After launching CompanyWeek in 2013, I fought a running editorial battle with a cadre of business writers about the state of U.S. manufacturing. The narrative from the national writers was that manufacturing was no longer essential, a quaint vestige of an earlier economic era. Columnists from Forbes, Fortune, the Wall Street Journal — most all […]
In a March 2014 column, I encouraged Cory Gardner to run on manufacturing to win a Colorado Senate seat. Six years ago, a Republican hadn’t won a statewide election for governor or U.S. Senate since 2002, and from my vantage point, the GOP was fishing about for a compelling electoral strategy: “Gardner’s yet to articulate […]
CompanyWeek turns seven this September. Twice in the past seven years, we’ve ranked Colorado’s top manufacturing communities, most recently in early 2017. Our criteria then: a growing, compelling industry or cluster of maker industries, supported by purposeful public/private efforts to build a robust manufacturing economy. Here’s the 2017 list, followed by the 2015 ranking: Fort […]
The haphazard way we’ve managed the pandemic continues to add new wrinkles to manufacturing’s workforce challenge. The latest is the trend of parents leaving work for good to stay home with kids as schools remain shuttered. A month ago, it was only a possibility. Today, it’s a reality. Companies are losing key employees. Whether schools […]
The three finalists for 2020 Cannabis Manufacturer of the Year represent the diversity of operations in the cannabis sector, but more, the high bar being established by companies for quality and safety. Nominations were judged on the achievement of national quality and safety certifications and best practices. Stillwater Brands www.stillwaterbrands.life Commerce City Founded: 2014 Privately […]
If you wish hard enough, maybe it will go away. That seems to be the approach of Colorado Springs mayor John Suthers, who argued recently to prevent voters from deciding whether recreational cannabis could be sold in the city. His “sharp criticism” of the option dissuaded the city council from approving a ballot measure this […]
Innovation comes in many forms, and in this inaugural Colorado Manufacturing Award for Innovative Product of the Year, companies were asked to submit products distinguished by design-centered manufacturing, with the following criteria: Integration: degree to which manufacturing considerations are incorporated into the product design. Advanced processes: the use of advanced manufacturing processes Leading-edge visual aesthetic […]
The same day this week the Washington Post reported the Trump administration was “trying to block billions of dollars for states to conduct testing and contact tracing in the upcoming coronavirus relief bill,” Colorado Governor Jared Polis was encouraging the opposite, stating flatly, “The national testing scene is a complete disgrace,” while slamming the federal […]
For the CompanyWeek team, July feels like January. We’ve used the COVID-19 disruption to invest in both a redesign of CompanyWeek.com and a new supply-chain portal — SCoP. We launched our new site Monday, as the summer turned and as many companies look to the second half of 2020 as a new beginning. SCoP’s around […]
We’re all righteous in our indignation. Last April, after years of encouraging former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper to lean on his industry experience to take up the cause for manufacturing, I gave up. At the time, Hickenlooper’s presidential campaign, devoid of even a mention of his manufacturing experience, had crashed. I lamented the missed opportunity: […]