Liberty Laser Solutions was visited by Congressman Adam Kinzinger at its site in Marseilles, Illinois.
My Web Times reported on Kinzinger’s visit to the remanufacturer, which “has grown to be leading a remanufacturer of printer toner cartridges in the nation […] since its creation in a garage two decades ago”. The site added that “faced with stiff competition from foreign factories”, the company’s President Mindy Smith and CFO Shelly Eastman invisted Kinzinger, a Republican politician, “to tour their facilities”.
Smith stated that “in a global economy, cheap labour using questionable components kills profit margins for US manufacturers. And that is one of the main reasons we invited Congressman Kinzinger to our plant. We wanted to show him our team hard at work here. Our story is not unique. We wanted to speak with the Congressman about the problems associated with dealing with overseas competition.
“What can we do here to help the government understand we need to level the playing field? We offered to be a voice on this issue to the federal government”. During his tour, Smith and Eastman showed Kinzinger “various parts of the plant, introduced him to some of their 53 employees and pressed their case for across-the-board business reforms”.
Smith added that in regards to “goods coming into the country, “taxes on the border would help our business tremendously”, and Eastman pointed out that “Liberty has grown over the past three years — despite strong foreign competition — which proves there is a huge market out there for USA-produced products. But small manufacturers like us will need help to continue in the future”.
Smith also told Kinzinger that “we also wanted you to know that we’re interested in the community. We wish Illinois was more business-friendly, because Marseilles is our home — this is our employees’ home. We have a lot of pride in this company and we wanted you to understand. We pay good wages, which included full benefits and we want to continue to do so”.
Kinzinger told both Smith and Eastman that “he understood the problems in American manufacturing, and he welcomed the opportunity to see the plant and its workers personally”, commenting that “I found the tour and this place to be fascinating”, and that “it was good to hear the concerns from district business people, such as Smith and Eastman”, concluding that “I can see and feel the pride they and their workers have here”.