An adult Columbia sheep at the Imperial Ranch in Maupin, Ore. OLIVER JEVREMOV
When Maxine Bedat and Soraya Darabi set out to make a wool sweater entirely in the U.S., their first challenge was finding sheep. Read more
Forced labor takes different forms, including debt bondage, trafficking and other forms of modern slavery. The victims are the most vulnerable – women and girls forced into prostitution, migrants trapped in debt bondage, and sweatshop or farm workers kept there by clearly illegal tactics and paid little or nothing. Read more
Image credit: The AutoMotovated Cyclist | Flickr
In a world flooded with cheap imports and overseas production, many people are surprised to hear that some companies still proudly manufacture their products 100% in the United States. One such company is Liberty Tabletop, the only manufacturer of flatware in the United States, located in Sherrill, New York — right in the heart of American manufacturing.
While the “Made in the USA” label was once seen as a nice marketing slogan, today it represents something far more significant. For companies like Liberty Tabletop, manufacturing in America isn’t just about patriotism — it’s a business advantage, a commitment to quality, and a roadmap for a stronger future economy.
As Gen Z steps into the workforce, and as trade schools train the next generation of makers, the conversation around American manufacturing, insourcing, and reshoring has never been more relevant.
Let’s explore why American manufacturing matters more than ever — not just for businesses, but for our economy, environment, workforce, and communities. Read more
You’ve probably seen, but may not have noticed, labels on the meat at your grocery store that say something like “Born, Raised, & Harvested in the U.S.A.” or “Born and Raised in Canada, Slaughtered in the U.S.”
Read more
Photo by Gabrielle Lazaro/Daily Sun staff
Rep. Mike Thompson announced that the U.S. Department of Defense has issued a rule to implement Thompson’s legislative provision requiring every American flag purchased by the Department of Defense to be 100 percent manufactured in the United States. Read more
A group of Army Reservists in uniform sit around a community table in a Starbucks near a military base. With coffee cups close, they pour over planning papers. Their attention is focused on the task at hand; unaware the large table they’re using was handmade in the U.S.A. Read more
Garner-based Butterball LLC will take over a turkey plant formerly occupied by House of Raeford, bringing hundreds of poultry processing jobs back to Hoke County, officials said Thursday. Read more
While the reshoring tide is undeniably rising, the prospect of clothing and apparel manufacturing returning to the United States remains uncertain. Back in the 1960s, about 95% of clothing worn in the U.S.A. was also made here. Today the opposite is true. Can we flip the switch again? Read more
Does your manufacturing firm have enough facilities creating the optimum number of products in the right locations? Read more
For all expecting and new parents, you probably have learned how quickly buying your child’s products adds up! So why would you be willing to pay more for an American-made product when you could purchase a similar product or even the “same” product, produced overseas, for half the cost? Read more
SARAH HOFFMAN/THE WORLD-HERALD
From left, Melissa Kleitsch, Diane Hynek and Laurie Bessler sew American flags at MSA Brand Products in the McBattas Packaging and Printing building in Fairbury, Nebraska. The former Swingster sewing factory — where Bessler worked for 17 years — has been transformed to produce and sell American flags made in the U.S.
The American flag flapping above the McBattas Packaging and Printing building on the north edge of town is unremarkable as flags go.
At 3-by-5-feet, it’s not especially large. Its colors, of course, are the standard red, white and blue, and it has 50 stars and 13 stripes. Read more
Later this year along the banks of the James River outside Richmond, Virginia, a paper products maker based in northeastern China will begin construction on a new U.S. manufacturing plant. The factory will churn the region’s straw and corn stalks into household products including napkins, tissue and organic fertilizer—all marked “Made in the USA.” Made by China, in America.
Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Jack Brown Produce workers sort apples on a packing line in Sparta, Mich. The state, a big exporter of agricultural goods, is among U.S. regions raising its export profile.
It’s well-known American jobs have been lost to overseas competition. While work on U.S. manufacturing floors has declined, overseas markets have developed a growing appetite for American-made goods—from chemicals and wood products, to medical devices.
Photo: Victor Lytvinenko
Christel Ellsberg is an expert tailor and pattern maker for Raleigh Denim, which makes American-made jeans.
New York City, including Manhattan’s historic Garment District, is commonly known as a fashion capital of the world. But glimmers of new and revived apparel hubs are emerging in smaller cities, fueled by rising production costs overseas and a growing appetite for “Made in USA” goods. Read more
Documentary: Made by China in America? directed by Miao Wang about Chinese firms bringing manufacturing to the U.S. It is part of Morgan Spurlock’s “We the Economy” series (www.wetheeconomy.com).
When I was a baby, my mom waited in line at 3am with her ration ticket to pick up the monthly allowance of meat. As fortunate dwellers of China’s capital city, we received a little more than two pounds. In remote provinces, it was half or a quarter of that amount.
WeatherTech
Nearly every piece of gear that military recruits get when they show up for training is made here in the United States — but not their running shoes.
That is about to change, under a policy shift that could have big repercussions in New England. Read more
What will the ramifications of all-American shoes manufacturing be here in Massachusetts?
Tony Post has a good idea what the answer would be. Read more
The United States remains the largest medical device market in the world with a market size of around $110 billion, and it is expected to reach $133 billion by 2016. The U.S. market value represented about 38 percent of the global medical device market in 2012. U.S. exports of medical devices in key product categories identified by the Department of Commerce (DOC) exceeded $44 billion in 2012, a more than seven percent increase from the previous year. Read more
The Road Ahead
Repost from Conway Goods: a small company committed to American Manufacturing.
We just finished our first year of business. We filed several patents, achieved UL® approval, built a supply chain and launched production. We have almost 80 committed retail accounts and growing. Read more
A Montgomery County manufacturer of plastic injection molds and K’NEX construction toys is bringing production of one of its classic toy brands back to the United States from China.
Lincoln Logs, a classic toy brand developed nearly 100 years ago, is part of the K’NEX family of brands. Beginning next year, Pride Manufacturing in Burnham, Maine, will manufacture the Lincoln Logs product line. The Maine company is a manufacturer of engineered wood products.
K’NEX Brands, which licenses the Lincoln Logs brand from Hasbro, has designed Lincoln Logs since 1999, but decided to build upon its reshoring initiative that it introduced in 2009, said Michael Araten, president and CEO of K’NEX and its subsidiary, The Rodon Group in Hatfield. As part of this initiative, K’NEX delivered the production of Tinkertoy products back to the U.S. in 2012, where it is mass produced by The Rodon Group.
Since The Rodon Group does not make wood products, it needed to find a manufacturer in the U.S.
“We kept at it and finally found a manufacturer in Maine who will manufacturer the Lincoln Logs,” Araten said. “It’s really about substituting our U.S. supply chain for the China supply chain.”
Now, the entire supply chain for the production of Lincoln Logs will be U.S.-based, Araten said.
K’NEX will continue to design Lincoln Logs in Hatfield.
“We’ve started production of the logs now, so we can have product on the shelf in July,” Araten said.
Next year, K’NEX will launch 10 new sets that are made in the U.S.: Horseshoe Hill Station, Country Meadow Cottage, Oak Creek Lodge, 100th Anniversary Tin, Collector’s Edition Village, Wrangler’s Ranch, Wolf’s Lodge, Mountaintop Hideout, Grand Pine Lodge and Colts Creek Command Post.
Next on the company’s agenda is to potentially bring production of toy motors back to the U.S. “That’s our next big initiative,” Araten said.
He said there are many reasons manufacturing is returning to the U.S. from China.
Chinese labor rates are rising dramatically, the U.S. is experiencing an energy boom, manual labor is being replaced by automated systems in U.S. manufacturing facilities and the flexibility and skills of the American workforce are strong, according to Araten.
Growing U.S. trade deficit and outsourcing with China cost 3.2 million jobs between 2001 and 2013, with job losses in every state. Read more
Yet strength of ISM index might be overstated, some say
U.S. manufacturers are still expanding at a rapid pace, unlike most foreign rivals.
Manufacturers in the U.S. barely slowed down in November even as major competitors around the world continued to scale back production. Read more
Yet again another food scandal is among us as the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently agreed to allow four chicken processing plants in China to raise and slaughter their chickens in the U.S., export them to China for processing, and them ship them back to the U.S. These chickens will then be sold on every grocery store shelf in the United States with no country of origin labeling. What’s worse is that U.S. inspectors will not be on site at the processing plants in China before the processed chicken will be shipped to the U.S. Again, chicken from China labeled “Made In America”?
Read more
Ford Adding 850 New Jobs To Build 2015 F-150. Ford announced today it will add 850 new jobs in Dearborn to build the all-new 2015 F-150 pickup that is the automaker’s most advanced pickup in 66 years.
The new hires will be sprinkled among the various facilities that make up the Ford Rouge Center in Dearborn. About 500 of the jobs will be at the Dearborn Truck Plant that assembles the pickup with three crews rotating over two shifts each day. Nearly 300 workers are for Dearborn Stamping and more than 50 will work at Dearborn Diversified, which also does stamping.
Ford is not taking new applications. The automaker has identified the new hires from its large pile of applications, and some have already begun training. All will be clocking in over the next couple months.
“This is one of the proudest moments I have had in my life,” said Jimmy Settles, head of the Ford department of the UAW, and a third-generation Rouge complex worker.
The $2 billion spent to revitalize the Rouge complex that consists of five plants makes it possible to do things never before done in the auto industry, said Bruce Hettle, vice president of North America manufacturing, at an event this morning announcing the additional employees.
- About 500 of the jobs will be at the Dearborn Truck Plant that assembles the pickup on three shifts. Nearly 300 workers are for Dearborn Stamping and more than 50 will work at Dearborn Diversified which also does stamping.
The Dearborn Truck Plant just finished gutting and rebuilding its body shop to make the 2015 model with an aluminum body instead of the steel bodies used since 1948. Pre-production models are running through the body shop now and are scheduled to run down the full line starting Oct. 20, but that date might be moved up to this week.
The carefully orchestrated launch is on track, said Joe Hinrichs, Ford president of the Americas. Production vehicles will start “in a matter of weeks,” but Hinrichs would not say when Job One will be. Trucks will start arriving in showrooms by the end of the year.
The plant runs with three crews but more workers are needed because this next-generation pickup has more features and technology. And building a body from aluminum instead of steel requires all new processes — such as adhesives instead of welding — as well as new manufacturing equipment.
Additionally, some of the stamping work has been brought to the complex, work that had been done by suppliers or other Ford facilities, said Bernie Ricke, president of UAW Local 600, who is pleased with the additional jobs.
Ford has pledged to quickly get production up to full speed because of the sheer volume and importance of the truck. Ford sold 763,400 F-Series last year and analyst Adam Jonas of Morgan Stanley estimates Ford’s trucks generate more than 90% of the automaker’s global auto profits.
Ford built up its inventory of outgoing 2014 models to bridge the gap until there are enough 2015 models to satisfy dealers. That will take a while because just as Dearborn Truck hits its production stride, the Kansas City plant in Claycomo, Mo., will go down for six weeks in the first quarter of 2015 to rebuild its body shop to switch to the new truck.
Jonas has written a number of reports expressing concern about the impact of the changeover on Ford’s profitability, but Hinrichs said today the launch is going according to plan, processes are being validated and people are being trained. In the end, Wall Street will be won over by the vehicle itself, he said of the truck that sheds 700 pounds, which will improve its fuel economy.
As part of the national contract negotiated with the UAW in 2011, Ford pledged to create 12,000 hourly jobs in the U.S. by 2015. The automaker has already exceeded that commitment: Last month’s announcement of a second shift of 1,200 workers at the Kansas City plant to make the Transit commercial van brought the total to more than 14,000. More than 3,000 have been added in 2014. Factoring in salaried workers as well, Ford has hired more than 23,000 employees since 2011.
The signs of health are not going unnoticed by the UAW, which has a new contract to negotiate next year.
“It’s always nicer negotiating with a company making lots of money than a company in distress,” Ricke said. Priorities for a new contract in 2015 include economic gains, looking after retirees and continued investment in jobs, he said.
“Ford’s announcement is more positive news for the citizens of Michigan and a further sign of the comeback of Michigan, manufacturing and the auto industry,” said Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder in a release.
Ford will have added almost 5,000 jobs in southeastern Michigan since 2011 including:
■ 850 at Ford Rouge Center including the Dearborn Truck Plant
■ 1,800 at Michigan Assembly Plant
■ 1,700 at Flat Rock Assembly Plant
■ 250 at Rawsonville Plant
■ 240 at Van Dyke Transmission Plant
■ 150 at Livonia Transmission Plant
Jobs are slowly making their way back into the U.S.A. Do you see this happening in your area? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
The assembly line at a New Balance factory in Boston in 2012. Associated Press
New Balance—the iconic U.S. sneaker maker—has long marched to its own drummer on “Made in USA” labels. Read more
Lincoln Logs, the popular building toy created nearly a century ago by a son of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, is coming home to the U.S. Read more
American Giant: Made in America.
With the prevalence of outsourcing factory work to Bangladesh and China, fewer retailers can use those three short words on popular clothing.
Training shoes, the last part of U.S. military uniforms that isn’t required to be 100 percent U.S.-made and -sourced, could soon go all-American. How New Balance could be set to profit.
