NH firm says US can profit from competitive advantages

By Jason Schreiber Union Leader Correspondent

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Plaistow – Officials from Beckwood Services Inc. gave U. S. Rep. Frank Guinta a first-hand look at their contract manufacturing operation on Wednesday.

Their hope is that Guinta will have a better understanding of the role manufacturing plays in the New Hampshire economy and that he’ll bring that understanding to Washington.

“New Hampshire is a solid manufacturing state and we want to make sure he understands what we do and the things we think are important to support manufacturing in this state,” said Peter Alcock, president of Plaistow-based Beckwood Services.

Guinta has spent much of August touring New Hampshire businesses to learn more about what they do and how he can help them.

Wednesday’s tour took him to Beckwood Services, a 21- year-old manufacturing company that has contracts with International Fortune 1000 companies in the machine tool, analytical instrument, semi-conductor, military, and defense industries.

Beckwood was recognized by the governor in May after it earned the “Raytheon Five Star Supplier Excellence Award” for its work in the defense industry.

The company’s work for Raytheon involved the manufacturing of components for the fire control system for the patriot missile.

Beckwood was one of 14 suppliers given a five-star rating – the highest awarded – by Raytheon while 200 others earned a lower rating. Raytheon rated the suppliers based on their on-time delivery measures, sustained performance on quality and commitment to continuous process and quality improvement.

Beckwood’s customers also include Siemens, Bosch and several companies in Germany.

With its business increasing, Beckwood has added 15 to 20 new employees over the last year, bringing its workforce to just over 50.

Guinta praised Beckwood for its work in the defense industry.

“What you are doing for our military is critical,” he told workers during his tour.

Guinta added that 75 percent of the state’s economy is driven by small businesses.

“Its not large businesses that we hear about its small businesses. It’s the vendors you do business with. It’s the other small businesses in the region that you work with that really help drive our local economy here in New Hampshire and that is critical, particularly at a time when our state revenues and our federal revenues are declining. You’re an example of a great success right in our backyard,” he said.

Meanwhile, Alcock stressed the importance of keeping manufacturing jobs in the United States rather than shipping them overseas and losing an opportunity to learn how to be innovative.

The American accounting system basically says, well, labor is cheaper over there so it’s a better deal. Well, labor is more expensive here, but you don’t have transportation costs, you don’t have a quality-control cost, you don’t have somebody stealing your technology,” Alcock said. “That’s what they are doing right now, they’re stealing technology. You add all those numbers up and it’s a lot cheaper to make it here, plus the fact that you develop your innovative skills here much better if you keep it here rather than giving it to the Chinese.”

Alcock said the country needs to expand exports to help improve the economy, and one way to do that is to grow manufacturing.

But first, he said, the country needs an industrial policy aimed at keeping jobs at home.

“There are a lot of incentives for people to send stuff offshore … Why aren’t there tax incentives here? It’s crazy,” he said. We’re actually forcing this stuff offshore and it makes no sense.”