2021: Building the Future, Getting Results

n 2021, manufacturers once again demonstrated our extraordinary power to get results and drive solutions. It was a tumultuous year in which we faced a persistent pandemic, snarled supply chains, a workforce crisis, an attack on our democracy, natural disasters and more. We navigated changes in control of the federal government that challenged us in both new and familiar ways. Through it all, the NAM led the way—helping our industry deliver solutions, advance opportunity and health and strengthen our country.

We worked with a new administration and a new Congress to achieve—after years of NAM advocacy—a once-in-a-generation bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. At the same time, we prevented damaging tax hikes on businesses that were thought to be inevitable. By telling our members’ stories, we showed how manufacturers have been keeping our promises to invest in our people and communities following historic tax reform—and fended off efforts to roll back that progress, a campaign that continues into 2022.

We took on the biggest challenges facing manufacturers across the country, from cybersecurity to the skills gap. The NAM and The Manufacturing Institute’s Creators Wanted campaign ramped up and launched our Creators Wanted Tour Live. And through our joint This Is Our Shot project, manufacturers mobilized to get our teams and communities armed against COVID-19 with the very vaccines pioneered by our industry.

More than ever, we are the one-stop shop for manufacturers that our members deserve—through peerless advocacy, operational excellence, legal action, workforce development and news and insights that cannot be found anywhere else. In all five areas, the NAM enhanced the value proposition and delivered new tools to help our members succeed—from winning Supreme Court cases to launching new health care and retirement programs for our members, from delivering the news that manufacturing executives count on to elevating our industry in the national media.

We know from the past year that times are often uncertain. But it’s also clear that, no matter what, the NAM is better positioned than any other organization, and more effective than at any other time in our history, to take on what comes next. We will always be the stalwart defender of the values that have made America exceptional and keep our industry strong: free enterprise, competitiveness, individual liberty and equal opportunity.

Jay Timmons
President and CEO
National Association of Manufacturers