Manufacturing 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 […]
June 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: I lost track of the number of conversations […]
The 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 […]
Manufacturing’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: Four years ago, pundits cited sub-50 PMI levels (Purchasing Managers’ Index, a measure of manufacturing health) as evidence […]
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 […]
Is 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 […]
In 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: Customized services for small- and medium-sized manufacturers help them to overcome financing and information barriers, improve their technology and product design, and […]
Five 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 […]
Things 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 […]
With 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 […]