A look in the mirror.

Every once in a while, we come to moments in our lives when we find out who we really are and what our heart is made of. Sometimes, these moments involve an act of heroism like running into a burning building to save people. Sometimes, these moments are tied to an act of conscience like whether or not we should stop to help a smiled car.

Recently, I faced my own moment. You see, my wife had left town for five nights on business, and I needed to be the single parent for my two daughters, ages 7 and 2. This was the first time I ever had to take care of my children overnight--by myself. If you have never experienced a similar situation, having two young faces look at you as their sole provider for guidance and support makes a burning building look like a day in the park.

While I really did look at myself in the mirror and question if I was "enough of a father" to survive the five nights (incidently, I did survive, and with flying colors), I also am reminded of last month's events in Washington D.C. when nine metalcasters represented their firms and the industry as a whole and testified before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) as part of the Section 332 investigation into the competitive state of our industry. While the circumstances between my "tour of duty" and those testifying before the ITC were vastly different, a connection does exist--an individual sacrificing for the good of the whole.

In my case, I sacrificed for five days to ensure the good of my family. In the case of the hearings, nine individuals sacrificed for the good of the industry.

For those of you who don't know, the focus of the Section 332 investigation is to determine the extent to which low-price foreign competition has harmed the U.S. metalcasting industry. Are we being unfairly outpriced by foreign competition? Is the playing field so unlevel that U.S. manufacturers, regardless of technological advances and our best efforts to remove cost from our operations, simply can't compete?

These are two of the questions this investigation will try to answer in the Section 332 report that is generated. This report, if favorable to the U.S. metalcasting industry, can serve as a foundation of facts about the competitive situation U.S. metalcasters face and could serve as the basis for further trade action by individual firms or groups of metalcasters looking to pursue tariffs, quotas and/or other measures to counteract low-price foreign competition.

Now, I am not here to argue whether tariffs or other trade sanctions against low-price foreign d competition are good or bad for the U.S. metalcasting industry. There are plenty of economists to argue this point. My focus with this editorial and that of the feature on p. 41, "U.S. Metalcasting Industry Testifies Before U.S. ITC at Section 332 Hearing," is on ensuring this investigation doesn't go unnoticed.

Too often we become buried in our production and fail to see the larger picture of what is happening in our industry. Yes, production levels are now growing for many of you, and so, hopefully, are profit margins. And yes, this growth is fore cast to continue for the next four to five years. But, that doesn't mean the ills that plagued us during the economic downturn from 2001-2003 have disappeared.

Whether your problems are foreign competition, regulatory burden, health care, a lack of skilled labor and/or a demanding customer base, these issues must be addressed every day and not just given lip service. What have you done at your facility to find a solution to any of your non-production ills? What plans have you put into place to tackle these problems?

While we have individuals who have been willing to stand up for the industry on several of these issues, we need more to stand up to the challenges. What kind of metalcasting facility do you want to be? It is time to look in the mirror and find out.