#1 Advanced Manufacturing Partnership

#1 Advanced Manufacturing Partnership

The top story of the year is one that we hope will be an even bigger story in 2012 and beyond – the Obama administration’s deployment of the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) – “a national effort bringing together industry, universities, and the federal government to invest in the emerging technologies that will create high quality [...]

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#2 A National Infrastructure Bank

#2 A National Infrastructure Bank

New America Foundation Economic Growth Program Director Sherle Schwenninger and Associate Director Samuel Sherraden break down the “America’s Jobs Act” and focus on the plan for a national infrastructure bank. They write: The most encouraging part of the president’s speech was the administration’s endorsement of a national infrastructure bank and in particular the Kerry-Hutchison BUILD [...]

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#3 Manufacturing Renaissance Possible

#3 Manufacturing Renaissance Possible

Clyde Prestowitz, writing at Foreign Policy, explains that a manufacturing renaissance is both possible and necessary to achieve a “significant, stable, and lasting recovery.” Prestowitz points to a Booz & Company report on the Future of American Manufacturing. He writes production from an American base can be quite competitive except in only a relatively small [...]

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#4 Global Manufacturing And Its Risks

#4 Global Manufacturing And Its Risks

Marc Levinson, writing in Foreign Affairs, explains how the Japanese earthquake and tsunami revealed the risks of sourcing key components from a single supplier – especially when that supplier is half way around the world. Levison suggests that major international companies may reverse the trend of the last several decades and seek to minimize risks [...]

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#5 ‘In’-Shoring: Bringing Jobs Back to America

#5 ‘In’-Shoring: Bringing Jobs Back to America

This piece by Adriana Gardella in the New York Times profiles Taphandles, a company that produces beer marketing materials, which it then sells to breweries. The article, entitled “A Company Grows, and Builds a Plant Back in the U.S.A.,” explains that Taphandles, which employes 33 people in Seattle and 450 in China, signed a lease [...]

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Top 5 Manufacturing Stories of the Year

Top 5 Manufacturing Stories of the Year

Happy Holidays to all of our readers! In the spirit of the season, we are highlighting 5 of the most important manufacturing stories of the year in the posts that follow. We hope you enjoy. – The Editors

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Manufacturing Index Up

Manufacturing Index Up

The Institute for Supply Management-Milwaukee has calculated the October seasonally adjusted Production Manufacturing Index at 55. Any level above 50 indicates growth in the manufacturing sector. Here is the story in the Manufacturing Weekly. – The Editors

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Wells Fargo Bullish on US Manufacturing

Wells Fargo Bullish on US Manufacturing

Wells Fargo published a report today on U.S. manufacturing. The report notes that while employment in the sector is down, technological and productivity improvements have led to output growth. This story of The Business Journal contains a link to the full report. – The Editors

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Right Skills Now

Right Skills Now

In an effort to train workers for current and future manufacturing jobs, Minnesota has developed a pilot program called “Right Skills Now.” The program’s goal is to make “current, relevant, focused, and intensive training to be the standard — not the exception — at our local schools and colleges.” For more, see this story in [...]

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Breakthrough Manufacturing

Breakthrough Manufacturing

The Breakthrough Institute and The Third Way published a report today, “Manufacturing Growth: Advanced Manufacturing and the Future of the American Economy.” Here is the intro graph of the report: Stagnant and out-dated policy debates in Washington are the reason that advanced, high-tech products are mostly manufactured outside of the United States, according to a [...]

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Yes, America Needs Manufacturing

Yes, America Needs Manufacturing

Does America Need Manufacturing? That is the provocative question being posed by the mainstream media, most recently by Jon Gertner in the New York Times.(1) Of course America needs manufacturing. In fact, America continues to rely on manufacturing more than most people know, and government policies should be supporting, not inhibiting its growth. One reason [...]

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Manufacturing Numbers Not as Good as You Think

Manufacturing Numbers Not as Good as You Think

Chris Carbone, writing at the Manufacturing Innovation blog, argues that the positive reviews of the latest manufacturing report are overblown. He writes, The release of Friday’s Employment Situation was surprisingly “good.” I use the term “good” loosely–114,000 jobs added over the month is not even enough to simply keep up with population growth, let alone [...]

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Double-Dip Would Not Crush Manufacturing

Double-Dip Would Not Crush Manufacturing

If there is a double-dip recession, economists predict that it will be less painful for the manufacturing sector than the first. From the article in the National Journal: *Manufacturing may not shed many jobs. Manufacturing is being pulled along by exports, and the big sources of foreign demand in Asia, Brazil, and a few other [...]

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Indiana Gov. Nominee Promises Manufacturing Plan

Indiana Gov. Nominee Promises Manufacturing Plan

In an indication that manufacturing may become a more salient issue during the 2012 election cycle, Former Indiana House Speaker and Gubernatorial Candidate John Gregg said he would attempt to lure wind-turbine manufacturers to the state as part of his strategy to revitalize the state’s crumbling manufacturing base. From the Bloomberg article: We’ve got to [...]

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