BY WOOLRICHJANUARY, 2013 …At the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market show in Salt Lake City, Utah, Woolrich, Inc. President Nicholas P. Brayton issued an open letter to the public on the company’s commitment to domestic manufacturing. Brayton’s open letter addresses the company’s current and past U.S. manufacturing challenges and outlines future strategic goals […]
Written By: Thomas A. Hemphill, Waheeda Lillevik, and Mark J. Perry January, 2013 We have a skills gap and it’s going to get worse. Here’s what we can do about it. It is generally acknowledged that there is a shortage of skilled manufacturing workers in the United States, but estimates of the size of the […]
Art PineJanuary 2013 America’s manufacturing sector is recovering and poised for a modest rebound. The question is how much? The long decline in America’s manufacturing sector finally is over. During the past two years, manufacturing output has regained almost three-quarters of the stunning 20% drop it took during the Great […]
KOPIN TAN JANUARY 2013 Cheap natural gas and increasingly competitive labor costs are bringing factories and jobs back to the U.S. Eight ways to win. As the only industrialized superpower not decimated by World War II, the United States once made nearly 40% of the planet’s goods. These days, that number has shrunk to 18%. […]
Mike Troy The first indication that something big was brewing with Walmart on the domestic sourcing front came last week. That’s when Walmart announced internally at that SVP of home, Michelle Gloeckler, would assume additional responsibilities for a new U.S. sourcing and manufacturing initiative. Reporting to Gloeckler is Greg […]
JANUARY 26, 2013 SAN FRANCISCO: Apple has listed a Silicon Valley facility as a location where the California company’s Macintosh computers are assembled. The addition to Apple’s list of final assembly plants came less than two months after chief executive Tim Cook vowed to shift some computer manufacturing from China to the United States to catalyze domestic high-tech […]
Tim Culpan & Adam SatarianoJanuary 25, 2013 Apple Inc. said a Chinese labor agent forged documents on behalf of underage workers as the world’s most-valuable technology company seeks to improve conditions at suppliers making iPhones, iPads and Macs. The electronics company also stopped doing business with a manufacturer that employed 74 people younger […]
In designated “clean” areas, employees will have to don anti-static “bunny-suits.” These three workers are assembling the camera module for Apple’s iPad in a factory in China. (Karson Yiu/ABC News) JOANNA STERNJanuary 25, 2013 Apple has stopped doing business with a Chinese manufacturer after a report said it had employed 74 underage workers. […]
Linda MayerPresident and CEO SCHOTT North America, Inc.January, 2013 In interviews with both Businessweek and NBC last month, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that, starting in 2013, Apple will begin manufacturing some Macs in the U.S. Cook notes that Apple will invest more than $100 million to bring some of its manufacturing back to the U.S. […]
This illustration is by Paul Lachine and comes from NewsArt.com, and is the property of the NewsArt organization and of its artist. Reproducing this image is a violation of copyright law. James Manyika & Martin N. BailyJanuary, 2013 WASHINGTON, DC – Once upon a time, ambitious young people with a knack for […]
Rancourt & Co.’s American-made shoes have hit it big as a result of national concern over American jobs, says Kyle Rancourt, who owns the company with this father Mike. (Photo: Rancourt & Co.) Oliver St. John January 21, 2013 It’s becoming downright American to make stuff in America. Small manufacturers, craftsmen and retailers are […]
Jan 19th 2013 THE WEST HAS become so obsessed with losing vast numbers of jobs to globalisation that its anxiety is now the butt of jokes. The Onion, a satirical website, recently reported that parents are outsourcing child care to India and Sri Lanka, using cardboard boxes to ship their offspring across […]
A US Federal Aviation Administration technical advisor inspects a Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane. Photo: Reuters January 18, 2013 Boeing’s woes with its new 787, grounded worldwide after a series of incidents, shine the spotlight on its bold but risky strategy to source parts for the innovative aircraft from scores of plants […]
David Rocks and Nick Leiber When Sonja Zozula and Jerry Anderson founded LightSaver Technologies in 2009, everyone told them they should make their emergency lights for homeowners in China. After two years of outsourcing to factories there, last winter they shifted production to Carlsbad, Calif., about 30 miles from their home in San Clemente. […]
Ryan Galloway January, 2013 While almost every economic sector in the U.S. is either engaged in a slow slog out of the recession or still floundering outright, two sectors are indicating healthy — and unexpected — growth. Grinding glass stoppers for glass bottles, 1936 Housing and manufacturing have both shown marked improvements over the past year, surprising market watchers who believed that […]
Photograph by Dean Berry/Getty Images Karen E. Klein During her sophomore year at Kettle Moraine High School in Wales, Wis., about 30 miles outside Milwaukee, Tara Britten ditched class and was in danger of expulsion. “They thought I was stupid,” Britten says. “Nobody would challenge me at the level I needed […]
Kara Ogushi January, 2013 Several varieties of Nestlé Purina and Milo’s Kitchen chicken jerky dog treats are being recalled in the U.S. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) now reports that 500 dogs have died after eating jerky treats manufactured in China. According to NBC News, “A new tally of reports filed with the FDA show the agency […]
Greg Autry01/17/2013 Wal-Mart, the retail leader in the outsourcing American jobs, has clearly been feeling the pressure of the growing Made in USA movement. Today, the Arkansas based firm announced a “jump start” plan that promises it will buy more American goods — $50 billion over 10 years. Wal-Mart also propose to hire […]
The Whirlpool water tower is a powerful symbol of the heart of Clyde’s economy. Kim GittlesonJanuary, 2013 Visitors to Clyde are greeted with the view of a water tower presiding over the flat landscape, carrying a large Whirlpool logo. The tower is a clear symbol of the small Ohio town’s economic heart. Whirpool’s 2.5 million […]
Peter Kelly-DetwilerContributorJanuary 2013 Photo: Blade Dynamics Last month I visited the Wind Technology Testing Center in Charlestown, MA, just outside of Boston. With me were executives from American Superconductor (AMSC) and Blade Dynamics (BD). They were in Charlestown to observe the testing process of a new blade design that BD […]
Walmart announced bold commitments to increase domestic sourcing of the products it sells and help veterans find jobs when they come off active duty. Speaking at the National Retail Federation’s annual BIG Show, Walmart U.S. President and CEO Bill Simon also announced the company is helping part-time associates who want to be full time, make […]
Walmart today announced bold commitments to increase domestic sourcing of the products it sells and help veterans find jobs when they come off active duty. Speaking at the National Retail Federation’s annual BIG Show, Walmart U.S. President and CEO Bill Simon also announced the company is helping part-time associates who want to be full time, […]
MATT SIEGELJanuary, 2013 SYDNEY, Australia — A surge in sales of one of Australia’s most popular brands of infant formula has led to an unusual sight for this wealthy nation: barren shelves in the baby aisle and even rationing of baby food in some leading retail outlets. But the […]
Offshore labor: A worker in a Foxconn factory assembles consumer electronics for U.S. markets. Antonio RegaladoJanuary 2013 At a dinner for Silicon Valley big shots in February 2011, President Obama asked Steve Jobs what it would take to manufacture the iPhone in the United States. Apple’s founder and CEO is said to have responded directly: […]
Brandy ArnoldJanuary 11, 2013 IMS Trading Corp announced it is voluntarily withdrawing its Cadet Brand Chicken Jerky Treat products sold in the United States until further notice. In the wake of massive Chinese chicken jerky dog treat voluntary recalls by Purina (for Waggin’ Train and Canyon Creek Ranch brands) and Del Monte (for Milo’s Kitchen) due […]
Alexander Liddington-CoxJanuary, 2013 Murmurings about whether the American manufacturing renaissance is driven by much more than an explosion of cheap shale gas recently made their way into the pages The Atlantic. The so-called ‘insourcing boom’ is a real phenomenon, but it has neither demonstrated itself to be substantial or sustainable and is […]
Antonio RegaladoJanuary 2013 When General Electric expanded manufacturing of home heaters and refrigerators at its facility in Kentucky last year, the reasons included big wage concessions the company had won from local workers and the advantages of being closer to its U.S. customers. But writing in the Harvard Business Review last March, CEO Jeffrey […]
Jerry Jasinowski Fmr. President of the National Association of Manufacturers January 8, 2013 While the immediate prospects of the U.S. economy are bleak, and nothing happening in Washington suggests an early improvement, there is more than ample reason to believe our economy can look forward to better times in the not too distant future. In […]
JAMES FALLOWS For decades, every trend in manufacturing favored the developing world and worked against the United States. But new tools that greatly speed up development from idea to finished product encourage start-up companies to locate here, not in Asia. Could global trade winds finally be blowing toward America again? […]
Juergen KneifelJanuary 7, 2013 There’s a new craze that hit the airwaves this past holiday season intended to save jobs and reenergize American manufacturing. Blame it on an unnamed economist whose calculations have concluded that, should each of us buy $64 worth of products “made in America,” we will collectively create […]
