IPC Welcomes Exec Order on Strengthening the U.S. Defense Industrial Base

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Last Friday, President Trump signed an executive order on “Assessing and Strengthening the Manufacturing and Defense Industrial Base and Supply Chain Resiliency of the United States.”

According to Nextgov, Peter Navarro, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy (OTMP), said the order will determine whether there are enough U.S. manufacturers to supply “everything from submarine propeller blades to circuit boards and military-grade semiconductors,” and whether there are enough skilled workers to work in the field.

In a press conference, Navarro explained Trump’s executive order will launch a cross-government study to find “points of failure” that government policies can address. By next April, the heads of various departments including Homeland Security, Commerce, and Labor must issue a report on the health of the defense industrial base.

Because electronics are at the heart of so many of today’s critical defense systems, IPC has long been engaged in policy discussions of how to ensure an adequate defense industrial base.

During the recent IMPACT Washington, D.C. 2017, IPC’s annual advocacy week in Washington, D.C., member company executives discussed this subject with Alexander Gray, Deputy Director of OTMP for the Defense Industrial Base; and Robert Irie of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics.

And during IPC APEX EXPO APEX 2017, IPC’s annual conference and exhibition last February, IPC members were briefed on an ongoing study being done by the Department of Commerce on the health of the domestic printed circuit board industry.

IPC welcomes these efforts to understand the role that electronics manufacturing plays in U.S. and international security, and we will continue to be actively engaged in this issue.

Original by: Ken Schramko