International Trade Agreements Are Vital to Wisconsin Firm’s Continued Growth

Guest Blog Post by Jim Corkery, President of ACS.  Jim has expertise in the design and construction of institutional, research and development, and manufacturing facilities including leading the conceptual planning efforts and coordinating design activities of architectural, structural, mechanical, electrical, and piping systems with Owner’s process systems. ACS is a single-source provider of fully integrated facility and equipment solutions, serving the international engine- and vehicle-testing markets. The company specializes in the comprehensive design, construction management, integration, and commissioning of research and development, production, and office facilities for engine, vehicle and components manufacturers. ACS is headquartered in Madison, WI.

Recently I had the opportunity to meet Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and several US Senators and Representatives to talk about global trade. I strongly support the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) legislation and want to share my views on how ACS has directly benefited from global trade.

We are an organization offering engineering, equipment fabrication and construction management solutions to companies who develop and test engines and vehicles for worldwide distribution. Our office employees are highly skilled college graduates, most with engineering and advanced engineering degrees, and our manufacturing employees have specialized skilled trades expertise.  Although we have fewer than 150 employees, the global nature of business today means we have offices in Wisconsin, Michigan and South Carolina as well as in the UK and China.   Getting the rules of international trade right is not just theory for my company; it will help accelerate our growth.

The first way we benefit from global trade is when our US-based clients develop products for sale globally – we benefit through contracts to design and construct our clients’ R&D/Manufacturing centers here in the U.S.  These opportunities allow ACS to hire more engineering, manufacturing and support employees to accomplish this work. For example, we recently contracted with Cummins to design and build their R&D and Manufacturing test facilities for a new High Horsepower engine to be designed and manufactured in Seymour, Indiana. This facility serves as the global headquarters for the design and manufacture of this new engine with exports forecasted to be 80% of overall sales.

We have also had opportunities to design and construct international R&D/Manufacturing centers for our US-based clients. Typically we provide preliminary design in the US and then travel to the project countries to oversee final design and construction by local designers and contractors. We have designed and built laboratories for Caterpillar in the US, England, Northern Ireland and China, for Whirlpool in the US, Mexico, Poland and China, for John Deere in the US and Mexico, and for Cummins in the US, England, Romania and China.

The second way we benefit from global trade is through the design and manufacture of specialty test equipment for the engine and vehicle testing market, both in the United States and abroad. The specialty equipment we provide for R&D and production facilities is manufactured and assembled in Wisconsin and delivered to locations here in the US as well as to facilities around the world.

The third way we benefit is when our clients expand their R&D and manufacturing operations into a given region or country, we have expanded our operations to provide efficient service and support through local resources. To date, we have expanded our operations from the US into England and into China to serve our primarily US-based clients. Once we are established in foreign countries, we expand our offerings to new clients in these regions. For example, from our England base of operations we are now able to serve clients in England, Northern Ireland, Germany, Romania and other European locations. 

Passing TPA will give President Obama the authority and direction to negotiate the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and other free trade agreement will provide the basis for continued growth of ACS including the opportunity to hire additional engineering and skilled trades personnel here in the US.