Bedding Industry Professionals Join Coalition For The Future Of Manufacturing

Furniture World Magazine

The International Sleep Products Association (ISPA) will participate in an extraordinary initiative developed by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) to capitalize on efforts to promote the importance of manufacturing. NAM’s Coalition for the Future of Manufacturing, which is dedicated to educating policymakers on the importance of manufacturing to the economy’s future, will sponsor a “Manufacturing: Making America’s Future” Forum and Fly-in February 10-11 on Capitol Hill. ISPA leaders, including several bedding industry member companyexecutives, will participate in a legislative Fly-In to meet with elected officials about public policy issues that impact the effective and efficient manufacturing of bedding products. “Promoting the importance of manufacturing with policymakers and opinion leaders is crucial to our industry both domestically and internationally,” notes ISPA president Dick Doyle. “NAM’s Coalition is a perfect medium to communicate our membership’s voice to legislators who can ultimately reduce non-production costs such as health care, legal liability, and high corporate tax rates. The upcoming group Fly-In willprovide an ideal opportunity for ISPA to assist its members and other manufacturers in the global marketplace.” Manufacturing, which has emerged as a major political and policy issue in the bedding industry, has posed obstacles to ISPA’s manufacturing members, including: loss of both jobs and export potential; diminished capital investment and R&D expenditures; lack of skilled workers; and rising business costs. Because the Coalition is committed to solve these problems through educational activities, involvement, and advocacy, their initiative is critical to ISPA members and to the bedding industry at large. ISPA, which has subsequently assumed a strong leadership role in government relations activities at NAM, strongly encourages its members to join the Coalition for the Future of Manufacturing and to help promote government policies that will positively affect their businesses. Information about participating in the Coalition at no cost canbe found at: www.bipac.net/page.asp?content=startpage&g=nam_cfm. Further information about both the “Manufacturing: Making America’s Future” Forum and Fly-In and the Coalition for the Future of Manufacturing can be found on the National Association of Manufacturer’s Web site at www.nam.org. Established in 1915, the International Sleep Products Association, www.sleepproducts.org is the trade organization for mattress manufacturers and their component suppliers around the world. ISPA hosts the biennial ISPA EXPO trade shows and publishes BedTimes and Sleep Savvy magazines