Reshoring is topic of Works Summit

By Angela Carter, Register Staff

NEW HAVEN - "Reshoring," a growing trend of bringing manufacturing jobs back to the continental U.S. from overseas, will be the focal point at the Manufacturing Works Summit 4.0 next week.

Covidien will hold the event, "Working Together to Ensure Manufacturing Works," Oct. 7 at its 60 Middletown Ave. campus, with registration at 7:25 a.m. It is scheduled to end at 11. To RSVP, go to jerryc@ssicg.com.

Jerry Clupper, executive director of the New Haven Manufacturers Association, said nearly a dozen speakers will talk about the state of manufacturing in Connecticut, how local companies have achieved success in the midst of the economic downturn, strategies for growth and the use of social networking and reshoring.

Harry Moser, chairman emeritus of GF AgieCharmilles, a machine tool supplier in Illinois, will be one the presenters. Moser created software that helps manufacturers calculate the total cost of offshore production. The calculator is at www.reshorenow.org.

"Of the companies that offshore, 60 percent do not calculate the total cost of ownership, and, on average, they miss about 20 percent of costs," Moser said. Industry groups coordinating a reshoring initiative are not asking businesses to bring jobs back to the U.S. because it would be in the country's interest, but rather, in their companies' short-term interest, he said.

He sits on the boards of the National Institute for Metalworking Skills and the International Special Tooling and Machining Association.

The goals of the overall summit are to improve the economic environment for manufacturing and business in Connecticut, increase awareness of manufacturing's role in job creation and economic health, define how government can most effectively help manufacturers, and create partnerships among manufacturers and other business owners.

Local manufacturers will present display booths, as well.

Other event sponsors include CONNSTEP, the Smaller Manufacturers Association, the Manufacturing Alliance of Connecticut, the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, the Manufacturers Education & Training Alliance and the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce.

Moser also will speak when the National Tooling and Machining Association and the Precision Metalforming Association, the groups coordinating a national Reshoring Initiative, bring a purchasing fair to the MGM Grand at Foxwoods Resort Casino Oct. 29.