Reuters Manufacturing Summit quotes

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Manufacturing executives at the Reuters Manufacturing and Transportation Summit in Chicago were cautious about the pace of economic recovery and prospects for hiring.

Below are some of the comments from speakers at the summit on Tuesday:

RON DEFEO, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, TEREX CORP (TEX.N)

"We're trying not to hire anybody back, but adding people selectively where we feel pressure. It's important to manage this process, the leverage from managing additions can be phenomenal."

"It's tempting to think the current improvement in production may last forever and it may not. We're building to demand, we don't want to add cost again having just taken it out."

"It (recovery) will be progressive and we have to be balanced in our view. To think that things will automatically be great again is a misunderstanding of the business we're in."

"We've been down for several years and 2011 and 2012 will be strong relative to 2008-2009."

"This country is in more malaise than I've seen in my lifetime. We need an attitude of risk-taking, to challenge the status quo. We need to encourage products to be made in the U.S. I don't think it's a Democrat or a Republican problem, it's a systemic problem. It's a leadership problem of both parties."

"If we push this (dealing with high fiscal deficits) off to future generations, we'll step on the throat of future business expansion.

CHRISTOPHER KEARNEY, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, SPX Corp (SPW.N)

"The key to ultimate recovery is job creation here and abroad. We have to see some signs of sustained recovery and sustained demand in some of our key markets going forward (before we start hiring). We're being cautious."

"The way we have positioned ourselves in the world creates a very attractive opportunity for us to leverage what we have done in the United States and Europe and take that to China."

"We still see the acquisition market for our key strategic platforms as being relatively attractive. In the near to medium term that will continue to be true. We will continue to find opportunities to find acquisitions that will expand our product offering. We think the valuations remain pretty attractive."

"We're more likely to see recovery as we approach 2011... given the demand cycles and the underlying need that drives our major businesses.

STEVE ROELL, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, JOHNSON CONTROLS INC (JCI.N)

"I don't think we're going to get full economic recovery without the unemployment situation being remedied to some degree."

"One of our biggest issues is finding the talent that we need to updrive the growth we see in our building efficiency business. We're looking to hire hundreds if not thousands of engineers over the next five years to help us in terms of energy retrofits, lighting designs, things of that nature. We are trying to find energy auditors, people who can do a broad based energy assessment and manage solutions. Those people are not there. We're going to have to hire and develop those ourselves. That's one of the biggest challenges we have.

DANIEL USTIAN, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, NAVISTAR INTERNATIONAL CORP (NAV.N)

"Companies have found a way to be more efficient and I think as the market comes back and the economy comes back those jobs won't come back at the same pace and that'll be the same thing for us."

"Our employment because of our growth here has not gone down, but I don't see it coming back at the rate that production comes back."

"I know what it takes to run a successful, complex company that makes something that people buy versus some of the companies that are doing trading. I don't know what the skill level is, but I'll match them up to any of our engineers any day. There's so much more effort in ... a company that makes a product. They're making money but I don't think they're providing value to the country."

"Our country right now has a huge opportunity to be competitive making things. When you look at exchange rates around the world and the skill set around the world, we can compete anywhere."

JOHN RICE, VICE CHAIRMAN, General Electric Co (GE.N)

"We feel that the ground ahead is less bumpy than the ground behind."

"We're still in an environment where we're going to be watching and managing our head count carefully. But I can tell you we look every day at areas where we should be doing and investing more and adding jobs."

(Reporting by Nick Carey, editing by Matthew Lewis)