Amazon’s disruptive model has always evoked strong feelings, good and bad. So who wins and loses as Amazon bursts into the grocery business with the acquisition of Whole Foods? Beginning this week, WF shoppers will enjoy lower prices on “high-volume staples.” It’s a short-term win for consumers. But if Amazon’s discounting strategy extends into most […]
This column originally appeared in October, 2017. On one hand, Manufacturing Day, an event dreamed up by the National Association of Manufacturers in 2012, serves a useful purpose. Americans are in need of a reawakening to the potential of manufacturing employment, for the benefit of their families and our communities. The Day has become a […]
Last month after taking a shot at Forbes columnist Tim Worstall for his snarky column, “Manufacturing Isn’t Important But Factory Goods Orders Are Rising — That’s Nice,” I heard back from Worstall in a cordial if combative response. Among other things, I’d argued that his habit of diminishing manufacturing simply because companies move it offshore […]
Somewhere, on a Forbes magazine list of most-hated professions, manufacturer must appear just above lawyer and journalist. It’s one explanation for the manufacturing-related musings of columnist Tim Worstall who, in a snarky column last month entitled Manufacturing Isn’t Important But Factory Goods Orders Are Rising — That’s Nice, proclaimed of manufacturing: “It just doesn’t have […]
We often beat the drum about the outdoor industry’s promise for manufacturing growth. Last week’s news of Denver’s successful bid to land Outdoor Retailer (OR), the industry’s most important trade show fumbled away by Utah, again highlights prospects for a new industrial play. Here’s the opportunity in a nutshell: Of the thousand or so brands […]
Last year, the 2016 Manufacturing and Logistics National Report Card from Ball State University in Indiana raised eyebrows in Colorado’s manufacturing community when we reported the state was given a D. The bad grade provoked well-intentioned efforts to assess the state’s manufacturing shortcomings. This year, our footprint has expanded west to include California and makes […]
U.S. apparel brands are working hard to improve working conditions in overseas factories that manufacture their products. But when should a brand invest in U.S. jobs instead? If only the The Washington Post would have explored this question in last month’s takedown of Ivanka, Inc. We’d of learned more about Ivanka Trump’s operation and the […]
As we expand into California this week after telling the story of 700 or so manufacturing companies in Colorado, Utah, and across the region, it’s a great opportunity for us to revisit why we launched CompanyWeek, and assess what we got right and wrong. Reason #1: There’s a renewed passion for making things, and companies […]
The notion that U.S. manufacturing is “coming back” has always been a misnomer. Most of the goods that feed America’s consumer-driven economy are still made here. As Harold L. Sirkin of the Boston Consulting Group pointed out in 2012, “The U.S. manufactures $3.4 trillion worth of goods annually, nearly three-quarters of what it consumes.” It’s […]
Two regional developments promise to infuse much-needed expertise into the manufacturing supply chain. Last week, we reported on the Mountain West Advanced Manufacturing Network. This week: We look at Colorado State University’s National Science Foundation grant to study supply-chain dynamics in emerging clusters of small manufacturers. The growing number of apparel brands looking to manufacture […]