Stop Complaining, Start Building: Accumold's CEO on Manufacturing & Government Policy
Roger Hargens has a rule: don't complain about something you're not willing to help fix. He's followed it long enough to rack up two decades on Iowa's Innovation Council, a board seat on the Association of Business and Industry, and eventually a call asking if Accumold would host a vice presidential site visit.
Christina Fuges sits down with Hargens, CEO and President of Accumold, to talk about how that visit came together, the R&D tax credit and other state policies he points to as proof advocacy pays off, and how Accumold's high school senior apprenticeship program gets kids real shop floor experience alongside college credit. Accumold builds precision micro-molded components in Ankeny, Iowa — nearly 350 employees, pushing 40 years in business.
They get into:
- What pushed Hargens to start showing up at the statehouse instead of just complaining about it
- The tax and workforce policies he credits with Iowa's manufacturing growth
- How Accumold's senior apprenticeship program pairs shop floor work with high school and college credit
- Why the company also reaches kids as early as junior high, just to make manufacturing look like a real option
- The full story behind the VP site visit and how Accumold ended up hosting it
- How manufacturing leaders can get started with policy advocacy