An enthusiastic crowd braved snowy conditions in Denver to gather March 10 as finalists were announced in the 2022 Colorado Manufacturing Awards (CMAs). The seventh annual program recognizes manufacturers and people across multiple manufacturing industries.
Bart Taylor, CompanyWeek publisher and co-presenter of the CMAs along with Colorado MEP Manufacturer’s Edge, welcomed the luncheon gathering by noting that two years ago in March, CMA finalists and alumni convened at the same event, one clouded by COVID-19. “This was the last event many of us attended before the lockdown. It felt like we had one foot out the door,” said Taylor.
Taylor mentioned “bookending the pandemic” with this year’s feat, and brought back two Colorado manufacturers interviewed in 2020 — Left Hand Brewing’s co-founder Eric Wallace and Allosource CEO Tom Cycyota — to speak with the group about a tumultuous two years and the path ahead.
Cycyota’s Allosource was also named a finalist in the Bioscience Manufacturer of the Year category, after clawing back losses from a direct, COVID-related hit. Allosource anchors a deep Bioscience category, with last year’s winner, Englewood-based Leiters, also a finalist alongside Fort Collins-based Tolmar.
The Colorado Manufacturing Woman of the Year finalists are Diana Hall, ActivArmor; Heather Bulk, Special Aerospace Services; and Karen Hertz with Holidaily Brewing Co. Heidi Hostetter, the 2021 winner, announced the finalists.
Northern Colorado again flashed its manufacturing bona fides, with about one third of all finalists hailing from Boulder County and northward.
CompanyWeek will preview all of the finalists in the lead up to the April 7 CMA Winners Reveal & Gala — open to all Colorado business enthusiasts and stakeholders.
REGISTER HERE for the 2022 CMA Winners Reveal & Gala.
Tom Cycyota, Allosource; Heidi Hostetter, H2 Manufacturing Solutions; Meghan Marsden, Veil Intimates;Eric Wallace, Left Hand Brewing Co.; Glenn Plagens, Manufacturers Edge; Jessica Wilber, Focused On Machining;
https://mfginsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/MFG-INSIDER-word-logo2.png00Bart Taylorhttps://mfginsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/MFG-INSIDER-word-logo2.pngBart Taylor2022-03-13 15:33:152022-03-13 15:33:15Finalists announced for the 2022 Colorado Manufacturing Awards
Do tariffs contribute to inflation? Opponents of a more aggressive trade posture think so.
Last week Catherine Rampell, The Washington Post’s otherwise enlightened columnist, made the argument this way:
“Competition is good except when it comes from abroad, apparently. That’s the message from the Biden White House, which promises to tackle inflation by promoting “competition” but doesn’t apply this pledge to its own trade policy. Biden has kept most of Donald Trump’s barriers to foreign competition — and those Biden has undone have been largely replaced with different trade restrictions.”
She surmised, “Lifting trade barriers, on the other hand, can almost immediately increase competition and reduce prices. That’s because tariffs, quotas and the like explicitly shield U.S. firms from competing with foreign rivals, including lower-cost ones. That raises prices for downstream purchasers.”
The argument might have been more compelling if not in the same week, it was revealed that the “U.S. trade deficit in goods soared to record levels in 2021, topping $1 trillion as Americans continued to spend heavily on computers, toys, bicycles, clothing, pharmaceuticals and other goods made in foreign factories during the pandemic.”
So today the opposite is true: We’re importing more products than ever. The floodgates are open. Competition abounds. And we’re paying more for what we import.
Rampell would be on firmer ground if she argued the opposite, that it’s in America’s interest to pay higher prices for products made in the U.S. Those dollars would at least be contributing to job creation here, a reality not lost on many economists. “It’s devastating,” says Robert E. Scott with the Economic Policy Institute. “All that spending that’s falling on imports is creating jobs elsewhere and not in the U.S.”
But if the Trump/Biden trade restrictions aren’t inflationary, they’re also not working to persuade U.S. brands to manufacture in the U.S., a stated goal of both presidents.
Last month Outdoor Retailer, the outdoor industry’s tentpole trade show, announced winners of its fourth-annual Innovation Awards, a stellar list of products made by America’s leading OI brands.
No doubt that the companies are innovating. Yet their manufacturing innovations are happening offshore. Of the 11 products from U.S.-based companies, eight are manufactured offshore, most in Asia, including the winner, the BC Flyline Jacket and Bib from OI stalwart Eddie Bauer.
So whatever our trade policy is, here’s what it isn’t — yet: a pro-U.S. manufacturing platform that protects U.S. industry from predatory competition at home even as it provides incentives — carrots not sticks — for companies to reimagine U.S. production.
It should also be obvious that as U.S. companies shorten supply chains to manufacture more in the U.S., we’d at once reduce supply-chain disruptions, lower prices, and work to balance America’s humiliating trade deficit.
For Rampell and other free-traders, inflation is the new cudgel to beat back the idea that U.S. manufacturing is worth protecting. Yet more imports and endless trade deficits aren’t the answer, regardless of short-term political gain. Enabling a new era of domestic manufacturing is the sea change we need.
California is at the epicenter of the U.S. supply chain narrative. Its ports are recovering from a serious challenge with offloading products from a backlog of container ships, and the largest manufacturing community in the nation is learning how to pivot when supply chain disruption occurs. CompanyWeek recently asked CMTC President and CEO Jim Watson to help make sense of California’s current manufacturing supply chain.
CompanyWeek: Jim, let’s start with the genesis of the supply chain challenge that California is facing. How did we get here in the first place?
Jim Watson: Over the last few years, there were several factors that created a perfect storm.
First, the COVID-19 pandemic caused an exponential increase in demand for durable goods, far exceeding existing capacity to produce and transport products. Second, there was and continues to be a lack of redundancy in current supply chains, limiting the use of alternate suppliers to fill demand.
The outcomes have been port congestion, a scarcity in materials, and rapidly increasing transportation costs. Add an existing workforce shortage exacerbated by COVID in both logistics and manufacturing to the equation, and the result is a disruption that will be with us well into 2022.
CW: In theory, it seems we can mitigate some of the pain if we can make more domestically, if companies can shorten offshore supply chains. Can you give us a realistic assessment of reshoring? What’s the mindset of California manufacturers?
JW: The mindset of California manufacturers is quite similar to that of manufacturers across the nation. They would like to shorten their supply chain and have more control over the way it operates. Reshoring offers an opportunity to achieve both.
Reshoring is composed of two things: U.S. manufacturers reshoring production and foreign companies investing in the production of goods in the U.S. Both have picked up substantially.
More offshore companies are investing in the U.S., as foreign direct investment in U.S. manufacturing reached a new record of $1.88 trillion in 2020, according to the National Association of Manufacturers. In 2005, the level was $499.9 billion. Today, the shortage of semiconductor chips is playing a prominent role in rising foreign direct investment in the U.S.
With U.S. manufacturers wanting to shorten their supply chains, there is a growing focus on finding regional or local suppliers that will provide shorter delivery times for products and components and easier participation in the supply chain process.
The Reshoring Initiative, an industry organization, estimates that some 1,800 U.S. firms intend to reshore all or part of their business this year.
The long-term success of reshoring will depend on the answers to a couple of questions. First: how many products can be manufactured in the U.S. at a price point that can compete with foreign producers? Second: as the supply chain challenges subside, will U.S. manufacturers remain committed to streamlining their supply chains? Only time will tell.
CW: Where do you see opportunity? In other words, what industry supply chains are well suited to support a surge in local and regional production?
JW: Although the final 2021 data is not yet available, it is expected that the transportation equipment industry will reshore more jobs than any other sector, followed by the chemicals and electronics sectors. This was also the case in 2020 and 2019.
In 2021, transportation equipment was forecasted to add more than 54,000 reshored or foreign-investment-created jobs. That notably includes electric vehicle battery production. Chemical companies were forecasted to add 37,233 jobs.
While some industries have better opportunities to reshore, manufacturers that have real-time visibility into their supply chains are best suited to support a surge in production. Visibility will mitigate surprises and guesswork when managing a supply chain, improving quality and the on-time delivery of materials.
CW: Can you describe scenarios playing out with CMTC clients?
JW: Right now, many of our clients are experiencing as much as a 4x increase in transportation costs. Others are waiting for components to complete products with no definite delivery time. Many are actively searching for alternative sources for critical materials and exploring ways to bring them closer to home.
In addition, they’re investigating the digitalization of the supply chain process to enhance supplier visibility. They are exploring automated ways to capture and manage data, expedite supplier collaborations, and maintain real-time information on orders and deliveries.
CW: We’re seeing huge interest in automation-related content from our audience. The race is on to automate. That said, what are some CMTC resources that might help our audience sort through supply-chain disruptions?
JW: CMTC has both virtual and direct assistance: We’ve modified our website to help connect manufacturers to new, domestic sources of supply in order to access the materials they need to ship their orders and meet their production goals. CMTC also has the expertise to evaluate supply chain efficiencies, agility, and resiliency as well as provide assistance to improve performance with automation or by sourcing new suppliers.
https://mfginsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/MFG-INSIDER-word-logo2.png00Bart Taylorhttps://mfginsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/MFG-INSIDER-word-logo2.pngBart Taylor2022-01-22 20:04:592022-01-22 20:04:59CompanyWeek Q&A: CMTC’s Jim Watson on California’s Current Manufacturing Supply Chain
U.S. manufacturing is on a roll, for multiple reasons that when combined add up to great things if you make something in America.
It also goes without saying we could make more if we were better connected. A U.S. supplier network well aligned with OEM demand will absolutely fuel domestic production.
The good news is that everyone, it seems, wants to help connect us. A new generation of networking tools and databases is coming online to help you get connected – and prosper.
The most visible effort, with backers like NAM, the National Association of Manufacturers, and NIST’s MEP system, is the CONNEX Marketplace. It’s the data engine for NAM’s national Manufacturers Marketplace, and the company is striking new data management deals with MEP state centers. In those states, like Utah, CONNEX is angling to be the single data platform that NAM and MEP state-level affiliates use. The goal is a single, searchable national database of suppliers.
It’s a formidable data vision – hundreds of thousands of company records. And that’s a good thing as far as search goes: the more the better. Need a machined part? Search the nation.
It’s also expensive — hundreds of thousands of dollars for participating MEP centers — and the model hasn’t really worked yet, or at least not met expectations. Manufacturers need to breathe life into their data and participate in the digital marketplaces. So far, they really haven’t.
Maybe Manufacturers Marketplace data will evolve into a community that it’s not today — or other platforms will, like Sustainment, a regional networking tool percolating in Oklahoma and Texas.
Sustainment’s approach is to wrap location and connectivity tools around a smaller user base (for now) with large OEMs driving the interest and participation from suppliers. It holds promise, and the focus on “local” may be a game-changer.
SCoP is the database of CompanyWeek manufacturing features — 1,600 or so company profiles. SCoP knows a lot about fewer companies. It’s a community though, where the large data platforms aren’t. New companies are added every week, and they’re connecting with each other today.
Nothing’s doing it all. Long term, a combination of services, technology and automation, and AI, will connect the sector, but more, a community will form around it — multiple communities will form around it. It has to be food at the same time it’s aerospace, and bioscience. All manufacturing is essential or none of it is.
Poke around what’s taking shape. It’s worth a trip.
Also know you’ll be asked to “own a listing,” or “enhance a listing,” or “complete this RFP” — or in our case, send info this month to be included in our Industrial Automation content.
https://mfginsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/MFG-INSIDER-word-logo2.png00Bart Taylorhttps://mfginsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/MFG-INSIDER-word-logo2.pngBart Taylor2021-12-29 16:15:102023-08-10 09:10:58Supply-chain scramble: the race to connect you with suppliers and OEMs
Let’s first stipulate the two reasons why thousands of American companies source products and services in China: lower labor costs, and the expertise to build or develop products can’t be found in the U.S.
And outsource we have. Cheap labor, a sophisticated manufacturing ecosystem, and Chinese leadership that caters to the needs of American brands and manufacturers have compelled U.S. companies to invest billions of dollars every year in China’s production ecosystem, its workforce, and in its communities.
A decade ago, a move to China was an easy business decision. Today, not so much. As Harry Moser and others have pointed out, the cost difference of operating in China vs. the U.S. has moderated. And while it still can be hard to find the right mix of production capabilities and skills onshore, America’s tech-fueled manufacturing commons is improving.
Other variables complicate a China engagement. Today we care about where products engineered and designed in the U.S. are made. Offshore manufacturing is often at odds with brand promises companies make to their customers. And corporate investments in Chinese communities, against the backdrop of middle-class struggles and the hollowing out of America’s rural economies, are tougher pills to swallow.
“China’s strengths and the threats it presents to U.S. interests are considerable. . . . At stake in this clash of identities and sovereignty is the safety and security of the United States and its partners, friends, and allies. The CCP is a long-term, consequential, menacing adversary determined to end the economic and political freedoms that have served as the foundation for security and prosperity for billions of people.”
Today, companies evaluating a business engagement in China are faced with the prospect of partnering with a “menacing adversary.”
One outcome is that companies will now run headlong into growing calls to limit not only public sector engagements with China — the diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing seems only a start — but increasingly, business-related ties.
Kuttner notes: “Among its 15 priority recommendations, the report calls for controls on U.S. private investment in China, as well as creation of a new government authority that could review and block investments harmful to the national security. It faulted the Commerce Department for failing to perform this function as required under existing law.”
The language is precise — limits on U.S. private investment and those harmful to national security — and the implication is pretty straightforward: Investments by U.S. firms in China’s production ecosystem run counter to America’s national interest.
Companies should take note: Engagements in China may soon be filtered by discerning customers; a populist, nationalist movement in the U.S.; and government regulators. Voices in the West have been speculating that China is poised to accelerate the “decoupling” of the world’s two largest economies. There are signs today that America may lead the effort.
Revisiting U.S. options may never be more important.
https://mfginsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/MFG-INSIDER-word-logo2.png00Bart Taylorhttps://mfginsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/MFG-INSIDER-word-logo2.pngBart Taylor2021-12-12 16:38:032021-12-12 16:38:03Sourcing in China is entering a precarious new phase
CompanyWeek profiled more than 200 manufacturers in 2021, most of them based in the four states where we publish regular e-publications: Colorado, Utah, California, and — as of November 2021 — Texas. Of those, these 20 profiles stand out for a variety of different reasons: Some are industry leaders, others are trying to disrupt markets, and others yet are rethinking manufacturing and ignoring the status quo.
For a recap of the last 12 months in manufacturing, these stories are a great place to start.
California
Checkerspot (Berkeley)
Using algae-derived oils as the building blocks for better materials, Checkerspot aims to upend the supply chain with sustainable innovation. CEO Charles Dimmler sees a global market of manufacturers of all kinds, but the company started its own ski brand — Utah-based WNDR Alpine — to showcase the performance of its polyurethane alternative.
The company is a leader in the market for inkjet-ready coated fabrics, supplying artists, small and mid-sized businesses, and big apparel brands. “We produce fabrics that can be printed on any inkjet printer,” President Hunter Ellis told CompanyWeek contributor Glen Martin earlier in the year. “That’s our main selling point. No specialty printers are needed.”
Angela Rose, CompanyWeek‘s California editor, profiled the manufacturer of plant-based protein alternatives to meat when the company was in the midst of building a new 30,000-square-foot plant in San Diego. “Once we’re up and running, we will have 20 million-plus pounds per year capacity out of that facility alone,” said founder Danny O’Malley.
CEO Ivan Madera has fostered the company as a production partner specializing in additive manufacturing for aerospace companies. As the industry gravitates to additive’s many features and benefits, Madera said the rising tide lifts all boats. “We continue to certify components, but we also view production as an expansion of our certification services,” he explained to CompanyWeek contributor Glen Martin. “As an industry, we need to standardize processes, and that’s not a simple thing to do by any evaluation.”
The startup is working to produce honey via a fermentation process, without the help of bees. When editor Angela Rose interviewed CEO Darko Mandich, he said the company was aiming to start producing 40,000 pounds of bee-free honey daily sometime in 2022.
Bees are critical to the health of the planet, he added. “If we lose them, it will be looking like the surface of Mars. But that’s pressure for us to work as hard as possible to replace every pound of honey that’s coming from commercial beekeeping with honey that is produced using science so that wild and native bee species are not pushed back any further.”
Founder Randy Bloomer saw an opening for a better horse trailer, and went after it with gusto upon launching his eponymous manufacturer in 1998. R&D has guided the company since day one, and that has sometimes involved Bloomer getting his boots dirty. “We found this stuff out by riding in the back of a trailer, personally doing it,” said Bloomer in the interview.
The company’s communications infrastructure is bringing a cellular model to satellite communications technology, with staggering results a cost that’s just 10 percent that of legacy technology. “The cost of infrastructure — everything you can imagine from cell towers to electronic equipment to antennas, everything — there’s a [metric of] dollars per bit of information,” said CEO Shey Sabripour. “I think these technologies will drastically reduce the cost.”
President Brad Farbstein’s career is a microcosm of the craft brewing industry. After his early days as a sales rep, he bought Real Ale in 1998 with his life savings, when annual production was around 300 barrels. Nearly a quarter-century later, the company is brewing more than 50,000 barrels a year, with plenty of room to grow: The brewhouse’s capacity is 250,000 barrels.
Tom Whiting launched his feather supplier for the fly-fishing industry in the late 1980s. His 27-acre ranch is now home to about 75,000 chickens at any given time, as Whiting Farms supplies about 80 percent of the feathers for dry flies.
As the company’s name implies, founder Slade Gardner’s company makes additive manufacturing technology that’s designed to print big metal parts — parts as big as a car — that are often better than those made with legacy processes.
From the interview: “There are some structures that casting just can’t do and welded assembly just can’t do, and a lot of these advanced design software packages and advanced design technologies, they create geometries that look more like a dinosaur skeleton than a stick-and-plate engineer’s design. Those kinds of geometries, you almost need additive manufacturing to build them.”
CEO Kerry Siggins has pushed the manufacturer of waterblast tools towards automation and the Internet of Things in a big way. Case in point: StoneAge’s Sentinel Automation Technology now runs equipment that cleans heat exchangers, with faster and better results. The company plans to integrate Sentinel into other existing tools.
Founder and CEO Jason Osborne has come up with an approach to metal injection molding that is competitive with CNC machining. He’s scaled up contract manufacturing as part of a turnkey operation that also helps clients with design for manufacturability and prototyping. Neota is also working to change industry perceptions about metal injection molding. “It’s a black art type of thing,” said Osborne during the interview. “We are really trying to change that stigma.”
President and CEO Mitch Wiens’ aerospace supplier has carved out a niche manufacturing membrane-based antennas and solar arrays for ever-smaller satellites. “Being able to put something that deploys really big but packaging it really small is enabling,” Wiens explained during the call. “Instead of launching a much larger spacecraft that we would have done in the past, we can now put a similar capability on a much smaller vehicle, which brings down cost and allows you to fit more spacecraft on a launch vehicle.”
Sam Perry is breathing new life into ghost orchards in Montezuma County. While Perry planted trees on his own land that should start bearing apples by the middle of the decade, Fenceline is leaning on legacy farmers for a wide range of unique apple varieties in the meantime. “We have the bins and the picking team, and we go around from orchard to orchard basically,” explained Perry.
CompanyWeek contributor Gregory Daurer’s midyear profile of Edward Victor Dick’s hybrid shop/lutherie/school captures the compelling craft — and the business — of stringed instruments in detail. He’s repaired and built countless guitars and banjos, and even invented a cross between the two: the banjola.
Executive Director Matthew Seefeldt, Ph.D., discussed the unique model as a contract manufacturer that supports the needs of researchers and medical practitioners on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus as well as outside clients in the biopharma industry. “There’s a definite financial piece to what we do — we can’t just live off of grants, for lack of a better description,” he said during his interview with CompanyWeek. “But then at the same time, we take that capital we pull in from the external biotechnology companies to make our systems better, then use that to support early-stage development work to get more drugs into the clinic.”
Three generations of the McCloud family work at “VORSHEER complex,” encompassing 18,000 square feet of space and equipped with a plasma cutter, CNC brake, and welding and wood shops. “We try to keep as much manufacturing in-house as we can for one primary reason: We can control quality,” says Steve McCloud, the company’s president.
Founder and company namesake Don Roundy found his calling making cowboy boots in the mid-1970s. Nearly 50 years later, he’s crafted boots for a long list of ranch hands, wannabes, and celebrities. “It all comes down to craftsmanship,” Roundy told CompanyWeek writer Gregory Daurer. “My business makes them the quality that they used to be in the ’20s, ’30s, and ’40s.”
CEO Spencer Loveless strategized to control the destiny of his vacuum manufacturer’s supply chain by starting a second company, Merit3D, to 3D-print parts for Dustless products in-house. “Our game plan going forward at Dustless is to design all of our new products around additive manufacturing,” Loveless explained during the interview. “We can produce hundreds of thousands of components very quickly without the time frame, the tariffs, the molds, and everything else that comes with outsourcing.”
The Allen family business is the go-to manufacturer for NBA mascots. About 70 percent of the league’s teams — including the Phoenix Suns, Utah Jazz, and Denver Nuggets — outfit their mascots with Alinco’s performer-friendly products.
https://mfginsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/MFG-INSIDER-word-logo2.png00Bart Taylorhttps://mfginsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/MFG-INSIDER-word-logo2.pngBart Taylor2021-12-06 22:42:452021-12-06 22:42:45The Year in Review: CompanyWeek’s Best Mfg. Profiles of 2021
