Johnson at STAFDA: Educate Your Sales Team on "Buy American" as Competitors May Sell Non-Compliant Products

November 24

00:00 2010

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Johnson at STAFDA: Educate Your Sales Team on “Buy American” as Competitors May Sell Non-Compliant Products

Educate your sales team on the “ins and outs” of the “Buy American” provisions of the Economic Stimulus Act because “they will likely encounter situations in which the competitor is attempting to supply non-compliant products,” Andy Johnson advised the Specialty Tools & Fasteners Distributors Association.

In the annual STAFDA State of Manufacturing address, Johnson, president of Mar-Mac Wire of McBee, SC, traced the origin of Buy American legislation back to 1933 with a law encouraging domestic products in the federal government’s direct procurements. The Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982 expanded coverage for the nation’s infrastructure.

The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 – “Economic Stimulus” – requires manufacturing processes for steel construction products should take place in the U.S. and defines that to include melting, pouring and rolling.

Mar-Mac “has noticed a change in ordering patterns” with a “more conscientious effort to ensure compliance from the state level all the way down to individual contractors,” Johnson finds.

Mar-Mac is receiving more inquiries for products that can be certified to the Buy American requirements, Johnson noted.

“In the early years of Buy American legislation, there was a lot of leeway on how to interpret those provisions,” Johnson observed. “It seems attempts by the economic stimulus to tighten the interpretations were successful based upon the reception in the market.”

Now STAFDA manufacturers “must ensure that we have data collection and product marking processes in place to trace the raw materials consumed in our production processes through to the products that we provide to distributors,” Johnson said.

For STAFDA distributors there are “chances to grow your revenue stream in a down economy,” Johnson advised. “There are projects across the country being funded under the ARRA.”

Projects can be identified on various government websites an subscribed services.

As a 60-year-old family firm, Mar-Mac has evolved from a one-operation manufacturer to adding importing and distributing roles to concrete consturction wire products, tools and accessories.

Editor’s Note: For more from Johnson’s State of Manufacturing speech see the next issue of FIN.

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