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Food brands and co-manufacturers retreat from the bleeding edge to survive and thrive
/in General/by Bart TaylorFood manufacturing is America’s great but underappreciated industrial success story, a tale of workforce growth fueled by innovation that’s even more impressive considering the full-tilt automation underway throughout the sector. Against a tide of robotics, job growth in food continues to be a highlight: But as much as innovation has been a catalyst, […]
As craft brewers grapple with a beer recession, less is more as new business models beckon
/in General/by Bart TaylorAmerica’s craft brewers would have been forgiven earlier this month for looking awry at a recurring headline in the Wall St. Journal: Why the Recession Still Isn’t Here might continue to describe macro conditions, but for much of the local suds industry, a deep downturn — a beer recession — has been a harsh reality […]
Industry Scorecard: Employment Data Points to a Healthy Manufacturing Economy, but High Costs Are a Headwind
/in General/by Bart TaylorThe state of US manufacturing is a mixed bag. There are plenty of positives. Total US manufacturing employment is poised to exceed 13 million workers for the first time since December 2008. (Manufacturing employment peaked in 1979, at just under 20 million.) Overall, the economy has added 800,000 or so net manufacturing jobs during President […]
How one Austin machinist is pushing back on America’s job-shop habit, one project at a time
/in General/by Bart TaylorAmerica’s precision machinists are searching for balance. On one hand, the business of contract manufacturing has become a lowest-cost, shortest lead-time proposition (read how, in space procurement). On the other hand, when provided room to operate, companies are leaning-in to engineering, to design-to-manufacture, to an operating ethos that values quality and acumen and technology and […]