Wal-Mart In Projects To Make Shoes, Curtains, Jars in U.S.

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Customers shop at a Walmart Supercenter in Rogers, Arkansas June 6, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Rick Wilking
The world’s largest retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc announced three new manufacturing projects by suppliers in the United States to produce footwear, curtains and glassware as part of a broader commitment to “buy American.”
Bill Simon, Wal-Mart’s U.S. president and CEO, made the announcement with U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker at SelectUSA, a two-day event designed to promote investment and job creation in the United States. President Barack Obama, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and other top officials will also speak at the SelectUSA conference.Bentonville, Arkansas, based Wal-Mart, the largest private employer in the world and with some 1.3 million employees in the United States, said the three projects would create 385 jobs.

“It takes a lot of entrepreneurship; it takes a lot of innovation; it takes a lot of conviction to make that decision to take that step to invest capitol here,” said Simon.

Elan-Polo Inc. will start production of injection-molded footwear in March at a factory in Hazelhurst, Georgia. The company previously made the shoes overseas.

At the press conference Elan-Polo CEO Joe Russell cited “support and encouragement” from Wal-Mart, which it has been supplying with goods for 35 years.

EveryWare Global Inc. will produce canning jars for Wal-Mart at its Monaca, Pennsylvania, facility, establishing a new made in the U.S. product line.

And Louis Hornick and Co., a Wal-Mart supplier for four decades, will establish a new facility in Allendale County, South Carolina, to make window coverings and home textiles.

“Our next goal is to encourage other businesses just like these to step up to the plate,” Pritzker said.

Thursday’s announcement was part of Wal-Mart’s pledge, announced in January to buy an additional $50 billion in U.S.-made products over the next decade.

In August, the company held a “manufacturing summit” attended by more than 500 suppliers from 34 states clamoring to get a slice of the action.

Reuters reported in September that in advance of Wal-Mart’s patriotic pledge, many of the company’s long-time suppliers had already decided to produce in the United States as rising wages in China and elsewhere eroded the allure of offshore production.


SOURCE:  Reuters
15 replies
  1. Donna Bambury Bateman
    Donna Bambury Bateman says:

    So happy some one woke up. We middle class support Wal-mart for doing this. I know many people that will not shop in there because everything you pick up is made in China or processed in China. I would like nothing more than our country to wake up to the fact that we must have jobs in this country for us to survive. The whole country can not be on welfare. That is the way it is looking now!

    Reply
  2. Ben Beach
    Ben Beach says:

    I'll believe it when I see it. Recall 30 years ago they preached their Bring it Home to the USA and after Sam died, they quietly went offshore for the cheapest of cheap.

    Reply
  3. Rebecca
    Rebecca says:

    That’s fantastic ! I look at tags at walmart and am very disappointed. Americans can make ALL these products. We Americans can’t work if the opportunity isn’t there.

    Reply
  4. Donna Bateman
    Donna Bateman says:

    Thank you! I realize it is just a start and you have to start somewhere. I would love Wal-mart to have everything made in America, that is the only thing that is going to save this country. The middle class must have good jobs to support there families. The whole working class can not be on welfare if this country.
    When this company was started it was for the working class but things have changed an not for the better. It has grown to be one of the largest in the world but they have forgotten who made it grow, THE MIDDLE CLASS! We are shrinking more and more
    May The Lord be with you an this new endevier!
    Donna Bateman
    131 Pineridge Dr.
    Leesburg, Fl
    34788

    Reply
  5. Pam Karlsgodt Roylance
    Pam Karlsgodt Roylance says:

    It's a marketing ploy. When the Olympics were held in China, there was considerable news footage devoted to that country's economy. It was revealed then that many foreign manufacturers, including US companies, were leaving China. Reason was it was becoming too expensive. Chinese workers were demanding higher wages and safer working conditions. Remember the tainted pet foods and baby formulas? The workers in those factories were also being exposed to those toxins.

    Reply
  6. Merry Anne Hensley
    Merry Anne Hensley says:

    Now if they will just commit to paying their employees a livable wage so that none of their full time workers qualify for food stamps and W.I.C. and other such programs; instead of giving their employees a paper that tells them how and where to apply, maybe I can bring myself to walk through their doors again.

    Reply
  7. Merry Anne Hensley
    Merry Anne Hensley says:

    Actually, WalMart is not in these projects. Their suppliers have made the move to bring their production back to the U.S.A. and WalMart is capitalizing on it. AND if the suppliers think they can produce here cheaper than in China, what does that say about the wages in America?

    Reply
  8. William Kilgore
    William Kilgore says:

    They forced their U.S. suppliers to sell to them at a loss,and then went to china to further undermine U.S. owned businesses.

    Reply
  9. Grace Ballinger
    Grace Ballinger says:

    Merry Anne Hensley she's talking about corporate welfare cos all american citizens are NOT on welfare. businesses do not need welfare period.

    Reply
  10. Sally Blakely
    Sally Blakely says:

    Let me see it first then I'll believe it!!! Wal Mart is to concerned about the bottom line not about Americans or America, they have already proved that!

    Reply
  11. Juan Zingarello
    Juan Zingarello says:

    Us middle class don't support Wal-Mart. We support the demise of Wal-Mart. Similar to the demise of the many towns that many of us grew up in and witnessed their mom and pop shops close and their economies flounder because of this life sucking store. And then of course, the scum from the ghettos move in as a result. Thank god here in NYC they are banned from even setting foot here.

    Reply
  12. Kevin Marriner Sr
    Kevin Marriner Sr says:

    Complaining is not solving the problem if you want to change things then start a business and make goods here in the USA, it's not going to change itself.

    Reply

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