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 […]
Last November, we reported that a group in San Francisco was in the process of bringing Naturally Boulder‘s community-building model west, to better organize and accelerate northern California’s natural and organic product ecosystem. Vision became reality January 21 with the sold-out kickoff of Naturally Bay Area at the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco. […]
It’s a contrarian view to consider Apple a manufacturer and not a tech company. But as we’ve argued, how else to describe the world’s most valuable brand? Last year Apple spent about $50 billion with U.S.-based suppliers and manufacturers to build its suite of technology products. By any measure, a company that invests $50 billion […]
U.S. manufacturing enters 2018 with momentum and considerable promise. For starters, in this golden age of corporatism, America’s blue-chip manufacturing brands are prospering. More than that, manufacturers have a once-in-a-generation chance to improve their own fortunes by investing the windfall of tax reform into new companies and a more capable domestic supply chain. Whether American […]