Touring New Way Air Bearings

Earlier today I visited New Way Air Bearings, a manufacturing company based in Aston. New Way is an amazing story of challenge and success here in Delaware County and a model example of the small businesses critical to America’s economic recovery.

In 1982, New Way was spun off from a family-owned business to develop a new kind of bearing used in manufacturing and machinery called an air bearing. In an air bearing, a thin film of pressurized air less than the width of a human hair bears the load between two surfaces that would otherwise be in contact with each other. This allows machinery to operate with zero wear, straighter motion and with as much as 1,000 times less friction than a standard ball bearing,

New Way’s products might be difficult to visualize, but the possibilities for their application are almost limitless. New Way’s bearings are used in the production of a diverse range of products, including high-resolution CT scanners and ultra-thin televisions. The friction-free nature of the air bearings has allowed New Way to explore using its bearings in the production of more efficient wind turbines and new energy storage techniques.

New Way has grown rapidly, and at its peak employed over 80 people here in Delaware County. However, New Way was nearly a casualty of the ongoing recession. In 2008 and 2009, capital expenditures among firms across the country were slashed and New Way’s revenue dropped over 60%. New Way’s entire management team immediately took a 30% pay cut in an effort to mitigate layoffs, but was still ultimately forced to lay off nearly two thirds of its workforce. New Way’s business eventually stabilized, and today it has rehired twenty employees since the middle of 2009.

New Way’s management expressed to me many of the same frustrations with government that I’ve heard repeated throughout the district, such as uncertainty about future tax hikes and fear of regulatory changes that will increase costs. In particular, New Way’s leadership expressed frustration with two particular government policies.

Due to a technicality in the tax code, New Way is unable to take advantage of the Research and Development Tax Credit, a program designed to incentivize investment in the fields of science and technology. According to the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, thousands of other small businesses across the country fall under the same classification that prohibits them from benefiting from the tax credit. This not only unfairly excludes New Way and other small businesses from receiving the tax deduction they deserve, but it leaves them at a competitive disadvantage against other firms that are able to conduct research and development at a lower cost due to the tax credit.

Additionally, as New Way was enduring its layoffs last year, it was suddenly slapped with a new regulatory requirement that increased its health benefit costs and forced the company to lay off two additional employees to stay in business.

Just as New Way was desperately slashing costs and shedding employees in order to stay afloat, it was incurring additional hardships as a direct result of government policy. Small businesses need government off their backs and out of their way in order to grow and succeed, and America’s economic recovery depends on those small businesses to create jobs and invest in the economy.

I’d like to thank New Way for extending me an invitation to visit their impressive facility, and I look forward to working with them as a Congressman to craft policies conducive to job creation and economic growth.