTMA

More than $1.6 million in workers compensation premiums for NTMA allows us

to pass an aggressive rate structure plus available credit to ALL participating

members.

More than 60 members currently access the NTMA Group Workers

Compensation program.

Workers Compensation options through Key Risk ( A+ ”Excellent” ) and

Lackawanna Casualty (A “Excellent”).

A commercial package program through EHD’s Specialty Business Unit that provides a competitively priced product with enhanced coverage integrated into

a specialized service platform designed for the manufacturing industry.

EHD has a local, full-service Pittsburgh office in Cranberry Township, PA.

EHD has four (4) branch offices throughout PA: Pittsburgh, Lancaster,

Wyomissing and Exton.

EHD has serviced clients since 1896. We have serviced NTMA group programs since 1980 and manage MORE THAN $280 million in premiums for

our clients.

A dedicated EHD NTMA service team that includes account management (Leah Myers), Claims (Tom Getz, Vice President of Claims) and Risk Control

(Jeff Phillippi).

Mark M. Zukowski ▪ 724-779-7200 x205 ▪ www.ehd-ins.com

what one precision machining shop

does against what another shop does.

The result is a business case for

making changes in order to improve

profitability.

What’s in it for you?

Each OCEC participant receives an

individual company Financial

Performance Report (FPR) analyzing

your company. This report compares

your financial performance to

industry benchmarks and to others in

the same line of business category;

tools & dies, molds, general precision

machining, aerospace machining,

special machines, production

operations, and sheet metal

fabrication.

Sorry, my information is confidential.

To guarantee that no one on the

NTMA staff or in the NTMA

membership ever sees another

company’s data, NTMA has

contracted with Mackay Research

Group, an independent research firm,

to independently conduct this survey.

Mackay Research Group

processes 2,000 survey a year.

Participant’s data is aggregated in

a way that prevents identification of

any individual company’s results.

Mackay Research Group staff has

been conducting Financial

performance surveys and

compensation surveys for more than

30 years.

Mackay Research Group has

conducted the OCEC and Wage &

Fringe Benefits report for NTMA

since 2002.

Is the feedback really worth anything?

“I was able to double my line of

credit at the bank by using my

individual Financial Performance

Report to convince my banker that I


OCEC (Cont.) was one of the high-profit firms in

the industry.”

“Thanks to the FPR we doubled

our profit in three years.”

The OCEC study provides you with

the tools you need to identify

industry financial performance

benchmarks, to identify the best

practice performance based on the

top 25 percent of the companies in

the industry, and to identify your

company’s strengths and

weaknesses versus those industry

benchmarks.

http://www.ehd-ins.com


and encourage personal responsibility for health and actions. Each program ran separately from the other, and there

was little consideration for how one program affected the other. Although these programs have had some success,

they are almost always reactionary in nature and implemented AFTER a claim or claims have occurred.

Health related productivity losses (absenteeism and presenteeism) are costing companies billions of dollars.

Simplified, employees that do not show up for work are not productive. Workers that manage to stumble into work

just to be “present” aren’t very productive either.

Common sense dictates that safe, healthy people perform better than injured, unhealthy people. Just because an

employee is present or hasn’t had a lost time injury doesn’t mean they are healthy and productive. The best safety

and health programs realize this and strive to develop the most productive employees by engaging them in a results-

based wellness program as part of their overall risk reduction and prevention

strategy.

So, what’s the answer? The latest research shows that the most effective safety

and wellness programs are proactive and recognize that both employee safety and

employee wellness are relevant. A recent study in the Journal of Occupational and

Environmental medicine supported this proactive, all-encompassing practice.

“Both health protection and health promotion interventions are best achieved

when they are working in concert. The whole becomes greater than the sum of its

parts,” The authors stated.



HEALTH (Cont.)

In addition, “In this new environment, where the

pressure on both workers and employers is intense,

where health costs are skyrocketing and chronic

disease, safety and environmental hazards pose new

threats, health promotion and health protection

measures aimed at the nation’s workforce could have

significant long-term impact, potentially saving

billions in costs.”

Consider this: a healthier employee will not only have

less costly health insurance claims, but, according to

statistics, they will be more productive, and absent

less. The statistics also show that should they become

injured on the job, their claim costs will be lower, and

they return to work sooner than an unhealthy

employee. So really, poor employee health is a

company issue, just not an employee benefit problem.

Back to those two distinct problems: escalating health

insurance premiums and costly workers’

compensation claims. We believe that these two

problems can be served by a common solution: build


and implement health management programs designed to

provide accountability and support structures that

encourage employees to improve their health.

We have learned that doing nothing is a poor business

strategy and subsequently has consequences. Your

workforce is aging and their health is declining. You see

that reflected in the rising cost of your health insurance

and workers’ compensation claim costs. A case study

written by our health management partner provides an

overview of a primarily male, blue-collar manufacturing

company’s innovative approach that combined benefit


HEALTH (Cont.)


"True free trade - without currency

manipulation, foreign VAT taxes,

industrial subsidies and other cheating

tactics - is supposed to produce rough

balance among countries over time. Our

failed trade policy enables or ignores

foreign trade cheating, resulting in many

years of destructive trade deficits, job

losses and economic decline. A national

goal of balanced trade would establish

the proper performance metric to judge

whether our trade policy is failing or

succeeding. The best means to achieve

that goal should flexibly change

depending upon a continuing assessment

of which strategic challenges are faced in

any given year."


PLAN NOW FOR THE NTMA LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE

BALANCED TRADE (Cont.)

Date: May 1-3, 2017

Hotel: The Westin Washington DC City Center

1400 M St. NW

Washington, DC 2005

Room Rate: $299 plus tax/night

For reservations and details: [email protected]

QMS certified to API Q1, ISO/TS 29001, and ISO 9001:2008

TRUMP (Cont.)

House GOP members, and a handful

of moderate Senate Republicans.

Of significant

interest to

metalworking

manufacturers

is an overhaul

of the tax code.

Since the campaign, and during the

transition from Candidate Trump, the

White House and House Republicans

are closer now than at any previous

point on their tax reform priorities.

While individual income tax rate

reform seems politically difficult at

this point, there is significant

optimism for general business and

international tax reform to move

under a separate Budget

Reconciliation measure later in the

spring, also requiring 50 GOP Senate

votes, as with the ACA repeal.

Most proposals call for a 20 or 25

percent top corporate tax rate and a

similar level for pass-through income,

such as Subchapter S Corporation,

LLC, and partnership businesses.

This would clearly help the vast

majority of metalworking

manufacturers and NTMA has long

called for parity between C-

Corporations and the pass-throughs

that make up most of manufacturing

companies in the U.S. To account for

the loss of income tax revenue,

policymakers will likely eliminate most

deductions and credits used by

businesses and individuals.

Lawmakers are considering keeping

the R&D Tax Credit and allowing for

100 percent business expensing;

eliminating the need for Section 179

Equipment Expensing and Bonus

Depreciation.

However, eliminating deductions and

credits alone will still create an

untenable hole in the deficit levels

leading House GOP tax writers last

summer to propose a Border

Adjustable Tax imposed on imported

products and services. Items wholly

produced and sold in the U.S. would


not have the tax, but foreign-sourced

raw materials and imported

consumers goods would face a

penalty. For the Trump

Administration, this could provide a

single solution for two problems –

how to reduce offshoring and imports

while also making the business tax

code more globally attractive for U.S.

companies. The debate over a Border

Adjustable Tax is just beginning and

many questions remain, particularly

from consumer groups, retailers, and

manufacturers who rely on global

supply chains.

During the transition, Trump’s staff

were wise to

read up on the

squandered

opportunities of

Obama’s first

few months in

office. Part of

those lessons

learned though

will undoubtedly

lead the

administration

to go it alone at

times, not only

often without

Democrats, but

sometimes without Congressional

Republicans.

There is no question the administration

assembled a strong lineup with vast

business experience. What we will see play

out in the first six months is whether the

skills of the private sector can translate to

the government playing field.

Omar Nashashibi is a founding partner at

The Franklin Partnership, LLP, a bi-partisan government relations firm retained by the National Tooling and Machining Association in Washington,

D.C.

much money to spend on marketing.

Every business owner has their own

thoughts on the above subjects and

there is no one correct answer. That

said, in my experience I’ve found that

current customers, especially larger

companies, can often be a great

source of new orders.

While the above statement may seem

somewhat obvious, many companies

don’t do all that they can to help

make this happen. Positioning

yourself for additional business starts

with “delighting” your customer with

respect to current business / orders.

The word “delight” is very subjective,

and its meaning will vary depending

on different customer needs. Truly

delighting often requires more than

shipping a quality product on time.

This is where it’s critical to really

understand your customer, learn from

them what is important and then

excel at those points. If you can truly

impress your current customers they

will be your best sales force, helping

to generate additional business within

their company and perhaps beyond.

Below are a handful of suggestions

that may help in this process:

Visit your customer. Talk face-to-

face and ask what else you can do

to provide superior products and

support.

If you are running late on a

delivery or if something else isn’t

going just right, offer free shipping

or give a discount to ease the pain.

If practical, hand-deliver the item

to the customer yourself. Giving

that personal touch shows the

customer you really care beyond

just words. Don’t be short

sighted about spending a little

money today as this could earn

you thousands in the future.


Add value by offering

manufacturing insight as it

pertains to their designs that

could yield cost savings or a

more reliable product – be a

real partner.

Deliver early if you know it

will help them.

Unplanned phone calls to the

customer periodically to just

let them know that all is okay

and on schedule with current

orders.

Anyway, you get the idea.

I also mentioned “good” orders

above. One of the defining factors

of a good order would be the

terms and conditions. Over the

years I’ve noticed that terms and

conditions associated with

purchase orders have become

more caustic. Many standard PO

terms these days contain things

like “fit for purpose,”

consequential damages or

MANUFACTURING CHALLENGES (Cont.)

financial penalties. It is critical that

you read and understand these

terms, allowing you to make

informed decisions regarding risk

and what you choose to accept. In

short, the “fine print” really matters

especially when something goes

wrong with an order. On a positive

note, many companies are willing to

negotiate more favorable terms if

asked. For repeat customers,

typically you need only do this once

and then all follow-on orders will be

covered under the new terms or what

are sometimes called “special” terms.

Like with most things, there are

many more details behind this

subject and it may be a good idea to

become more familiar if you are not

already.

I hope you’ve found this helpful —

and all the best until next time.

HEALTH (Cont.)

plan design with cutting edge

strategies around data, incentives,

health risk management and individual

accountability. The results were

remarkable.

Prior to implementing this new

combined strategy, the employee share

of medical costs were increasing at a

rate of 6-8 percent each year, while

wages were only increasing at a rate of

1-2 percent. Employee cost sharing

was at 35 percent of the group’s

overall costs. Since beginning their

aggressive approach to risk reduction,

their health plan costs were flat for six

years. They have seen their healthcare

contributions remain steady and even

decrease in some years, effectively

lowering medical contributions over

the course of six years. At a time

where the employee share of health

care costs experiences an average

increase of 8-9 percent annually, this

is a major victory.

Workers’ compensation benefits pay

the providers of health care for injured

workers, and pay cash benefits to

workers whose injuries prevent them

from working. Due to rising health

care costs during the past 30 years, the

share of total workers’ compensation

benefits attributable to medical benefits

have increased significantly; from 29

percent in 1980 to more than 50 percent

in 2013. About 33 states currently spend

more than half of their workers’

compensation outlay on medical care for

injured workers. In the US, cash benefits

to injured workers and medical

payments for their health care totaled

$63.6 billion in 2013, an 8.2 percent

increase over 2009. Medical payments

increased by 10.3 percent to $31.5

billion, and cash benefits to injured

workers increased by 6.2 percent to

$32.0 billion.

To us, the solution is simple. Companies

need to take a proactive approach to

impact their overall costs and employee

health. Unless you are willing to try

something new, you will likely spend

more money each year on healthcare

costs and helplessly watch as your costs

continue to increase each year.

Employers across the country need to

take a new, proactive approach to health

management to reverse the trend of

declining health and increased costs.

What do you have to lose?

For more information on how to successfully manage your total cost of risk, contact Mark Zukowski at 855.860.0277 or Julie Evarts at 800.544.7292.

21st Annual NTMF

Golf Outing

June 19, 2017

Westmoreland Country Club

Early Bird Registration begins February 15

visit: www.pghNTMA.org

107 Freedom Court

Moon Township, PA 15108

Phone: (724) 601-6008

e-mail: [email protected]

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A’S FUTURE

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