Panel assesses Ohio industry
By Robert Wang
Posted Aug 10, 2012 @ 01:00 AM
CANTON — The Ohio House’s 21st Century Manufacturing Task Force held its first hearing Thursday at Timken Co. headquarters, where an expert and manufacturing executives said that Northeast Ohio manufacturing has experienced a recovery since 2009 after a deep, long decline; enjoys some advantages such as location and a weak dollar, but faces challenges such as the rising cost of electricity, the burden of regulations, a deteriorating infrastructure and a shortage of skilled workers.
“We heard a lot of different stories from a wide variety of manufacturers about the good things that are happening in manufacturing,” the task force’s chairman, State Rep. Kirk Schuring, R-Jackson Township, said after the hearing. “Also, they were very clear about talking about the challenges, so what we’re trying to do is an assessment, an honest assessment of where we’re at in Ohio with manufacturing, and how we can as public policy makers with the manufacturing community enhance Ohio’s manufacturing competitiveness.”
Ohio House Speaker William G. Batchelder, R-Medina, this summer appointed Schuring to head the nine-member, bipartisan task force, which would hold five hearings around Ohio to assess the state of Ohio manufacturing.
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