Welcome to my shameless and grossly slanted blog about America's decline as a leader in manufacturing. I don't like it. And if you don't either then you came to the right place. If you are indifferent or do not believe the decline in manufacturing is a significant problem, the information in this blog may just change your perspective. The bottom-line is that the loss of manufacturing jobs and related infrastructure are a threat to our economy, social stability and national security. But don't take my word for it - further below are some of the "Titans" of American industry and their view of the situation.
In the July 1, 2010 edition of BloombergBusinessWeek, Andy Grove, the former Chairman and CEO of Intel penned a great commentary How America Can Create Jobs. While Mr. Grove outlines a well structured and multi-faceted plan to create more quality jobs in America, the stark reality of why we need to create jobs in the good ole' USofA is because for the past twenty-five years American corporations have moved significant amounts of production and knowledge capital overseas for a variety of reasons.
And what do other leaders of industry, besides Mr. Grove, think? BloombergBusinessWeek's Can the Future be Built in America article states that: "At a National Business Summit panel in Detroit in mid-June (2009), Dow Chemical (DOW) CEO Andrew N. Liveris and Ford Motor (F) Executive Chairman William Clay Ford Jr. both openly called for "industrial policy," a term not heard much since the U.S. was under siege from Japanese cars, chips, and steel in the early 1980s. General Electric (GE) CEO Jeffrey R. Immelt declared that GE had probably gone too far in outsourcing manufacturing, engineering, and back-office service work and lambasted as "flat wrong" the notion that the U.S. could remain an economic superpower by relying on services and consumer buying."
As a direct result of this long-term exodus of production, America has lost hundreds of thousands of manufacturing positions and perhaps even the ability for American start-up firms to scale their operations here. Moreover, loss of manufacturing erases the hands on experience, knowledge capital and collective know how that is not easily replaced or replenished quickly.
So now what?
This blog will look to tackle this issue from two angles. First, companies that manufacture a majority of their products here in the United States should be highlighted and given kudos especially if they were the inventors, are market leaders or have a reputation for outstanding quality. Second, this blog can serve as a brainstorming/best practice resource for increasing manufacturing excellence and related jobs in the United States.
So what can readers of this blog do besides reading it? Participate in the discussion and solution. Do you know of a great product that is made in the USA that perhaps the American consumer isn't aware of? Is there a great product still made in the USA but facing possible extinction due to imports or lack of distributor awareness? What about American companies that manufacture goods for B2B and not consumers? Send the info and it will get posted!
My next post will cover two American companies that make great products by hand. While they are in different industries, they are succeeding at what they do - making great products here in the USA. And you should know about them.
