Manufacturing Luncheon at Viracon: MN Manufacturing Week

Oct. 22-26th is Manufacturing Week in Minnesota.  Here’s why we celebrate it:

Doug Betti and Jim Wendorff, Viracon receive the Mayor's
 proclamation for the week of Oct. 22-26 Manufacturing week in Owatonna.

• Minnesota has 292,000 manufacturing jobs statewide or 13 percent of all private-sector jobs.  In Owatonna manufacturing represents closer to 30% of the jobs.
• Manufacturing contributes more than $37 billion to the state economy and represents 15 percent of the Minnesota's gross domestic product.
• Each manufacturing job supports another 1.9 jobs elsewhere in the economy through supplier purchases and employee spending. 
• Manufacturing has the second-largest payroll of any business sector in the state, providing $16.4 billion in 2010 wages.
• In all, manufacturing accounts for nearly 850,000 jobs or about 33 percent of all jobs in Minnesota.
• Canada is Minnesota's top manufactured export market at $5 billion in sales in 2010, followed by China and Mexico.

U.S. Chamber's Doug Loon presents to over 70 participants the
 importance of the upcoming election and the potential fiscal cliff
we'll go off of as of January 1, 2013 unless
the President and Congress act now.

Click here for a brief history of manufacturing in Owatonna.

Click here for a brief summary video of today's event.

Today, over 70 member participants joined the Chamber, host Viracon, to recognize and thank manufacturing companies for the economic stability and growth they offer our community.  Mayor Tom Kuntz shared a Manufacturing Week proclamation and presented it toViracon.  Also, Mike Haney, Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) to present and shared  with Viracon a commendation from the Governor.

DigitalDistinctions will be unveiled in a couple weeks.
This if Viracon's newest technology.

Other manufacturing speakers included: President/CEO Chris Simpson, Wenger Corporation; President/CEO Dennis VonRuden, General Equipment; Director of Marketing Kevin Anez, Viracon.

Anez shared that Viracon is unveiling an new product in a couple weeks call DigitalDistinctions.  DigitalDistinctions™ offers the unique ability to customize individual glass lites, each with its own design, color scheme and ability to fit a variety of glass systems. DigitalDistinctions™ can be combined with clear or tinted glass substrates as well as with high-performance coatings to reduce glare and decrease solar transmission.

Today's keynote speaker was Doug Loon, U.S. Chamber of Commerce who outlined the impact of the upcoming elections (can we build a pro-business working majority), federal deficit for 2012 projected at $1.1 trillion and that the federal gross debt is at $16 trillion dollars ($11 trillion was held by the public and $5 trillion is intergovernmental holdings), tax reform (United States has the world’s highest corporate tax rate; the United States is the only country that has a worldwide system of tax; taxpayers spend 6.1 billion hours a year complying; AMT was enacted in response to reports that 155 taxpayers legally avoided paying tax--in 2012, 31 million will be subject to AMT),  and the potential impact of the fiscal cliff if the President and Congress don't act before the end of they year.


The Fiscal Cliff
The Budget Control Act of 2011 set the stage with:
•Debt limit increase -$900 billion increase in debt limit and $917 billion in discretionary budget cuts.
•Super Committee -12 member Committee failed to adopt $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction (through budget cuts and/or taxes).
•The Act mandates $1.2 trillion in Spending Cuts over ten years beginning in 2013.

The key elements of the cliff:  Expiration of Tax Cuts and Stimulus Measures (this includes the Bush tax cuts, traditional tax extenders (i.e. dividends, marginal rates, R&D, expensing) and other stimulus measures (i.e. payroll tax cut and Unemployment Insurance benefits); the Automatic Sequestration of Defense + Non-Security Spending (Sequestration would cut funding by approximately $55 billion for defense and $55 billion for non-defense spending –a total of $1.2 trillion over 10 years); Debt Ceiling Authority (Another increase in the debt ceiling will be required early in 2013, perhaps sooner depending on the cash-burn rate).  Going over the “cliff” will cut into economic growth next year, undermining the benefits of deficit reduction.

Thank you Viracon for hosting and sponsoring today’s event!