Applications Being Accepted for Manufacturing Council

The Manufacturing Council was created in June 2004 to ensure regular communication between the Federal Government and the manufacturing sector, as well as to foster collaboration across all U.S. industry sectors to promote new ideas for continuously improving manufacturing competitiveness.

The Manufacturing Council is comprised of up to 15 private-sector executives who reflect a balance of U.S. manufacturing industry sectors, geographic locations, and business size. The Council advises the Secretary of Commerce on government policies and programs that affect U.S. manufacturing and provides a forum for proposing solutions to industry-related problems. The Council also works to ensure that the U.S. remains the preeminent destination for investment in manufacturing throughout the world.

The Council’s work concentrates on enhancing the government’s focus on manufacturing competitiveness, creating the favorable conditions for economic growth and manufacturing investment, lowering the cost of manufacturing in the U.S., investing in innovation, strengthening education, retraining, and economic diversification, and promoting open markets and a level playing field.

The Manufacturing Council meets quarterly.

David Hastings of Mount Vernon Mills is the textile representative on the Council and was appointed in 2010. Daniel Harding Stowe, President and Chief Executive Officer, R.L. Stowe Mills, Inc. had been a member of the Council since June 2004

More information is available at http://trade.gov/manufacturingcouncil.

On September 10, 2014 the Department of Commerce published a notice in the Federal Register seeking applications for appointment of up to 30 members of the Manufacturing Council (Council) for a two-year term to begin in December 2014. The September 10, 2014 notice provided that all applications must be received by the Office of Advisory Committees and Industry Outreach of the Department of Commerce by close of business on October 14, 2014. Today the Department of Commerce announced it was extending the application period in order to provide the public with an additional opportunity to submit applications. All applications for immediate consideration for appointment must be received by the Office of Advisory Committees and Industry Outreach by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on Friday, November 14, 2014. After that date, ITA will continue to accept applications under this notice for a period of up to two years from the deadline to fill any vacancies that may arise.