Alan Beaulieu, President of ITR Economics, delivers the keynote address at FABTECH 2013 in Chicago, Illinois.

FABTECH 2013 opened Monday morning in Chicago with a keynote address from Alan Beaulieu, the President of ITR Economics.

Beaulieu spoke to a crowd of around 200 fabricating industry members and journalists about the outlook for the manufacturing sector, and the economy in general.

Overall, Beaulieu didn’t view the economy with the same dreary expectations as some have been wont to do, but took a realistic view to the future. He told the crowd that while the outlook for the future isn’t staggering, by no means is it bad either.

He cited U.S. government statistics that showed the pace of manufacturing was increasing, albeit at relatively slow rates. He also noted that the recent economic downturns in the 90s and the 2000s could be considered outliers more than anything.

The focus of his presentation was primarily on the U.S., however he also had kind words for the state of the Canadian economy.

“By the way, for the long-haul, Canada’s going to be hard to beat. Best banking system in the world, great immigration going on, natural resources, raw minerals,” he said, listing off positives.

“Canada’s economy has got lots of potential going forward, especially with the new (trade) agreement with Europe.

“I’m very bullish on Canada as we head into the future.”

However, he pointed out that with great strength comes a few challenges, and suggested Canadians consider expanding to American locations.

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“But, that means the economy will be stronger which means it makes it harder to sell to the U.S., so (Canadians) are going to have to hedge by having U.S. operations, in order to have a natural hedge for the stronger loonie against the greenback.”

Beaulieu also pointed out that both Canada and the U.S. are re-establishing themselves as energy superpowers. Canada with the oilsands and the U.S. through the use of fracking, which he suggested is becoming better, and safer as time wears on.

This energy growth will in turn lead to more jobs, particularly in the manufacturing sector.

Although there will still be one of the same concerns facing the U.S. that is also plaguing Canada – Mexican labour prices.

“Mexico is going to be on the upside in 2014. U.S. sellers in Mexico are going to find that Mexico is a great place to do business in years to come

“If you want a long-term economic play, you want to be thinking about Mexico.”

Overall the tone was that of optimism. Beaulieu cited a number of growth sectors – such as energy, housing, natural resources, and even 3D printing – as reasons to look positively on the economy going forward.

Finally, Beaulieu, an admittedly aggressive pro-business advocate, gave two simple suggestions to describe how manufacturers should approach their businesses.

The first: “Get the millenials involved in your business… Get their ideas and their innovations and their technology and make them a part of your business.”

The second: “There’s something in your company that’s an old basset hound. It’s lying around, and everybody loves it, people pet it and they think it’s important, and all it does is consume resources.”

“It’s time to take the basset hound to the farm.”