Strengthening American Manufacturing: How Mag Instrument Gets Involved

Mag Instrument is the only flashlight company with significant market share that still manufactures its entire line of flashlights in the United States. Unlike its competitors, Mag Instrument has chosen not to outsource the manufacturing of its flashlights to foreign countries in order to take advantage of cheap labor and less stringent environmental standards, which may also result in inferior quality.

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The outsourcing of manufacturing by other U.S. companies has caused hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of jobs in the United States to be lost. Indeed, if Mag Instrument had chosen the path of other flashlight companies, the jobs of its employees in Ontario, California would have been lost.

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Mag Instrument believes in “free trade” but free trade must also be “fair trade” to ensure that there is a level playing field for all of the trading partners of the U.S.. This includes trade agreements that contain provisions related to product quality, consumer protection, intellectual property rights, fair labor standards, employee dignity, safe working conditions, safeguarding of natural resources, environmental protection, and elimination of unfair trade barriers that impede the free flow of goods and services. Mag relishes the competitive nature of a free and fair global marketplace and believes the U.S. can compete with any country in the world given these conditions.

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By keeping flashlight manufacturing jobs in America, Mag Instrument “puts its money where its mouth is”. But when it comes to promoting U.S.-based manufacturing, Mag Instrument does much more than just set a good example. Here are a few of the company’s involvements:

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Mag Instrument frequently corresponds with government officials on manufacturing-related legislative policy. Upon the topics on which Mag has spoken out are tax measures to encourage the health and growth of American manufacturing, such as manufacturing tax credits, the reform of the depreciation rules relating to manufacturing facilities and equipment, and the preservation of “Subchapter S” tax status for the companies of successful manufacturing entrepreneurs.

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Mr. Maglica is frequently invited to speak, give interviews and participate in conferences on U.S. manufacturing trade, tax and regulatory policy, including topics such as: Intellectual property rights; investment tax credits for U.S.-based manufacturing; maintaining a “level playing field” in international trading relationships involving the United States; a jobs tax credit for U.S. manufacturers; and a tax credit for export sales by companies who do their manufacturing in the United States. Mr. Maglica is often approached for comment by magazines that focus on business, economic development and manufacturing.

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Mag Instrument advocates strong intellectual property rights. A key ingredient in any successful formula for maintaining a strong manufacturing base is robust legal protection for the intellectual property that innovative and entrepreneurial companies create. Here again, Mag Instrument gets involved — not only in the arenas of government and business but also, when necessary, in the courts. Tony Maglica is personally involved in all product research and development, and Mag Instrument holds hundreds of patents and trademarks for features that are employed in company products. Over the past decade and a half, Mag Instrument not only has vigorously advocated for strong intellectual property rights but also has vigorously enforced its own intellectual property rights, in courts here and abroad, against those who would “knock off” its successful products by imitating their trademarked appearance features, infringing the patents that cover them, and appropriating the company’s secret and proprietary plans and know-how. Mr. Maglica believes that all American manufacturers benefit from the aggressive defense of intellectual property rights against any and all infringers.