New Jersey manufacturers of cranberry juice, cardboard boxes, pencils, seafood, baseball gloves and chemicals set up exhibit booths in the Statehouse today to make officials aware of the problems they face dealing with government regulations and the state’s high-cost business climate.

“Made in New Jersey Day,” an annual event of the New Jersey Business & Industry Association, brought 25 member companies to Trenton to highlight what NJBIA called “a valuable but vulnerable” sector of the state economy. The sector today employs about 260,000 workers, down from 305,800 when the recession began in December of 2007.

Clifford Lindholm, president of Falstrom Co., a Passaic-based defense contractor, said, “The reason why we’re here today is to convey to elected and appointed officials how important manufacturing is to the state of the economy, and

(ThinkStock photo)

The long-term decline in the state’s factory work force to some degree reflects increased productivity, which enables firms to produce as much or more with fewer people, Lindholm said. “But it is a concern when you see manufacturing jobs go out of the state--or just go away permanently,” he added.

Several of the manufacturing executives said they want state government to reduce the regulatory and tax burdens on their companies that make it difficult to compete with producers in lower-cost venues. They also appealed on behalf of their workers for help reducing New Jersey’s high cost of living­, which makes it difficult for their employees to buy homes and pay property taxes.

Frank Seemcer Jr. is director of sales for Micro Stamping Corp. in Somerset, a precision metals producer that employs 275 people in New Jersey. When the company hires an out-of-state employee, “we have to relocate them, and the cost of moving from a place like Detroit to New Jersey is a shock to people.”

Bob Staudinger, of National Manufacturing Co., a Chatham firm whose 160 people make high-tech metal components, said he wants the Legislature to understand:

“We provide a lot of good-paying jobs for people with education and skills. We need the Legislature to support us and create a friendly environment so we can compete with other companies in the U.S. and overseas.”

Staudinger said his company can compete worldwide, despite the high costs in New Jersey, “because of automation, and high quality [products], and having the best people and being easy to do business with.” He said other states have tried to persuade his company to relocate, “but this is where our people are.”

The high cost of health insurance is a major issue for Accurate Box Co., which has 180 employees in Paterson, said President Lisa Hirsh. She said the company pays 90 percent of the health insurance premiums for workers, or about $16,000 a year for a family policy. “We have a really great work force in New Jersey, and that is a big reason to stay here,” she said. Beside high health care costs, New Jersey keeps imposing new fees on business, she said.

E-mail Beth Fitzgerald at bfitzgerald@njbiz.com