Behlen Praised In Congressional Hearing

Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE) chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manu-facturing and Trade has been holding “Our Nation of Builders” hearings to look at ways of bolstering the country’s manufacturing industry.

The hearing was devoted to the problem of providing companies with a skilled workforce and featured a panel of witnesses from industry and education.

Jennifer McNelly, president of NAM’s Manufacturing Institute, talked about the shortages of skilled labor and the need to change the perception of manufacturing jobs to make them cool again. She praised the work of Tony Raimondo, Sr., of Behlen Manufacturing in Columbus, NE, in having former students of technical education programs spread the word to the next generation of workers.

“We’ve got to provide these folks an opportunity to get the skills,” Terry said. “It used to be if you graduated from high school and got your diploma, you could walk into a manufacturing plant and earn a good middle-class salary. That’s not true today.”

Behlen, Association member since 2009; behlenmfg.com.