Commerce department administrator visits Green Bay company Hygenitec weighs in on manufacturing challenges By Anna Krejci News-Chronicle After the U.S. maritime deputy administrator toured the Brown County port Thursday, another federal government employee visited Green Bay on Tuesday. The U.S. Department of Commerce's new assistant commerce secretary for manufacturing and services, Albert Frink, spoke to the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce about the world economy at the KI Convention Center in Green Bay before touring Hygenitec LLC, a 15-month-old Green Bay company that has hired about 65 workers. Frink, a founder and former executive vice president of a California carpet company, Fabrica International, assumed the position less than a year ago after President Bush nominated him for the job in April. "In that position I will represent the voice of manufacturing, advocate for manufacturing, give it focus, give it force, give it identity and drive initiatives that have been established prior to my coming on board," he said. With lost manufacturing jobs, the position's concentration is to realize policies making the U.S. economy more manufacturer-friendly. Frink's goals include coordinating policies to prepare students for changing manufacturing jobs that rely on computerized machines. The president wants to set aside an additional $125 million for grants enabling high school students to attend community colleges. He will support the integration of technology into manufacturing and will reduce the cost of manufacturing in the United States, which he said was 22 percent greater than in other countries. The National Association of Manufacturers is promoting a study that says manufacturer's costs are higher in the United States because of taxes, employee benefits, lawsuits, energy and regulations. Frink said after the country lost 1.1 million jobs in the nine months following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, an unemployment rate of 5.4 percent now is a good sign. It is a better unemployment rate than the average rate of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, said Matt Englehart, communications director of manufacturing services for the commerce department. Seven out of 10 new manufacturing jobs are created by small businesses, Englehart said. Hygenitec settled in Green Bay because laborers here have an above-average "work ethic," said president Jim Livermore. The area has machinists and engineering firms to work with and the city made the area attractive, he added. Recent layoffs in the paper business also influenced their decision to locate in Green Bay. "In that sense, there's a silver lining for the economy slowing down for Hygenitec because, you know, it made good qualified people available to us," he said. Livermore said he felt honored to host Frink. "I think he's sincerely focused on trying to understand what in our case new companies, small businesses are looking for to be competitive in the future," Livermore said. Frink was talking with them about what helps companies distinguish themselves from competition, foreign or otherwise, he added. Despite a Washington Post article that reports that the position Frink holds is the re-designation of the assistant commerce secretary for trade development's position, Englehart said Frink's role entails new responsibilities, such as overseeing a new manufacturing council and unfair trade practices task force, as well as an interagency working group for manufacturers. Englehart said Frink has spoken with manufacturers in Illinois, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin since his appointment.