Hiler Industries president speaks to congress on importance of foundries. (Washington Alert).

This fall, the Northwest-Midwest Institute, in conjunction with the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives Task Forces on Manufacturing, presented a Capitol Hill briefing on the importance of manufacturing.

Jack Hiler, president, Hiler Industries, and a former congressman from Indiana, spoke on the value of the foundry industry to the U.S. economy and the challenges this industry faces today. Hiler discussed the differences between the domestic competition the foundry industry faced 25 years ago and the international struggle U.S. foundries are now mired in. He cited the drastic difference in foundry labor salaries between the U.S. ($15/hr) and China ($0.42/hr) as one item contributing to today's unlevel playing field. While the metalcasting industry is producing a higher-quality product than ever before, Hiler said, prices still have hit unprecedented lows because the industry is forced to compete on the playing field of these offshore sources. Hiler also explained that the financial burden of government-imposed regulations for health care and the environment continue to have a detrimental effect on manufacturing. Hiler said that with each new regulation comes hidden costs to the manufacturing industry, and wit h each new cost, more firms are moving their labor offshore.