Question: Bill, you might want to comment, because the companies that you serve, which are a large number of companies, are in a different part of the business chain, and they are by and large not global companies, so, Jack’s represents an extreme on one side, and the firms you support are by and large smaller firms. What perspective might you bring to this?

Answer: I am glad you asked. I am Bill Nusbaum, I graduated from Tennessee Tech, in 1980 with an electrical engineering degree, I worked in a number of industries, textile industry, optical wave guide manufacturing, I worked for the government, department of defense in project management. Now I work for the University of Tennessee as a manufacturing specialist, so I have a lot of experience, so I am trying to bring it back around the other way to help manufacturers in Tennessee. The perspective Jack was talking about is a very large global issue. The ones I deal with are primarily companies that are right here in Tennessee, and maybe have other plants in other states, but are primarily in Tennessee. The issues that I find, typically the problem is cost-cutting, the thing that comes to mind is that companies want to cut costs in labor as opposed to looking for it elsewhere. In a discussion I had with a class just before this, we talked about a common example of what companies do. First, they cut their people out, then they don’t think about where the costs are. Actually, 90% of the costs that they incur, particularly in manufacturing, is in materials and overhead. So, it makes more sense to find ways to reduce those costs, rather than cutting labor. But, that is typically the first thing that happens. The thing that I try to help companies understand is where are their costs, and help them understand that labor is not the thing they need to cut, they need to focus on other things that they can have much more control of, because when you throw your people out, you have problems with finding the right people, keeping the right ones, attitudes, because when people see jobs going away, they are scared, they are risky, they are looking for another job. So, it just feeds on itself, and it is a constant problem. So I see the other end of the spectrum. Right now, companies are beginning to grow again; they are spending money, trying to expand and so on. My focus it to try to help companies see where the opportunities for controlling the right costs are.