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Dayton manufacturer tells Senate panel: Credit woes worsen downturn

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By Jessica Wehrman, Staff Writer 9:52 PM Wednesday, May 13, 2009

WASHINGTON — Dayton manufacturer Eugene Haffely Jr. has stared down a double-whammy over the last year: the economic downturn forced his company to reduce its work force by more than 25 percent, and the continued credit crunch made things worse.

His company, Assembly and Test Worldwide, had $150 million in revenues in 2008 but saw more than $20 million worth of orders canceled after last fall’s financial meltdown.

On Wednesday, May 13, he told a Senate panel that he wasn’t alone.

“As critical and necessary a part of our American manufacturing sector as we are, our industry is in danger of not surviving the current economic crisis,” Haffely, a member of the board of directors of the Association for Manufacturing Technology, told the Senate Committee on Banking’s Subcommittee on Economic Policy. “And the major reason for that is because a lack of credit is endangering the continued existence of virtually all our companies.”

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who chairs the subcommittee, said the credit crisis has squeezed an already struggling manufacturing sector. The U.S. Department of Labor last week reported the loss of 539,000 jobs in April, including 149,000 in manufacturing.

Haffely said in his 30 years in the industry he had “never seen a more difficult time for companies in our industry to obtain credit.”

“The future holds promise,” he said. “But our hands are tied if banks reduce lending to automotive and manufacturing companies because their revenues are dismal for the next few quarters as we work our way through the economic chaos.”

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