“I want to thank you very much for inviting me… It was very beneficial with loads of information to help our business. …This was very helpful and I made many contacts for the future.” Richard Hurst, XL Precision Technologies, Inc.
Last Wednesday the second Manufacturing Advocacy Series was held at the Valley Forge Casino. This event presented by the Delaware Valley NTMA, The Manufacturing Alliance of Bucks and Montgomery Counties, and the Manufacturing Alliance of Chester/Delaware Counties is designed to exchange valuable information with our regional manufacturing community. A poll of attendees confirmed it was a great event which was both timely and effective. Manufacturers from Philadelphia and all surrounding counties, as well as Delaware and New Jersey attended this morning session. The audience was first told of upcoming manufacturing events, and initiatives that were pertinent to them. There were also two featured speakers.
The first speaker was Scott Schmidt, Principal of the Black Line Group, who discussed how the recent enhancements made to the R&D Tax Credit will significantly allow more manufacturing companies to claim the credit starting in 2016. Specifically, our ability to apply R&D Tax Credits against the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) will be a game-changer. Scott reviewed step by step how this directly applies to manufacturers and how to determine if it is right for you.
The second keynote speaker was Omar S. Nashashibi, who is a Founding Partner with The Franklin Partnership, a bipartisan lobbying firm based in Washington, D.C. The National Tooling and Machining Association retained Omar’s firm to be the voice of the industry in Washington. Omar gave a compelling (while entertaining!) view of how Congress and The Senate are affecting change. He reviewed the stricter stance OSHA will be taking in the upcoming months, along with top House and Senate elections that are taking place. He shared his insights on the presidential election, while summing everything up with what it means to manufacturing. Omar also presented his predictions as to who will win these hotly contested races.
Please be on the lookout for the next Manufacturing Advocacy Series coming up in the March time frame of 2017. We look forward to seeing you there.