Barriers to a sustained and broad-based U.S. manufacturing comeback are well documented, but what opportunities should local and regional businesses and planners be focusing on? What industries or market openings best fit the attributes of local economies?
There are also opportunities leading manufacturers across industry boundaries to partner with companies that have similar customers and values. Business leaders should take note.
One area of considerable promise is the intersection between outdoor industry and natural products — calling cards of the economies of the American West. Think about it: Consumers of healthy food and beverages are often the same people leading active outdoor lifestyles.
Alissa Sears is co-founder of AdVenturesAcademy and VP growth & strategy at Christie & Co, a communications firm focused on companies across the natural products, outdoor, and sustainable agriculture industries. At Outdoor Retailer’s Summer Market in Denver this July, she’s organizing an event to showcase businesses operating at the intersection of these dynamic industries to like-minded investors.
“We have focused on the intersection of outdoor and natural products because of the inherent consumer alignments and shared values,” says Sears, “but it’s also about unrealized efficiencies. As retail continues to evolve, oscillating between e-commerce and brick and mortar, we’ve seen increased interest in natural products companies seeking to differentiate through being where their consumers live and play — camping, on hikes, in climbing gyms, or wherever their lifestyle choices take them.”
Sears sees retailers getting in the game as well, as does anyone who’s walked past the wall of energy bars and natural good products at an REI checkout. “Outdoor retailers are also looking for ways to increase frequency of customer visits, provide education around ‘clean fuel’ for their customers, and find other ways to add to their shopping experience,” says Sears. “Food, beverage, nutrition, and personal care have increasingly been seen as opportunities to achieve those goals.”
In the vernacular of these newly connecting industries, retailers are new “experiential channels,” according to Zach DeAngelo, partner at the brand management firm Rodeo CPG. For retailers, according to DeAngelo, Sears’ “clean fuel” is “a natural extension and opportunity to deepen customer engagement and experiential education.”
Heady stuff, and it’s not only product manufacturers and their distribution channels that are evolving. Investors are taking note, according to Sears. “We’ve also seen investors who have traditionally focused on one sector or the other realize the alignments and crossover opportunities,” she says. “They’re already a critical part of the growth ecosystem, and here, they also have the ability to help shape these emerging opportunities, with funds to expedite growth, guidance around prioritizing growth strategies, and the experience and wisdom of knowing when to say no. They are key growth partners and it’s essential to ensure alignment to best overcome the inherent challenges of growth together.”
Sears accomplishes this by bringing together companies and investors in out-of-the-box environments. When I mention the investor conferences we’ve hosted in Denver the past few years, she smiles — a “been there, done that” nod that was just less than disapproving. But why meet in a conventional venue when the mountains of Ecuador beckon?
“We harness the power of adventure to deepen engagement,” she explains, “bringing together entrepreneurs, investors and industry leaders at this intersection and get them outdoors together through our experiential programming — Colorado backcountry hut trips, surf trips in California, climbing in Ecuador. We know that the best businesses are the ones that do it differently. Push the limits. Make the impossible possible.”
She adds, “Companies are adapting to rapidly shifting terrain, realizing that ‘business as usual’ is no more. They are getting more creative in how they approach growth, exploring new distribution channels, developing collaborative product lines, engaging advisors and investors with cross-sector experience.”
Denver’s not Ecuador, but Sears has something special in mind for the pitch event at Outdoor Retailer. “The Entrepreneur + Investor [Tent]Pitch will go beyond the traditional pitch event to highlight the importance of aligned relationships between entrepreneurs and investors through connecting at a deeper level. We will showcase eight entrepreneur and investor teams at the intersection of outdoor and natural products, bringing together key decision makers from both industries to explore opportunities to align forces and unlock crossover growth opportunities.”
Sears is accepting applications for both companies and investors to participate in the OR pitch event. Contact her here, or drop me a line.
Bart Taylor is publisher of CompanyWeek. Reach him at btaylor@companyweek.com.
Two ways robotics and automation are transforming manufacturing in our backyard
/in General/by Bart TaylorManufacturing automation is in the news and in our profiles. Here are two or three takeaways.
Two weeks ago, I attended the California Network of Manufacturing Innovation’s excellent conference, “Automation: The Next Generation of Lean,” at UC Irvine. Among the messages from industry professionals speaking at the event: Automation is coming, get ready or get left behind; the implementation “gap” between large companies and the small to midsized majority of manufacturers is Grand Canyon-like — but cobots and other entry-level robots provide a short-path to automation; and robots are less displacing workers than enabling companies to reallocate labor to more value-added roles.
It’s a key point, one echoed by owner Dave Kush in the Axis Robotics profile in this week’s Colorado newsletter. Contrary to the popular narrative, many robotics deployments are enabling companies to free up employees to focus on more value-add work. As one panelists said, “We don’t see a lot of jobs being lost to automation. We see a repurposing of labor into areas that are value-added to the company.”
For one, the trend is changing what a Quality Control room looks like. Today in job shops throughout manufacturing, people are inspecting hundreds and thousands of the same part, nobly searching for minor imperfections. In five years, QC will be a fully automated function for many of these same companies.
(As a cautionary tale, a slower embrace of robotics and automation challenges the notion that collectively, U.S. companies are leading a global tech surge in manufacturing. For a more sobering assessment of productivity gains in the US compared to other advanced manufacturing countries, read this eye-opening feature in Quartz.)
I wrote last week that Swiss Productions‘ Timo Lunceford is chasing opportunity by investing in equipment at the Ventura-based company — in this case new machines to more precisely fabricate the parts and pieces of bioscience and medical device manufacturing. Lunceford is driving growth by being more precise in what he currently does, innovation that’s enabling him to expand what he makes and assembles for key OEMs.
It’s a trend we see more in California manufacturing: technology, processes, and OEM interest in reimaging a domestic supply-chain — all leading to a heightened competitive capability in the sector, in contract manufacturing in particular.
I couldn’t have written a better description for what’s happening at Colorado Manufacturing Award-winning Manes Machine in Fort Collins. I stopped in to visit CEO Bruce Page last week.
Page is also investing — on a larger scale. Manes is a best-in-class aerospace manufacturer whose calling card has been large, fabricated components in aircraft like Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner.
Page is increasing Manes’ competitiveness with robotics that connect multiple machining platforms, as state-of-the-art data management tools provide constant information to operators and managers. It’s a technology and automation play that is truly transformative. Page’s advanced machines are fabricating the same parts for Boeing’s fleet of airplanes, but with increased efficiency and access to data that’s improving company profitability and competitiveness.
But there’s more: The technology is fundamentally changing Manes’ workforce equation by attracting talent that a decade ago would have bypassed heavy contract manufacturing altogether. It’s also lessening the burden of training and retaining a workforce that’s become nearly impossible to replace. It’s the new face of manufacturing. We’ll profile Manes Machine later this summer.
As I also said last week, it’s an incredible time to be involved with manufacturing.
Bart Taylor is publisher of CompanyWeek. Email him at btaylor@companyweek.com.
Takeaways from a year of publishing in California
/in General/by Bart TaylorJune marks the one-year anniversary for CompanyWeek in California. It’s been a year of exploration, of growth, of learning and listening, and, more than anything, of coming to grips with America’s largest and most diverse statewide manufacturing economy.
Here’s a short list of takeaways after year one:
As we get underway in Year Two, we’ll pick up the pace of coverage with more profiles and industry reports. And we’ll bring manufacturers together around funding and financing and to collaborate across industries.
Thanks for supporting our mission along the way.
Bart Taylor is publisher of CompanyWeek. Reach him at btaylor@companyweek.com.
Food revolution the tip of the iceberg as manufacturing industries innovate
/in General/by Bart TaylorThe Wall Street Journal‘s reporting last week on how big food is struggling to keep pace with innovation underscores the influence of the 100-plus food companies we’ve featured the past four-plus years. It also echoes the message we’ve been trumpeting at the same time: We’re witnessing a full-on food and beverage revolution.
But as much as CompanyWeek‘s food and beverage archive, or a WSJ headline like “Small Brands Are Taking a Thousand Little Bites Out of Campbell’s Business” reflect manufacturing’s new influence and character, production is often downplayed. Brands innovate, the thinking goes. Where, or how, companies choose to manufacture products is a minor detail.
I recently argued how flawed this thinking is with respect to the outdoor industry. The logic falls flat in the food business as well, if for other reasons. Without a new and innovative manufacturing ecosystem, the “thousand bites” taking a toll on Big Food would be a half-dozen, and Campbell’s would still today be the arbiter of innovation in the sector.
But it’s not, because Richard Lappen, Robbie Rech, and Manoj Venugopal and other first-moving production innovators were busy developing a world-class, scalable manufacturing ecosystem. Food brands don’t have the option to offshore production; without enhanced domestic production focused on small companies, we wouldn’t have a revolution in the food sector.
Food innovators are also looking outside the conventional supply chain for new ideas and inspiration. Josh and Christi Skow’s Canyon Bakehouse looked to aerospace innovator NFT Automation for automation solutions in their gluten-free bakery. Jennifer and Jeff Vierling at Durango’s Tailwind Nutrition leaned on Ska Fabricating, progeny of the prolific Ska Brewing, to develop production lines for Tailwind’s line of powdered drink mixes.
It’s the tip of the iceberg. Manufacturing innovations will drive product and brand development in countless other ways, much of it current technology and processes bleeding across vertical markets. Call it Supply Chain 4.0, a new ecosystem where production innovations developed by brewers and distillers, wine and beverage brands, food, edibles, and the variety of consumer brands and OEMs in the region are shared across industries, refined, and delivered back by a more capable supply chain.
Today manufacturers need to know how other companies are utilizing new workforce options like apprenticeships; how equipment innovation is facilitating new, low-tolerance fabricating onshore, across multiple industries; the promise of direct-to-consumer models in apparel and consumer goods that enable brands to cut costs, dollars that can be poured back into design, domestic sourcing, or production; and myriad other innovations transportable across vertical markets and industries silos.
The lessons of Small Food, where creativity and the will to challenge conventional wisdom have combined with production innovations to vault the regional sector to national renown, aren’t isolated. As we bring companies together from across industries to explore the possibilities, we’ll report on the seismic outcomes.
Stay tuned.
Bart Taylor is publisher of CompanyWeek. Email him at btaylor@companyweek.com.
The numbers behind manufacturing’s comeback are stunning. Do they add up to a more resilient sector?
/in General/by Bart TaylorManufacturing’s comeback is a hot national topic. It’s also a contrast to the post-recession narrative, when manufacturing had lost hundreds of thousands of jobs and was declared dead and buried.
Today the numbers tell a different story:
Does all of this translate into a more resilient sector? The answer is less clear.
Manufacturers cite workforce challenges as a barrier to growth. Can it stop sector development cold?
Maybe. It’s a multi-faceted challenge. Re-training a new manufacturing workforce to meet the needs of a modern sector is challenge one.
Affordable housing is a close second. I’ve written how Naturally Bay Area, formed to model Naturally Boulder’s success, might incubate and accelerate companies only to see them move for lack of manufacturing infrastructure and employees.
Even as business finds a way, economic developers still lack a playbook, a blueprint, to guide the development of the manufacturing supply chain. What are the ingredients for success, and for which industries? Build it and they will come, but how to determine what’s lacking? Today the regional manufacturing supply chain is more spotty than complete.
Cohesive, pro-manufacturing public policy is as elusive. Do tariffs serve the collective interests of manufacturers? How will immigrant-reliant industries like food and ag manage growth with fewer employees? Tax cuts are great. Trillion-dollar deficits increase uncertainty.
Benitez’s “connected economies” are still unconnected, largely.
But the next exponential leap in industry development — and resiliency — will occur when brands are clustered with their means of production and with others outside their current sphere of influence, companies that share common opportunities and challenges.
Exhibit A: How powerful would Colorado’s outdoor industry be if it were better aligned with regional manufacturers building its toys and with the state’s tourism juggernaut? We’ll dig deeper into the concept in the coming months.
In the end the American West has the upper hand. Net in-migration and positive outcomes of well-funded workforce initiatives will rebuild the talent pipeline. Industries will get connected.
Until then, the revolution is being televised. Don’t miss it.
Bart Taylor is publisher of CompanyWeek. Reach him at btaylor@companyweek.com.
Why natural products and outdoor industry companies are collaborating to advance their interests.
/in General/by Bart TaylorBarriers to a sustained and broad-based U.S. manufacturing comeback are well documented, but what opportunities should local and regional businesses and planners be focusing on? What industries or market openings best fit the attributes of local economies?
There are also opportunities leading manufacturers across industry boundaries to partner with companies that have similar customers and values. Business leaders should take note.
One area of considerable promise is the intersection between outdoor industry and natural products — calling cards of the economies of the American West. Think about it: Consumers of healthy food and beverages are often the same people leading active outdoor lifestyles.
Alissa Sears is co-founder of AdVenturesAcademy and VP growth & strategy at Christie & Co, a communications firm focused on companies across the natural products, outdoor, and sustainable agriculture industries. At Outdoor Retailer’s Summer Market in Denver this July, she’s organizing an event to showcase businesses operating at the intersection of these dynamic industries to like-minded investors.
“We have focused on the intersection of outdoor and natural products because of the inherent consumer alignments and shared values,” says Sears, “but it’s also about unrealized efficiencies. As retail continues to evolve, oscillating between e-commerce and brick and mortar, we’ve seen increased interest in natural products companies seeking to differentiate through being where their consumers live and play — camping, on hikes, in climbing gyms, or wherever their lifestyle choices take them.”
Sears sees retailers getting in the game as well, as does anyone who’s walked past the wall of energy bars and natural good products at an REI checkout. “Outdoor retailers are also looking for ways to increase frequency of customer visits, provide education around ‘clean fuel’ for their customers, and find other ways to add to their shopping experience,” says Sears. “Food, beverage, nutrition, and personal care have increasingly been seen as opportunities to achieve those goals.”
In the vernacular of these newly connecting industries, retailers are new “experiential channels,” according to Zach DeAngelo, partner at the brand management firm Rodeo CPG. For retailers, according to DeAngelo, Sears’ “clean fuel” is “a natural extension and opportunity to deepen customer engagement and experiential education.”
Heady stuff, and it’s not only product manufacturers and their distribution channels that are evolving. Investors are taking note, according to Sears. “We’ve also seen investors who have traditionally focused on one sector or the other realize the alignments and crossover opportunities,” she says. “They’re already a critical part of the growth ecosystem, and here, they also have the ability to help shape these emerging opportunities, with funds to expedite growth, guidance around prioritizing growth strategies, and the experience and wisdom of knowing when to say no. They are key growth partners and it’s essential to ensure alignment to best overcome the inherent challenges of growth together.”
Sears accomplishes this by bringing together companies and investors in out-of-the-box environments. When I mention the investor conferences we’ve hosted in Denver the past few years, she smiles — a “been there, done that” nod that was just less than disapproving. But why meet in a conventional venue when the mountains of Ecuador beckon?
“We harness the power of adventure to deepen engagement,” she explains, “bringing together entrepreneurs, investors and industry leaders at this intersection and get them outdoors together through our experiential programming — Colorado backcountry hut trips, surf trips in California, climbing in Ecuador. We know that the best businesses are the ones that do it differently. Push the limits. Make the impossible possible.”
She adds, “Companies are adapting to rapidly shifting terrain, realizing that ‘business as usual’ is no more. They are getting more creative in how they approach growth, exploring new distribution channels, developing collaborative product lines, engaging advisors and investors with cross-sector experience.”
Denver’s not Ecuador, but Sears has something special in mind for the pitch event at Outdoor Retailer. “The Entrepreneur + Investor [Tent]Pitch will go beyond the traditional pitch event to highlight the importance of aligned relationships between entrepreneurs and investors through connecting at a deeper level. We will showcase eight entrepreneur and investor teams at the intersection of outdoor and natural products, bringing together key decision makers from both industries to explore opportunities to align forces and unlock crossover growth opportunities.”
Sears is accepting applications for both companies and investors to participate in the OR pitch event. Contact her here, or drop me a line.
Bart Taylor is publisher of CompanyWeek. Reach him at btaylor@companyweek.com.
The Outdoor Industry faces a manufacturing reckoning. How will its leaders respond?
/in General/by Bart TaylorIs there an industry more challenged by its success than the Outdoor Industry?
Take Nike, a colossus of OI. Phil Knight’s now famous sojourns to Asia to establish a shoe manufacturing beachhead opened the floodgates for American brands to offshore en masse, and boy, have they. Still today, brands of all sizes follow Knight’s Orient Express to ensconse production in thriving, world-class shoe and apparel factories, primarily in China.
The results have been stunning. Chinese factories are so capable that today “the likes of Balenciaga have started manufacturing in the country,” according to GQ. (Did you know that a $700 cross-trainer was even available? Neither did I.) The investments in infrastructure and people have transformed China into an OI manufacturing superpower.
But as business media reports, Nike, Adidas, and others are leaving China in search of cheaper labor in other markets — like Vietnam. It’s part of a modern shell game brands now manage, one precipitated by their own success in creating centers of manufacturing excellence offshore that are, by definition, increasingly expensive to operate. Qualified labor, benefits, advanced technology, and materials — the price of world-class manufacturing — are becoming as pricey in China as they are in Detroit.
After helping transform China into a economic behemoth, sights are now set on other Asian countries where major investments in infrastructure can be offset by lower labor costs. It’s the offshore playbook, out of print and updated for an iPad.
Here’s the rub: Today OI brands are motivated by more than profit. It’s an industry packed full of change agents who are moved to steward public lands, develop “authentic” brands, preserve finite resources, and generally make the business world a more sustainable, friendly place.
How to rationalize, then, the inherent unsustainability of an Asian supply chain? Or rural unemployment and dogged underemployment in states home to the same brands that are investing in jobs and production infrastructure in overseas communities? Or how to justify a lack of credible environmental oversight in countries home to the apparel factories of U.S. OI brands, as the industry wields its considerable power here to punish states for public lands policy?
As uncomfortable OI brands are with this paradox, they’re not showing it. Domestic manufacturing is making a comeback, but in OI circles, the question of where its products are made is largely a back-burner issue. The Industry still operates under a halo of tacit approval that brands must offshore production to stay in business, or, that it’s okay to relegate manufacturing to remote destinations. We’ve embraced the methodology of U.S. brands pouring profits into the development of world-class manufacturing facilities offshore, not here.
Until now.
For one, there’s a vanguard of companies challenging conventional wisdom, companies that have simply said that offshore production will not be part of corporate or product DNA. CompanyWeek Editor Eric Peterson reminds us of several Colorado-based companies that fit the bill, this week.
Alchemy Bicycle Co. is first on the list and in the alphabet, but Ryan Cannizzaro’s mission and accomplishment is not trivial. Alchemy, like Utah-based ENVE, maker of the wheels mounted on most all of its frames, decided composite frame manufacturing could be established in the U.S. despite Taiwan’s hammer lock on the sector. Today Alchemy is battling for market share against U.S. brands made in Taiwan at the same time it challenges the notion that OI products have to be made offshore.
But it’s consumers who may force OI brands to follow the lead of Alchemy and others. Buyers unerringly force companies to keep their brand promise, and if OI is to live up to the lofty ideas and rhetoric of its spokespeople, the contradictions of its manufacturing strategy may move from back burner to center stage.
We’ll be there to celebrate the shift.
Bart Taylor is publisher of CompanyWeek. Email him at btaylor@companyweek.com.
Skip tax cuts and invest in industry-specific supply chains to grow manufacturing
/in General/by Bart TaylorIn a Washington Post column last week, economists Jared Bernstein and Somin Park cited the work of Tim Bartik, who outlined what he called the “three habits of highly successful manufacturing-intensive communities,” including:
The upshot of Bartik’s analysis is that the standard playbook economic developers use to recruit and retain manufacturing companies — usually a mix of tax cuts and business incentives — today lacks in comparison to the benefit of investments in targeted services and strategies. Build a supply chain, and manufacturers will come.
A lesson from the regional markets we report on is that better yet, build an industry-tailored ecosystem.
Here’s why. If today your community lacks a capable base of precision contract manufacturers and engineering and design services, but boasts a rich farm and ag supply chain and concentration of outdoor and lifestyle assets, a deliberate effort to recruit and nurture natural food and craft beverage companies makes more sense than developing an aerospace cluster. Both are manufacturing. Both are increasingly attractive as communities seek more light industry. But one provides a more direct line to a thriving maker economy.
An investment strategy for communities might begin with an assessment of current business assets and capabilities, including:
It follows that cities and communities can then assess how well-matched target industries are to local and regional business assets, whether steps can be take to address supply-chain gaps, or whether a pivot to better-matched manufacturing industries might be a better plan.
How to fill the gaps? Over the next 12 months, CompanyWeek will be active in working with both companies and communities to develop more robust industry blueprints for the development of manufacturing supply chains. We’re certainly not alone in seeking to foster more manufacturing-intensive communities.
Bart Taylor is publisher of CompanyWeek. Reach him at btaylor@companyweek.com.
Here’s the second wave of 2018 Colorado Manufacturing Awards finalists
/in General/by Bart TaylorFive years ago, an awards program for Colorado makers and manufactures didn’t exist. Today, selecting finalists for the third annual Colorado Manufacturing Awards is like drinking from a fire hose. So much innovation, entrepreneurship, manufacturing acumen, and market leadership to choose from. Who knew?
We did.
Here’s the second and final wave of finalists for this year’s CMAs. (We published the first group last week.)
Last year, we named Fort Collins/Loveland the state’s top manufacturing community, given its compelling mix of manufacturing industries, R&D ecosystem, and effective trade leadership. This year, we invited the NoCo Manufacturing Partnership to help us with the Outstanding Consumer & Lifestyle Brand, in part because they made us look smart. The organization has received national attention for its approach in developing sector support for manufacturing, and the finalists in the category — Denver’s Sarabella Fishing and Knotty Tie, and Grand Junction’s mobile lifestyle brand Vintage Overland — represent the category, and entire state, with distinction.
CAMA, the Colorado Advanced Manufacturing Association, took a different tact and focused on the rich if underpublicized manufacturing community in Colorado Springs to select the three finalists for Outstanding Industrial & Equipment Manufacturer. The finalists are more diverse, with CNC stalwart Diversified Machine Systems, antenna concealment specialist ConcealFab, and the influential fabricator IP Automation, representing Colorado’s deep industrial category from the Springs.
In 2017, Colorado’s brilliant food sector had a distinctive industrial flavor at the CMAs, with bio-specialist MycoTechnology and supply-chain ace Ardent Mills capturing food-related hardware. This year, we invited Colorado Proud, the Colorado Department of Agriculture’s champion for local producers, to help us reconnect with smaller operators with the Small Food Brand of the Year award. It’s a gargantuan task given the innovation coursing through the sector. In fact, in the time it takes us to publish this list, finalists Blue Moon Goodness, Cusa Tea, and The Real Dill may already have outgrown the $2 million in top-line revenue we identified as a small brand threshold.
The Colorado Cleantech Industries Association (CCIA) continues to help companies commercialize and accelerate an array of solutions in the energy economy, at times against an unpredictable public policy backdrop. They also helped us identify three of Colorado’s top cleantech companies for Outstanding Energy & Environmental Manufacturer. Loveland’s Lightning Systems and Denver’s RavenWindow and AMP Robotics are a predictably strong group that again exemplifies the region’s influential cleantech ecosystem.
Aerospace is a regional economic calling card and when paired up with the growing number of electronics manufacturers, many developing solutions for aviation and aerospace OEMs, the award for Outstanding Aerospace & Electronics Manufacturer carries additional weight. This year the Colorado Space Business Roundtable and Manufacturer’s Edge looked across the spectrum of A&E companies to select AMPT, general aviation stalwart Air Comm Corporation, and one of Colorado’s spacecraft stars, Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Space Systems.
If you’re of the opinion that we’ve left some deserving companies off this list, you’re not alone.
As you ponder next year’s list, REGISTER HERE to attend this year’s Colorado Manufacturing Awards event. Miss it, and you’ll miss the best business event on the calendar.
Bart Taylor is publisher of CompanyWeek. Reach him at btaylor@companyweek.com.
NAM’s politics shortchange small manufacturers
/in General/by Bart TaylorThings are good for America’s large manufacturers, says Jay Timmons, CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). Timmons borrowed an Olympic metaphor last month to proclaim that manufacturing is “going for the gold,” pleased as he is with the trifecta of regulatory relief, lower tax rates, and a proposed $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan, courtesy of President Trump.
His elation is understandable given the high confidence level of his membership and newfound influence in the White House. Timmons picked sides, and his affection for President Trump is as well documented as his enmity for his predecessor.
But of all the reasons to be enthusiastic about manufacturing, and there are many, government’s stewardship of the manufacturing economy should excite Timmons the least. Sure, it’s NAM’s job to move public policy in favor of manufacturing. Yet NAM’s responsibility is to companies large and small, across diverse industries, and it’s an open question as to whether the vast community of small and middle-market companies are feeling the love. The celebration seems premature.
Today channeling Trump also means: supporting tariffs that may raise materials costs for manufacturers and diminish already thin supply-chain options; abandoning trade agreements altogether; diminished environmental stewardship, important to emerging manufacturing sectors like outdoor industry; uncertainty and confrontation in immigration, healthcare, and the emerging cannabis market; and outright hostility to business defying the NRA.
Companies will navigate America’s diverse business and cultural ecosystem to find the state or region that best fits their own operating values. Celebrating public policy that works to lift all of American manufacturing is a meaningful role for NAM, including advocacy for policy initiatives specific to the needs of small manufacturers:
Becoming just another partisan player in the polarized milieu in Washington, D.C. is a dead end for NAM and the small manufacturers it supports. Time to widen its purview.
Bart Taylor is publisher of CompanyWeek. Reach him at btaylor@companyweek.com.
Here’s the first wave of finalists for the 2018 Colorado Manufacturing Awards
/in General/by Bart TaylorWith the Olympic Games and Academy Awards providing a worthy backdrop, we’re set to announce finalists in the most important competition of the spring, the Colorado Manufacturing Awards. Gold medals and Oscars have nothing on us.
The 2018 CMAs again recognize outstanding maker and manufacturing businesses across multiple industries, but this year with a meaningful twist. We invited 10 of Colorado’s creative trade and business organizations to help us select worthy finalists within their industry communities. It’s a tip of the cap to their great work, but also a reminder of how manufacturing’s influence spans so many of the region’s key industries.
So here’s a first look at finalists from half the field. We’ll report on the rest next week, as we near the April 5 Colorado Manufacturing Awards gala event, where we’ll announce category winners at The Cable Center at University of Denver.
At some point in the past year, we had no choice but to distinguish Colorado’s brilliant cadre of contract manufacturers with their own category. We reached out to the Rocky Mountain Tooling and Machining Association (RMTMA) to help us identify three finalists, and it’s a predictably strong group. Boulder’s Tecomet, Ft. Collins’ Manes Machine, and standout Arvada aerospace shop Faustson Tool are this year’s deserving finalists for Outstanding Contract Manufacturer.
The Colorado Distillers Guild helped us select three candidates for Outstanding Craft Distiller. Finalists reflect a deep statewide movement that’s positioned Colorado’s sector as a national leader. Carbondale’s Marble Distilling Company, Crested Butte’s Montanya Distillers, and Denver’s standout early-mover Leopold Bros. comprise this powerhouse group.
The region’s craft brewers are a force of nature, today with over 350 companies shaping a regional beer tsunami. With so much innovation, entrepreneurship, and community-building, it’s at once easy yet incredibly difficult to select three — and only three — finalists for Outstanding Craft Brewery. With an assist from the Colorado Brewers Guild, this year’s finalist group includes Longmont’s iconic Left Hand Brewing Company, Divide’s barrel-aged masters Paradox Beer Company, and the upstart artisans at Broomfield’s 4 Noses Brewing.
The State of Colorado has pegged bioscience as a “key industry” and the Colorado Bioscience Association is one of the region’s accomplished trade and business associations. The industry sector is informed by entrepreneurship and great science but also by manufacturing acumen, and finalists this year for Outstanding Bioscience Manufacturer flash all three. As additive manufacturing transforms how surgeons operate, Littleton’s 3D Systems is on its leading edge, and Allison Medical’s story is as compelling as TOLMAR Inc.‘s cancer-treating innovation. The three companies represent Colorado’s bioscience industry with distinction.
Outdoor industry has crashed the national business scene with the force of an avalanche and Colorado’s OI sector is poised to become an epicenter of product innovation and manufacturing. CO Active Colorado, one of the state’s newest trade associations, selected three finalists overcoming the challenges of domestic manufacturing to make and assemble a generation of high-performance gear using local talent, expertise, and grit. Denver’s Meier Skis, Phunkshun Wear, and Alchemy Bicycle Co. fit the Outstanding Outdoor Industry brand.
Next week, we’ll showcase the remaining five industry associations and category finalists: Outstanding Industrial & Equipment, Consumer & Lifestyle, Energy & Environment, Aerospace, and Small Food brands of the year.
REGISTER for the 2018 Colorado Manufacturing Awards event, but don’t wait: The event will sell out.