By most any measure, 2022 was a transformational year for manufacturing. Here’s an early look at storylines shaping the coming year. 1. 2023 is the year of the semiconductor supply chain — who builds a roadmap that wins? Arizona and Texas were among big winners in the semiconductor factory sweepstakes. But manufacturing communities across the […]
I’ve argued, along with Harry Moser and others, for a new industrial policy that picks U.S. manufacturing “to win.” As contrarian a view this was a decade ago, there’s consensus today that we should do just that. The list of desired outcomes reads like an economic manifesto: Protecting key domestic manufacturing industries and nurturing new […]
President Biden’s enthusiasm for U.S. manufacturing in the final days of the election belied a simple truth for Democrats: As important the message, it constitutes much of what passes for the party’s economic agenda. Biden’s Dems rode a mix of issues to a surprising outcome last night; one can imagine a far different result if […]
Machinists, fabricators, and brokers fueling a manufacturing boom along Colorado’s Front Range gathered in Denver last week wasted no time getting to the topic du jour — workforce development. Speakers at the 2022 Rocky Mountain Machining & Tooling Association (RMTMA) Fall Conference parsed workforce topics throughout the day, from retention to recruitment to change management, […]
I’m excited to follow up on Bart Taylor’s column last month and formally introduce CompanyWeek’s new partner, Sustainment. It’s a treat to speak directly to a community I’ve known only eight or nine short months but value so much that we, like Bart, bet our future on it. Sustainment is a technology platform built to […]
Harry Moser had already anticipated a U.S. manufacturing comeback in 2013 when I started telling stories of American manufacturers. He was tracking how many jobs companies planned to reshore in support of U.S. production, and today is among the nation’s top experts on reshoring because the trickle he reported early on became a tsunami. It’s […]
I’ve written about the manufacturing supply chain since 2013, and today believe the “next big thing” in America’s latest (and ongoing) industrial revolution — a.k.a. Industry 4.0 — will be the interconnection of the U.S. supply chain. The big breakthrough is AI-enabled search that will help manufacturers find ideal suppliers. In May, I bet the […]