Manufacturing bus tour visits 4 local equipment manufacturers to celebrate their work

OREGON – From forging swords using fire and a hammer in a smithy to laser-cutting steel parts for trucks in a plant, it’s all about manufacturing.

Four local businesses recently hosted stops on the Association of Equipment Manufacturing’s Manufacturing Express bus tour, which is traveling 10,000 miles across 20 states to visit 80 member companies. The tour began July 1 and will conclude Oct. 18.

The AEM represents more than 1,100 companies that manufacture or service equipment in the agriculture, construction, utility, forestry and mining industries.

“The best way for us to put it is that the equipment our members manufacture helps to build, feed and power the world,” AEM President Megan Tanel said. “If you think about it in that way, you understand the impact you have, and it’s greater than just your job that you’re doing on a daily basis. It’s a bigger piece.”

On Oct. 1, the bus tour stopped at Astec Mobile Screens of Sterling and Sewer Equipment of Dixon. On Oct. 8, Manufacturing Express visited Woods Equipment and E.D. Etnyre & Co., both in Oregon.

“We’re here to celebrate with their employees on what they do, and the importance of what they do for the industry as well as for their communities,” Tanel said of the stops. “The people that are in these jobs, they’ve got grit and determination, and they are out there making a difference.”

The Manufacturing Express tour is the largest grassroots advocacy campaign that the organization has undertaken beneath its “I Make America” umbrella, she said.

The point of the tour is to talk about pro-manufacturing policies and to educate people on which policies – both existing and proposed – might have an effect on their job or their community, Tanel said.

“AEM is critical to our industry in that it’s a unified alliance of manufacturers with a noncentralized management team,” Woods Equipment Vice President of Sales and Marketing Derek Paulsen said. “It allows us to stay connected to the industry, gives us insights on the market and helps us as we progress not only with the Woods brand, but as the industry moves forward.”