AAM’s own Lou Delatore finds a piece of home at Hannover Messe.
Editor's note: AAM staffers Brian Lombardozzi, Riley Ohlson, Mark Musho and Lou Delatore are in Hannover, Germany for the Hannover Messe conference. They’re posting dispatches from the event throughout the week.
I find myself in Germany at Hannover Messe, the largest manufacturing expo in the world, where I am manning a booth for the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM).
I didn’t think I would know anyone at the conference, coming from a small town in West Virginia. But to my surprise, I found something I know — American-made gas cans and shelving containers.
Not only American-made, actually —from my hometown of Wellsburg, West Virginia.
Then I noticed people I recognized. As it turns out, folks from Eagle Manufacturing also are exhibiting at Hannover Messe.
Eagle Manufacturing’s motto is “Protecting People, Property and the Planet.” The company makes industrial safety and material handling products, including safety cabinets spill containment products, poly drums, safety cans, and receptacles for cigarette disposal.
My garage is filled with the company’s Safety Cans. With three children, I wanted the best to protect my kids and property, and that is what Eagle Manufacturing produces. Their products are second to none.
Eagle Manufacturing is also a United Steelworkers (USW) facility, were many of my friends and family work, with a great management team.
We truly live in a world that is becoming closer and closer together. What we need to do now is figure out how we all work together, from continent to continent, and country to country, and keeping it all fair.
We cannot allow countries to cheat and manipulate to get unfair advantages. Companies like Eagle Manufacturing, which employ 190 West Virginians in my hometown, can compete with anyone. But they need a level playing field to survive.
This is the goal of Alliance for American Manufacturing — not to stop trade, but stop the cheating.