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Companies Reshoring Receive Awards for 9th Year

Tuesday, March 31st, 2026

For the past three decades, outsourcing was the cornerstone of U.S. manufacturing. First, manufacturers outsourced to Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines.  Then, manufacturers started outsourcing to China after it was granted Most Favored Nation status in the year 2000.  As I have written in my three books and over 300 articles, returning manufacturing to America is critical to rebuilding America’s industrial base. This process became known as “reshoring” after Harry Moser founded The Reshoring Initiative in early 2010. Returning manufacturing to America through reshoring is critical to rebuild America’s industrial base to ensure that we have the commercial and military/defense products needed to keep Americans healthy and safe

I had the honor of being an early supporter/collaborator of The Reshoring Initiative after I wrote about why it was important to understand “Total Cost of Ownership” when selecting vendors to manufacture products.  I based my opinion on the hard copy worksheets of the National Tooling & Machining Association and the American Mold Builders Association. Harry Moser called me after reading my article and told that he had just founded The Reshoring Initiative and “created the Total Cost of Ownership Estimator® – a free online tool that helps companies account for all relevant factors — overhead, balance sheet, risks, corporate strategy and other external and internal business considerations — to determine the true total cost of ownership.” He trained me in how to give presentations on TCO and authorized me to be a substitute speaker for him on the West Coast or when he had a scheduling conflict for a trade show or conference. Every year, Harry provides me with new data so that my presentations remain consistent with his presentations.

The good news is that reshoring is rapidly increasing and making a significant impact on U.S. manufacturing, driven by supply chain resilience, geopolitical risks, and government incentives. According to the 2024 Reshoring report by The Reshoring Initiative, “244,000 jobs were announced in 2024; 1.7 million jobs have been filled since 2010.” Reshoring is improving our country’s self-sufficiency capacity for goods essential to our economy and national security according to a number of surveys and reports that I highlighted in my article titled, “Is Reshoring Making a Difference and Increasing?” published March 19, 2025.

When I asked Harry why he started the Reshoring Awards, he responded, “We started the Awards, initially as a feature of the NTMA/PMA Purchasing Fairs that connected industrial buyers with contract manufacture providers of machined components and tooling. When the Fairs ended, we promoted the awards to the national industry and included AMT, SME and FMA as supporters.” He added, “We wanted to establish a Reshoring Award to “motivate more companies to reevaluate their offshoring and see that it is often more profitable to produce or source domestically.  We hoped that other associations would choose to support similar awards to show that their industries are now successfully reshoring.”

On May 25, 2017, The Reshoring Initiative andPrecision Metalforming Association (PMA)invited companiesthat have “successfully reshored parts or tooling made primarily by metal forming, fabricating or machining to apply forthe First National Reshoring Award. There was one award for buyers and one award for suppliers.” To be eligible for an award, a product or component has to meet the following criteria:

  • Reshoring or foreign direct investment (FDI) of the work occurred between Jan. 1, 2010, and the year prior to the year’s award.  April 30, 2026.
  • Work had to be returned to North America from outside North America.
  • The products, parts, or tooling reshored must be made primarily by forming, casting, fabricating, or machining, including additive machining.

The criteria for winning are:

  • Number of North American jobs created
  • Dollars per year of sales reshored or nearshored from further offshore
  • Capital investment
  • Product innovation
  • Process innovation
  • Success of the project
  • Completeness of application

Bonus points are awarded to PMA, AMT, SME, FMA, and NTMA members. Winners include companies ranging from 20 to 15,000+ employees.

On October 31, 2018, AMT (The Association For Manufacturing Technology) and NTMA (National Tooling and Machining Association) joined the Reshoring Initiative and Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) to invite “Companies that have successfully reshored products, parts or tooling made primarily by metal forming, fabricating, casting or machining, including additive manufacturing,” to apply for the award…the work must have been reshored between January 1, 2013, and December 31, 2018, from outside North America to North America.” 

These four organizations have continued to grant Reshoring Awards every year since 2018.  The winners by year are:

2018 – Mitchell Metal Products, located in Merrill, WI

2019 – Sherrill Manufacturing, located in Sherrill, NY

2020 – Die-Tech & Engineering, located in Walker MI

2020 – Trenton Forging, located in Trenton, MI

2021 – ACME Alliance, located in Tempe. AZ

2022 – Hardinge, located in Elmira, NY

2023 – Hobson & Motzer, located in Durham, CT

2024 – Sumitomo Drive Tech., located in Chesapeake, VA

2025 – Marlin Steel, located in Baltimore, MD

2025 – GE Appliances, located in Louisville, KY

The 2026 Award will be presented at IMTS 2026 to be held September 14-19, 2026 at McCormick Place, Chicago, IL.  The event will take place on the Main Stage between the North and South Halls, probably at 9am on Sept 17th. Applications are due by May 31, 2026. The application form is located at  https://www.amtonline.org/article/reshoring-award.  You may email Harry Moser at <harry.moser@reshorenow.org> for a file for applying.

While each of the above recipient companies may have had a variety of different reasons for reshoring using the Total Cost of Ownership Estimator®, the reality is that companies will only bring back the majority of offshored work if the economics of producing in the U.S. justifies doing so.

In last year’s Reshoring Report cited above, The Reshoring Initiative issued a call for smarter industrial policy that included the following to increase reshoring:

  • Massive investment in skilled workforce development (modeled after German apprenticeships).
  • A 20% lower USD to improve global cost competitiveness.
  • Retention of immediate expensing of capital investments.

I agree with these recommendations and have expressed in previous articles that the actions needed to achieve more reshoring are the same as needed for rebuilding manufacturing in general. These include developing a national manufacturing strategy that encompasses corporate tax reform, regulatory reform, Border Adjustable Taxes (aka VATs), and a Market Access Charge while addressing the predatory mercantilist practices of other countries with regard to currency manipulation, product dumping, and government subsidies.

President Trump has addressed tax reform and regulatory reform, but the other recommendations still need to be addressed.  While we can take advantage of tariffs being a key motivator for reshoring now, we need to have other beneficial policies in place for the future to have long-term growth of our domestic manufacturing base.

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Why it is Critical to Reshore IT Services

Monday, March 9th, 2026

The Reshoring movement is gaining momentum as recent surveys show that a majority of U.S. manufacturers have either reshored or are actively evaluating reshoring portions of their production.  President Trump’s tariffs are only one factor in the increase of reshoring.  According to The Reshoring Initiative, the most common incentives for reshoring include shorter lead times, higher product quality and consistency, lower inventory levels, better responsiveness to changing customer demands, minimal intellectual property theft risk, and improved innovation and product differentiation.:

Data from the Reshoring Initiative shows “As of November 2025, we have recorded over 7600 cases of manufacturing companies that have brought work back to the U.S and from 2010 through November 2025. 2.3 million jobs returned from offshore vis reshoring and FDI.” This article will discuss why reshoring IT services is also critical to the success of American manufacturers and the protection of our national security.

The idea for this topic was presented to me by David Vickery, President of IT GuidePoint Corporation (or IT GuidePoint) who is a fellow member of the Coalition for a Prosperous America whom I used to see on our monthly member calls.  He has been reading my blog articles regularly and contacted me after reading my previous article about Marlin Steel Wire Products.  We met via Zoom last Wednesday and discussed why it is critical to reshore IT services.

David said, “I founded IT GuidePoint Corporation in May of 2008 after a decade as a principal at a publicly traded consulting firm in the Midwest that focused on $50 to $500 million manufacturing and distribution companies. My company focuses on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software optimization and new software selection for manufacturing and distribution companies mostly in the Midwest states of Illinois, Iowa, and Indiana. Let’s say you have a bad implementation and you need someone to review it and help you go through and say, why isn’t it working for us? The business system that you use on your computer to enter orders, ship things, check inventory, run the lines through the manufacturing plant all connects in some way, shape, or form to your planning or ERP system. I like to use the word business system because most people because most people just can’t get their arms around ERP unless they’re in the industry. I work with a network of specialized consultants, including former CIOs and CFOs, to provide practical solutions for clients facing challenges with their business systems.”

He told me, “I believe that your latest article has the same core principle highlighting the value of full domestic self-sufficiency. At least, that is my view because it is a repeated theme in your articles that America must stop outsourcing critical production and become self-reliant with no more depending on China for steel, baskets, chips, printed circuit boards, etc. I’m trying to take that message into the digital realm discussion: ERP and IT systems are now the “nervous system” of every modern manufacturer. Outsourcing those services to non-US citizens creates the same national security, IP, and supply-chain vulnerabilities that David Greenblatt warns about with physical goods. Defining “Made in the USA services” to require USA-citizen ERP/IT resources is simply completing the self-sufficiency picture you already champion.”

David shared his experience from MBA school in the 1990s, where a professor accurately predicted that outsourcing would eventually affect white-collar jobs, similar to how it had impacted blue-collar manufacturing jobs. He mentioned reading an Economic Policy Institute report that said “By 2010, trade deficits with Mexico had eliminated 682,900 good U.S. jobs, most (60.8 percent) in manufacturing.” 

I mentioned that a 2017 Economic Policy report stated,  “Growth in U.S.–China trade deficit between 2001 and 2015 cost 3.4 million jobs.

He emphasized how the hollowing out of rural manufacturing towns leads to broader economic decline, affecting everything from infrastructure to educational systems when major manufacturing plants leave. He said that he wrote an article called Rural Manufacturing Perspective that talks about the little town that he grew up in where manufacturing and agriculture together kept the town going because it has a ripple effect. He said, “When a major manufacturing plant goes away, it can destroy a town. When you hollow out Main Street, you hollow out the churches, you hollow out the infrastructure, the educational system, the police, and the fire department.”

I told him that I understood what he was saying as I wrote blog articles about small towns in North and South Carolina that were nearly destroyed by losing their furniture and textile industries. Everything gets hollowed out because you don’t have tax payers and the local businesses don’t have customers. Both of us agreed that the loss of these jobs in rural America is particularly crushing because there’s no other options for these people.

David mentioned that Deloitte’s 2026 manufacturing industry outlook predicted companies are going to invest another 20% in domestic computer systems. David said, “I’m trying to take that message into the digital realm discussion: ERP and IT systems are now the “nervous system” of every modern manufacturer. Outsourcing those services to non-US citizens creates the same national security, IP, and supply-chain vulnerabilities that David Greenblatt of Marlin Steel warned about with physical goods. There is a security risk when you outsource your ERP and IT systems, which are basically the brains of your business, Intellectual Property, trade secrets, and all that kind of stuff. You have to be really, really careful about who gets access to that information and from what country

He added, “Defining ‘Made in the USA services’ to require USA-citizen ERP/IT resources is simply completing the self-sufficiency picture you already champion. Modern Manufacturing firms like Marlin Steel depend on a sophisticated software implementation behind the scenes for things such as inventory, scheduling, finance, pricing, customer service, quality control, supply-chain management, robotics integration, etc. If that ERP/IT layer is outsourced to be delivered and supported by foreign providers or non-citizen contractors, the entire ‘Made in America’ claim has a hidden security leak.”

I said, “Definitely, because if China has access to your IT systems, they can steal your intellectual property from your CAD systems.  They learn how you price your products, how you schedule production, what your wages are, et cetera. I can’t understand how American manufacturers can’t see that any foreign company that has access to all of your IT systems can get any data they want about you. Very few Chinese companies are privately owned companies. They’re either partially or fully-owned by the government or they have investors that are top-level government employees or CCP members.

David responded, “That’s right, and it’s so dangerous. Not only that, but the configuration of ERP systems takes specialization and knowledge of specific business functions. All of these programs take expertise.  I could name 100 different ERP software programs besides the well-known NetSuite, Infor, Global Shop, and SAP. What we do is we listen to people. The software is made to be infinitely generic because it has to be able to support a very wide swath of companies. So, we have to come back and give them two or three options to configure the software to meet the needs of their company. If you have consultants from another country that don’t speak the English well, they aren’t going to be able to understand what you want and need. They may have a different thought process about quality. My thought process on quality is that it’s not done until it’s 100%, right, and I don’t care how long it takes.”

In closing, David said, “It seems like you have spent decades writing about how to save American manufacturing. I’m asking the ‘Made in the USA’ community to evolve their definition to include ‘Made in the USA’ by U.S. citizens when they select IT & ERP implementation resources for all the positive community and domestic self-sufficiency reasons you outlined.

We agreed that sourcing IT services with American companies will provide a company with the following tangible benefits:

  • In person consulting vs. consulting via Zoom, phone, and email
  • Personal interaction in configuring the ERP software to fit the needs of your company
  • Reduced risk of key company data being stolen
  • Compliance traceability
  • Domestic accountability

We need to do whatever it takes to rebuild our manufacturing industry to ensure that we have the commercial and military/defense products needed to keep Americans healthy and safe.  Reshoring of IT services is another way we can ensure that we have a secure domestic supply chain.

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Made in America Manufacturer Prospers in Rust Belt

Tuesday, February 17th, 2026

Last November, I watched a video interview on LinkedIn where Drew Greenblatt, President of Marlin Steel Wire Products, was talking about how he was investing in his companies located in rural areas of Indiana and Michigan.  I connected with him and asked him if he would be willing to let me interview him about his company’s success as I like to write articles about successful American manufacturers.

Our schedules final coincided last Friday, and to start the interview, I asked Drew to provide a brief history of Marlin Steel.  He said, “The company was founded in 1968 by another fellow. I owned a company that made medical devices and burglar alarms. I did very nicely with it. It was hard hours, early in the morning appointments, late in the night appointments, and it was a business selling to consumers. It didn’t match my personal deportment. I like dealing and working with engineers that are very black and white, that are very precise.  So, I craved working with more scientifically bent people.

We got an offer to buy my company, and I used the proceeds of the sale to buy Marlin Steel in 1998 when it was in a 3,000 sq. ft. building, The newest piece of equipment was from the 1950s. The company had no health insurance plan. The health insurance plan was going to the emergency room. They had no retirement plan.  The retirement plan was Social Security. So, we’ve come a long way. Everybody has the same health insurance plan my wife and I have, and my three boys have. And we’re very fortunate. More than half the employees own a home. Most employees own at least one car, most have two cars, and they all have 401ks, and they’re very well paid.  Manufacturing is fabulous for American workers, and they’re feeling it at Marlin. It’s great stuff.  I moved the company to Baltimore, MD, and the plant is now 37 times bigger than the Brooklyn plant.”  

I asked Drew what kind of equipment he has now.  He said, “We have press brakes up to 230 tons and 10 ft. wide, laser cutting machines, and we just acquired a new Trumatic 3000 robotic laser punch combo machine that is 10x faster than our other machines. It’s going to enable us to cut brass, cut copper, as well as stainless steel, aluminum, and sheet metal like we’ve done in the past.  Separately, in our Indiana plant, we also have a lot of wire equipment, three-dimensional benders. We have automated mesh welders.  We do cable access trays, wire baskets, carts, point of purchase displays. We do a tremendous amount of Top-of-the-line quality production out of all these three facilities.”

I asked Drew when he acquired the plant in Orland, IN, and he answered, “Marsden Steel Wire Products was established in 1938, and it was a fabulous company in the rural Indiana. We I heard through the grapevine in 2021 that it was available for sale. We bought the company and put over $5 million dollars of cash into it:   brand new bathrooms, brand new break rooms, brand new offices, brand new roof, just made the building sparkle.  We now have 100,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing space and took the company from 33 employees to 80 employees We have wire fabrication equipment, 3D benders, and automated mesh welder. We are hiring people there, and we’re growing. “

I next asked Drew when he expanded to having a plant in Bronson, MI., and he responded, “In March 2023, we wanted Marsden Steel to have their own powder coating plant, and we heard about a building ten miles north of Orland in Bronson that was available. The building had been empty since the recession of 2008 when the company closed down after being the major employer of this small rural community.  We bought this decrepit building and had a career fair where 350 people applied for jobs.  We put millions of dollars into the plant buying equipment, modernizing the bathrooms, lunch break room, and offices.  We are hiring more people and growing to become the major manufacturer in the community. We pay good wages and provide good benefits to our employees. We’re very excited. We love Michigan. We love Indiana. They have great manufacturing communities. We look at how fabulous the workforce is. It’s just tremendous. We’re just so fortunate and blessed to be in these communities. 

I changed the subject to ask how tariffs are affecting his company.  He responded, “Tariffs are fabulous for Marlin and Madsen Steel Wire because we only make in America and we only use American steel.  So, entities that build in America don’t have a tariff problem. I would recommend to people that are having a hardship with tariffs, build in America, and then you don’t have to pay a tariff. 

It’s really good for the local community because what happens is you hire locals. And then these locals buy homes, and they buy cars, and they go to the local dry cleaner, and they go to the local barbershop, and they’re gainfully employed, and they’re making a nice middle-class living.  I implore communities to encourage manufacturing. This policy is about time because it gives us an opportunity to make a level playing field with people that have been subsidizing their steel, subsidizing their currency, despoiling their environment.  You know, we treat our environment A++. I live right by the Chesapeake Bay in Baltimore. I love eating Maryland crabs. We want to have a clean environment. It’s not right that people bring in things from dirty factories that are putting smog in the world and despoiling the Yangtze River and their environment, and then shipping to us for a ‘low price.’  The low price is despoiling our environment. They’re using slave labor, and it’s just not a fair fight competing with state-owned enterprises over in China.  I believe that we have to recalibrate our thought process, buy from the hometown heroes in Maryland, Indiana, Michigan, and other American local communities so that they can support a middle-class lifestyle.”

Drew said, “I think there’s a dramatic change that’s about to happen. We are right now at a junction point. I contend that we are right now de-risking as a nation and decoupling from China. For decades, we’ve had a very poor policy description of outsourcing all of our factories to China and not making things as much as we used to.   And that was a foolish policy.

We are now pivoting, thankfully, to a policy where we embrace American manufacturing because we need to make things here.  We can’t be beholden to outsiders that they will make us ships and they will make us shoes and they will make us baskets and they will make us racks and they will make us carts when times get tough.  We have to be self-sufficient. We have to make our own printed circuit boards. We have to make our own silicon chips.  We have to make things here in America. I think there’s a realization by our policymakers that we have to re-look at how we did things in the past, and there is a fabulous, bright opportunity for the American people because there’s going to be a lot of new avenues to make a decent, solid, middle-class living again in our country.  We can’t just be a nation of baristas and housekeepers and service workers at restaurants.  We have to have very fulfilling jobs, jobs with dignity, making high-end pay with great benefits.”

I told him that couldn’t have said it better and have said it similarly in my books and articles. We have been outsourcing our pollution by sourcing manufacturing in China and other Asian countries. China is one of the most polluted countries in the world.  What China and India have done to their countries is criminal.  I agree that we need to make things in America because we make them in a non-polluting way because of beneficial environmental regulations.

Next, I asked if he was involved in any kind of industry association, and he answered, “Yes,

I’m a proud member of the National Association of Manufacturers and the Regional Manufacturing Institute.  I am a former member of the NAM Executive Board, and I was the chairman of the small and medium-sized manufacturers comprising 14,000 members.   I love NAM. I think they’re fabulous. I think there are discussions at NAM about the right way to approach the tariffs and some of these other policies. I think NAM is an important advocate for American manufacturing and think they’re doing a great job for our country.”

Finally, I asked him if his company practiced the principles of Lean manufacturing and done any training in lean. He replied, “I had the honor and privilege as the chairman of the Regional Manufacturing Institute here in Baltimore to introduce Ellie Goldratt on his last speech in public to a huge crowd in Baltimore, Maryland. He spoke at a local community college in a huge auditorium, and I was privileged to introduce him before his speech.  He was unfortunately dying of lung cancer, and he gave a most beautiful speech for his class public speech. 

Afterwards, he pulled me aside, and he said that he was touched by my intro because I expressed to the crowd that his book had changed my life and changed how we ran the business and saved my business because we followed his methods. He said that he was heading back to the hotel before he went to the airport and invited me to ride in his limo to talk.  I accepted his offer even though I had my own car in the parking lot because I realized that this was one of the greatest opportunities of my life. For the next 20 minutes, he basically did an autopsy on me even though I was alive.  All of his piercing, smart questions really dove deep into Marlon Steele and gave me some great ideas. Unfortunately, he soon passed after returning to Israel. It was a touching moment in my life, and we changed our business because of him.  A lot of my success is because of his great advice.”

In conclusion, I asked him if he has any plans to expand to any other locations in the future. He responded, “Yes, absolutely. We are going to be growing in America, only in America. We need more thriving small and medium-sized manufacturers, but we also need big ones because, you know, I hope to be one of the big boys and keep on growing.  We’re 37 times bigger than the day I bought the factory in 1998, and I want to be 37 times bigger than I am today. We are having discussions with several other entities.  We are aggressively looking to acquire other manufacturers that make wire fabrications and sheet metal fabrications. We’re very optimistic about the future.  We’re very bullish on America.”

I told him that his company was definitely the kind of company that I like to write about and he is the type of company owner we need to have more of in America —  people that appreciate our country, appreciate making things in America in the communities in which they live, appreciate the people that work for them by giving them the right kind of benefits and safe working conditions, and training. I want more companies to be successful like his company because it’s beneficial to the communities you’re in and beneficial to our economy because manufacturing jobs create taxpayers instead of people who receive benefits.

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Is Reshoring Making a Difference and Increasing?

Wednesday, March 12th, 2025

Because the U.S. trade deficit in goods and services continues to surge, many people wonder if reshoring is really happening and whether it is having a beneficial effect and increasing.

According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the U.S. trade deficit surged to a new record in January.  The “goods and services deficit was $131.4 billion in January,” ballooning up by 34% from December’s deficit of $98.1 billion.  “This was the widest deficit for a month on record, dating back to 1992, and the expansion was more than analysts anticipated.”

As usual, China ($29.7) topped the list of countries with which we have trade deficits. The other top ten were the “European Union ($25.5), Switzerland ($22.8), Mexico ($15.5), Ireland ($12.4), Vietnam ($11.9), Canada ($11.3), Germany ($7.6), Taiwan ($7.5), [and] Japan ($7.4).”

The good news is that reshoring is increasing and improving our country’s self-sufficiency capacity for goods essential to our economy and national security according to a number of recent surveys and reports.

The article titled, “The Rise of Onshore Manufacturing” in the January-February 2025 issue of Design2part magazine, reports that “Research released in November by global management consultancy Bain & Company revealed an acceleration in strategic reshoring moves by businesses worldwide—to shift operations and supply chains closer to their home markets…The survey found that the percentage of CEOs and chief operating officers who reported their companies are planning to bring supply chains closer to market rose from 63 percent of those surveyed in 2022, to 81 percent in 2024—a sharp 18 percent increase…Survey results show that the proportion of companies reporting moves to shift operations out of China rose from 55 percent in 2022, to 69 percent in 2024.”

The research stated “Factors such as geopolitical turbulence, rising costs, and pressures for reduced carbon footprints are fueling the trend toward onshoring” In addition, “reshoring as having been further stimulated by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The IRA offers U.S. companies subsidies and tax credits that incentivize reshoring and near-shoring to boost domestic manufacturing and job creation…Moves toward reshoring of semiconductor manufacturing have also been intensified by the U.S. CHIPS Act, which put in place tax incentives and $52 billion in funding to stimulate U.S. domestic production of chips.”

The results of this research are corroborated by “Kearney’s 2024 annual Reshoring Index (KRI) report, which “concludes that as reshoring and nearshoring activity increase, ‘Made in America, for America’…describes the foreseeable future of industrial manufacturing in the Western hemisphere.”

The KRI was launched in 2018 to track the extent to which manufacturers are reshoring manufacturing from Asia back to the US.  “The Reshoring Index is determined by dividing the import of manufactured goods from the 14 Asian low-cost countries by the US domestic gross manufacturing output to calculate a manufacturing import ratio (MIR)”

Based on data from 2023, the report showed “US imports from 14 Asian LCCRs declined by $143 billion, from $1,021 billion in 2022 to $878 billion in 2023. The majority of the drop in Asian LCCR imports was caused by a 20 percent (or $105 billion) reduction in Chinese imports.” However, “Mexico surpassed mainland China as the largest exporter to the US. US imports of Mexican manufacturing goods grew from $320 billion to $422 billion (32 percent).”

The Kearny report also stated: “Thirty-eight percent of manufacturing executives responding are looking to continue to reshore or nearshore operations from mainland China, while another 25 percent are discussing moving operations away from India, and 14 percent are thinking about exiting Vietnam.”

The organization that originated the term “reshoring” is the Reshoring Initiative founded by Harry Moser in 2010 to help manufacturers return manufacturing to the U. S. by changing the mindset from “offshored is cheaper” to “local reduces the Total Cost of Ownership.” A Free Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) worksheet calculator is available at www.reshorenow.org.

The latest e-news by the Reshoring Initiative includes this link to take the annual industry-wide Reshoring Survey that examines manufacturers’ decisions on whether to reshore factories and supply chains. The results of the survey will be released in April.

Last year’s report featuring 2023 data showed that reshoring is continuing to climb, adding 263,583 jobs, the second highest year on record compared to 349,408 jobs in 2022.  The preliminary data for 2024 is 244,940.  The website reports “As of March 2023, we have recorded over 6400 cases of manufacturing companies that have brought work back to the U.S.” The total number of jobs created by reshoring and FDI came to 1,214,3343 at the end of 2024. 

Reprinted with permission of the Reshoring Initiative

We lost 5.8 million jobs between 2000 to 2020, and it’s taken 11 years to add the first million jobs, but only three years to add the second million.  Even at the current faster rate, it would take at least another 12-15 years to recoup the 3.8 million jobs we lost.

The key findings of the 2024 report were:

  • Geopolitical Risk is a top driving force in the reshoring and FDI trends.
  • Skilled workforce is another top factor
  • The Southern U.S. remains the most competitive manufacturing region
  • Nearshoring and trade with allies are becoming more prevalent in the shifting global dynamics
  • Wall Street is embracing reshoring, with mentions in earnings calls up sharply and
  • a 300% increase in spending on reshoring and FDI data

Foreign Direct Investment refers to foreign companies either investing in the U.S. by expanding existing U.S. plants or building new plants.

The report noted:

  • Israel – “the October 7 Hamas attack was too late in 2023 to impact 2023 data, but we anticipate it will have a ripple effect across various industries with broad economic and supply chain disruptions that will influence costs, availability of materials, and production schedules.”
  • Taiwan – “U. S. Chinese tension has been mounting for several years. Geopoliticians and corporate strategists are anticipating reshoring as insurance.”
  • China – China has the highest combination of huge trade dependency, single sourcing and geopolitical risk. Reshoring and FDI from China are near historical highs, with reshoring alone at an all-time high of 87%.”

Since these geo-political threats have only increased in the past year, there is a greater incentive to consider reshoring.  According to this report, the number of CEOs actively reshoring went from under 10% in 2012 to nearly 90% in 2023.

The latest e-news from the Reshoring Initiative states:  “the mere threat of tariffs seems to be doing a sufficient job of defining the objective: the U.S. must boost domestic manufacturing to strengthen national security, reduce the trade deficit, and support economic stability. And the Trump administration appears serious about making that happen.  Regardless of how tariffs are implemented, the pressure is driving companies to rethink their supply chains and commit to localization.” 

However, the e-news cautions: “While the mere threat of tariffs could be enough to firm up some of the plans, many projects will only move forward when the tariffs are in place and likely to remain in place for at least the next four years. As Michael Todd Speetzen?of Polaris said, “We have a presence that we would be able to leverage if we viewed this as a more permanent situation.”  The Reshoring Initiative’s industrial policy says that if tariffs are used, they should be “forever” or at least until trade in the product or with the other country becomes balanced. Companies will not make large investments if the rules are likely to change.” 

While tariffs are being criticized by economists and those who would be subject to the tariffs, it appears that tariffs could become the major driver of reshoring by American manufacturers. It could also accelerate Foreign Direct Investment as more foreign companies expand existing plants in the U.S. or build new manufacturing plants in the U.S. to avoid tariffs.

Some economists say that tariffs protect and prop up inefficient American manufacturers that should be allowed to fail if they can’t compete against foreign competitors.

I agree with the Victor Davis Hanson’s opinion about President Trump’s tariffs in his article, “Are Trump’s Tariffs Really Tariffs?”  He wrote, Consider the various Trump “tariffs” leveled by an exasperated, and now $36 trillion-indebted, America. Almost none of them meet the traditional definitions of an industry-protecting tariff. Instead, they are the last-gasp tools of American leverage used only when decades of bipartisan diplomacy, summits, entreaties, and empty threats have all failed…The Trump tariffs are the last, desperate effort to reestablish global reciprocity and keep America safe.”

American manufacturers have had to compete on an unlevel playing field in international trade for decades.  We need to do whatever it takes to rebuild our manufacturing industry to ensure that we have the commercial and military/defense products needed to keep Americans healthy and safe. If tariffs would level the playing field for American manufacturers and accelerate reshoring significantly, I’m all in favor of implementing tariffs until our trade is balanced.

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What Can Individuals Do to Rebuild American Manufacturing?

Tuesday, September 24th, 2024

You may feel that there is not much you can do as an individual to rebuild American manufacturing to create jobs and protect our national security.  This isn’t true?  Remember that our country was founded by a small group of people that did indeed change the world by forming the United States of America. American activist and author, Sonia Johnson said, “We must remember that one determined person can make a significant difference, and that a small group of determined people can change the course of history.” Eleanor Roosevelt echoed this sentiment saying, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

Here are suggestions of what each one of us can do:

As a Consumer:  It matters if we buy American-made products.  Our addiction to imports has played a major role in creating our high trade deficit, especially with China, where most of the consumer goods we import are manufactured.

We lost 5.8 million manufacturing jobs from 2000 – 2010 because of importing so many goods from China and other Asian countries.  In contrast, American-made products create American jobs, reduce our trade deficit, and reduce our budget deficit from increased tax revenue. Each time you choose to buy an American-made product, you help save or create an American job.

When you shop in person, look for the country-of-origin labels of goods. Most imported goods are required to have these labels.  Don’t throw things into your shopping cart without checking labels. The most important step is to make a commitment to buy American made products. Commit to make a fair effort to find made in the USA products. Make a promise to yourself to buy the “Made in USA” product even if it costs more than the imported product. It is a small sacrifice to ensure the well-being of your fellow Americans. The price difference you pay for “Made in USA” products keeps other Americans working.

If the product you are looking for is no longer made in America, then buy the product from another country besides China, which has nuclear warheads aimed at American cities. By buying Chinese imports, American consumers have provided the funds for the bulk of China’s military buildup. American service men and women could one day face weapons mostly paid for by American consumers. Instead, you could patronize impoverished countries such as Bangladesh or Nicaragua, which have no military ambitions against the United States.

In addition, by buying a product “Made in USA, you would reduce the “carbon footprint” caused by shipping the product thousands of miles by container ship, using a greater amount of fossil fuel than shipping within the United States.

If you are willing to step out of your comfort zone, you could ask to speak to the department or store manager of your favorite store and tell them that they need to start carrying more “Made in USA” products if they want to keep you as a customer. If you buy products on line or from catalogs, you could contact these companies via email with a similar message. Your communicating with a company does have an effect because the rule of thumb in sales and marketing is that one reported customer complaint equals 100 unreported complaints.

If you think that Americans no longer care about where goods are made or have concerns about the safety of foreign products, you may be surprised to learn that poll after poll shows that the majority of Americans prefer to buy American.

A survey of 1,000 U.S. adults by Morning Consul  in  May 2023 with regard to their views of  products made by American companies vs. Chinese companies revealed the following:

  • 65% of U.S. adult consumers claimed to sometimes or always buy “Made in America” products intentionally
  • 43% prioritize purchasing American-made products rather than prioritizing other options like quality, sustainability, or affordability
  • 48% are willing to pay higher amounts for U.S.-based products. 39% responded they would pay between 6%-10% more for said products

If you are having trouble finding “Made in USA” products, you can search “buy American” on the internet.  A few of the sites you will find are:

www.madeinusa.com

www.ionlybuyamerican.com
https://www.themadeinamericamovement.com/made-in-usa-companies/
https://www.madeinamerica.co/pages/thelist
https://madeinamericastore.com/home/

www.buyamericanmart.com

www.americansworking.com

www.shopunionmade.org

www.MadeInUSAForever.com

www.stillmadeinUSA.com

There are also brick and mortar stores springing up around the country that are either stocking only “made in America” products, such as the Buy American Store  and the Urban Outfitters stores. Even stores like Wal-Mart and Target are carrying more “Made in USA brands due to customer demand.

As American consumers, you have many choices to live safely and enjoy more peace of mind with American products. It’s high time to stop sending our American dollars to China while they send us all of their tainted, hazardous, and disposable products. If 200 million Americans refuse to buy just $20 each of Chinese goods, that’s a four-billion-dollar trade imbalance resolved in our favor – fast!

As a Voter:  Voter apathy is partially responsible for the state of our affairs as a country. Too many people have decided that there is nothing they can do on an individual basis and have stopped voting.

Americans have been “sold down the river” by politicians on both sides of the aisle – Democrats and Republicans. Democrats profess to support “blue collar workers” and unions, yet NAFTA and the WTO treaties were approved and went into effect under the presidency of Democrat Bill Clinton. Republicans have professed to support business, yet they have voted to approve harmful trade agreements like NAFTA and have primarily supported policies that benefit large, multinational corporations rather than the small businesses that are the engine of economic growth in the U.S. and the foundation of the middle class.

Remember that the U.S. President isn’t a king or dictator; there are only a limited number of actions a president can do by Executive Order.  It’s the job of the President’s administration to set policies, but Congress turns the policies into laws. This makes it just as important to choose to vote for the right person for your Congressional Representative and Senator as it to vote for the President because very few of the policies proposed by the President will be turned into law if Congress is controlled by the opposition party.

In order to help manufacturers succeed and grow to rebuild our domestic manufacturing industry, manufacturers need affordable corporate tax and interest rates because manufacturing is a capital-intensive industry. They need affordable and reliable energy sources because it takes energy to manufacture every product.  They need protection from the unfair trade practices of China, such as:

  • Currency Manipulation – undervaluing the yuan against the U.S. dollar to capture market share with lower prices
  • Product Dumping – selling at or below cost to destroy their American competitors. 
  • Trans-shipping – shipping to an intermediary country before shipping to the U.S. from that country in order to hide that the product was made in China.

When you choose who to vote for President or Congress, examine both their campaign promises and their track record. It’s important to support candidates that would support and protect American manufacturers.  Here are a few questions you can ask:

  • Do they support more harmful trade agreements?
  • Will they increase enforcement of current Agreements to reduce trade cheating?
  • Will they enforce penalties on trans-shipping of steel and aluminum?
  • Will they continue the tariffs on Chinese steel, aluminum, solar panels and add tariffs on other goods imported from China?
  • Will they support “Buy America” for all government agencies and not just the military?
  • Will they keep tax rates at an affordable level?
  • Will they institute policies to provide affordable and reliable energy produced in the U.S.?

We cannot afford to export our wealth and be able to remain a first-world country. We cannot lose our manufacturing base and be able to remain a “superpower.” In fact, we may not be able to maintain our freedom as a country because it takes considerable wealth to protect our freedom.

You can play a role as an individual in saving our country ? the company you save or the job you save by your actions may be your own in the future. It’s time to shed apathy, become involved, and vote for the candidate that will best protect American manufacturers and help rebuild American manufacturing.

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Excitement Builds as Manufacturers Prepare to Open Doors to the Public

Tuesday, September 3rd, 2024

This year Manufacturing Day will be Friday, October 4th, 2024. This is the day when manufacturers nationwide open their doors to the public for plant tours or participate in manufacturing expos to display their innovations.

It’s interesting to look at how this special day started.  The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) blog describes how it happened.  In 2011, Dileep Thatte of NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) met with Ed Youdell, the new President & CEO of the Fabricators and Manufacturers’ Association at their office in Rockford, Illinois “to share how NIST MEP is focused on helping U.S. manufacturers incorporate innovation, new technologies, productivity and quality improvement techniques and develop their workforce.” 

In the course of the meeting, they developed the idea of having a special day to have FMA members get involved with NIST MEP. Then, they decided it should have a broader scale and created Manufacturing Day. They decided to conduct a pilot event in the Midwest and planned the first Manufacturing Day for the first Friday of October 2012 to allow enough time for outreach and planning.  The first year featured about 240 events and generated a great deal of enthusiasm among the people who participated. 

“The idea was to allow the manufacturers to open their doors in any way they see fit to invite the community, their schools, their educators, the legislators, and others, so that they see what is modern manufacturing and the value of manufacturing for the community.”

The goal was to dispel the myth that manufacturing is “dumb, dangerous, and dirty” so parents, educators, and students “could see that modern manufacturing is different than the traditional image of manufacturing.”  Modern manufacturing is “high tech,” involving computers, Computer Numerical Controlled (CNC) machines, robotics, automation, 3D printing, and other “cool” tools. “It’s about creativity, innovation, teamwork and technical skills.”

This reason this is important is that there is a significant shortage of skilled workers in the U.S. and the gap is expected to widen even more unless more youth start entering the manufacturing workforce. According to a 2021 study “by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute, the manufacturing skills gap in the U.S. could result in 2.1 million unfilled jobs by 2030.” We must address this workforce gap by changing the perception of manufacturing jobs, and Manufacturing Day is one of the best ways to change this perception.

By 2014, other national organizations such as the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME), the Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT) and SME had jumped on the bandwagon to promote Manufacturing Day.  In San Diego where I lived, the four major chambers, the Greater San Diego Regional Chamber, the East County Chamber, North County Chamber, and South County Chamber, all had events that day ranging from a breakfast with speakers from the manufacturing industry to expos where manufacturers exhibited their products.  Manufacturers all over the county opened their doors to visitors and gave tours. Attended the breakfast put on by the Greater San Diego Regional Chamber and then went on three of the 25 tours scheduled in San Diego County. The producers of Manufacturing Day 2014 bragged that “This year’s Manufacturing Day set another record with almost twice as many events as last year. The final count was over 1,650 events in all 50 U.S. states, three Canadian provinces, and Puerto Rico.”

The NIST blog article, states “In 2016, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), an organization with membership in excess of 14,000 manufacturers, began leading the Manufacturing Day initiative. NAM, through their workforce development and education partner, The Manufacturing Institute, has done a magnificent job of supporting this initiative.

We moved to Riverside County in the fall of 2018, and on Manufacturing Day, I began my day by attending the special event in Menifee at Mt. San Jacinto College to introduce their new Makerspace to students.  The auditorium was nearly filled with students form Santa Rosa Academy where a panel of business professionals and professors shared the value of their education to their careers.  The event was sponsored by the City of Menifee, the Menifee Valley Chamber of Commerce, and CMTC. The audience was welcomed by Major Bill Zimmerman and Tony LoPiccolo, Executive Director of the Chamber. Fortunately, I was able to get a private tour of the MakerSpace by Hal Edghill, the MakerSpace specialist, before the students had finished listening to the panelists. I only had time to visit two companies because they were located so far apart and held in the same time period between 10 AM and 2 PM.

In 2019, I attended the first Made in America trade show that was held October 3-6th in Indianapolis, IN. The event began during Manufacturing Week declared by President Trump and the show opened to the public on the national Manufacturing Day. The NIST blog states, “In 2019, more than 325,000 students, teachers, and parents participated in MFG Day which consisted of more than 3,000 events held across all 50 states and Puerto Rico.”

Unfortunately, the COVID Pandemic lockdowns of 2020 curtailed the in-person special events and plant visits, but MFG Day 2020 because a virtual day, celebrated online instead of in person. “Even amid the pandemic, there was a widespread outpouring of support for manufacturing, including from many policymakers.”

The NAM website states, “The White House issued a proclamation on Thursday night designating Oct. 2 as National Manufacturing Day, while at least 28 governors and leading members of Congress marked the occasion by proclamation or on social media.” 

MFG Day 2021 was October 1st, and “manufacturers throughout the nation hosted open houses, factory tours and job fairs—both on site and online—to introduce young people and others to the promise of modern manufacturing. And many companies and leaders took to social media to show their support and love for the industry.

Besides the proclamation of President Biden, at least 15 states issued their own Manufacturing Day proclamations, and more than 40 congressional representatives publicly marked the occasion.

MFG Day 2022 and 2023 resumed having more emphasis on in-person events, plant tours, and expos.  Over 14,000 manufacturers across America now participate in country-wide celebrations

In June 2023, the Manufacturing Institute of NAM hosted a webinar, “Making the Most of Your Event,” featuring “seasoned MFG Day hosts sharing about their own events, best planning tips, lessons learned, ideas for school and community events.  The purpose of the webinar was to “share tips, insights and resources for companies interested in putting on their own MFG Day events.”  The webinar is available to watch here on YouTube for companies and organizations interested in hosting an event or plant tour for 2024.

In the article about the webinar, MI Director of Student Engagement Jen White, said, “Being involved with MFG Day, hosting events, using the branding that’s available on the website, registering your events on MFGday.com and all of our resources and toolkits are 100% free to you,” said White. “You do not have to be an MFG Day sponsor. You do not have to be an NAM member. It is 100% free for you to use. We want as many companies and partners of manufacturers involved in MFG Day as possible.”

I highly encourage you to sign up to be involved in Manufacturing by sponsoring an event, opening up your company for a plant tour, or attending an event or plant tours in your area at this website.  I certainly plan to attend as many plant tours as are logistically possible in my region of Riverside County, California.

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Access Trax Expands Opportunities for Outdoor Fun for the Disabled

Tuesday, July 23rd, 2024

Many disabled people that have to use walkers or wheelchairs are deprived of experiencing outdoor activities they used to enjoy, such as going to the beach, going fishing at lakes, or other outdoor activities.  A new American-made product produced by Access Trax is restoring their ability to enjoy outdoor activities. Access Trax specializes in outdoor portable pathway solutions for wheelchair and handicap access for sand, gravel, grass, and more. Their premier product is the Trax modular pathway.

I learned about this product when I had lunch recently with a long-time friend, Kathy Roberts.  Access Trax was co-founded by her niece, Kelly Twichel.  Kathy said that Kelly wanted to help disabled people because her mother (Kathy’s sister) had a stroke when Kelly was only 12 and then spent the rest of her life being disabled before she died in 2020. Kathy connected me with Kelly, and I had the pleasure of interviewing her virtually last Friday.

Kelly said “While I was a student at the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences in San Marcos in 2016, Eric Packard and I were tasked to create an assistive technology device as part of our course work to become occupational therapists. Our inspiration came from a desire to assist local adaptive surfers in crossing the sand to the water’s edge while maintaining dignity and independence.

We tested numerous prototypes in cooperation with the local adaptive surfing community before I graduated with a degree in Occupational Therapy in 2017. After we had achieved a successful design, we launched the company in early 2018. Our mission is for everyone to access the outdoors.”

She said that they got some good news coverage in 2019 and 2020 from local news outlets that helped increase their sales (see featured news coverage here). 

She added. “We were on the verge of having to shut our doors in early 2020 and were saved by winning the highly competitive Federal Express Small Business Grant Contest and receiving a grant of $50,000. I was interviewed by Shawn Styles of CBS 8 San Diego News after winning the grant.  This grant helped us to be able to nearly triple our sales in 2021 over 2020. All together, we have won over $100,000 in different grants since 2017, and we have been able to increase our sales every year.”

Kelly explained, “Besides selling our Access Trax mobile panels to individuals and families for personal use, we are also selling them to the National Park Service, City and County Park and Recreation Departments, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Our latest customers are movie crews using the panels for outdoor film productions.”

Some of the benefits for these entities are:

  • Stable walkway for ADA compliance
  • Durable and reliable for years
  • Quick and easy set up and maintenance
  • Stake down panels for permanence  
  • Ability to customize the pathway

I asked Kelly if she had any patents, and she replied, “Eric and I were granted a design patent in 2021 and we have three trademarks.  I recently applied for a design trademark on our logo. Our portable wheelchair access mats are durable, lightweight, foldable for use on terrain like sand, gravel, dirt, mulch, grass, and snow.  They work with mobility devices and heavy equipment of up 1,000s of pounds.”

In answer to my question about manufacturing, she said, “No, we buy the raw material from a company in Florida and have a company in San Diego size the panels and add our logo. Then, my employees and I assemble the panels into our standard kits and ship them to customers using Federal Express.”

I asked if Eric is still involved in the day-to-day operations, and she said, “No, he is a silent partner now.”

Kelly said, “We give back to the community in three main ways. First, we sponsor outdoor adaptive sports events so participants can get the access routes they need over sand and grass.  We have been an in-kind sponsor of events for the U.S. Open Adaptive Surfing Championships since 2017.

Second, I travel around the country to speak on subjects such as the value of adaptive sports and recreation, assistive technology, universal design, and how to become a social impact problem-solver. I share information based on my background as an occupational therapist and what I’ve learned with Access Trax.

Third, I joined a small group of San Diego-based nonprofits and businesses focused on empowering people in the community who use wheelchairs for mobility. The group coined their name the “Mobility Community Access Partners” or MCAP for short. Our first goal was to host an event in San Diego to bring people together. In June 2022 we hosted the first ever Adaptive Sports, Recreation and Resource Fair in San Diego. The event included adaptive sports such as wheelchair basketball, adaptive fitness, kayaking, boccia ball, and adaptive over-the-line.”

Kelly added, “Access Trax was a co-host of the June 3rd 2023 event “San Diego Adaptive Sports, Recreation & Resource Fair”. We also co-hosted it again last month on June 29th, 2024 at the same place (recap video).”

I told her that I have being doing what I could to first save and then rebuild American manufacturing since my first book, Can American Manufacturing be Saved? Why we should and how we can” was published in 2009.  I’ve been using my God-given talents to write two more books since then, the latest being Rebuild Manufacturing – the Key to American Prosperity

I told her that besides writing hundreds of blog articles, I have been giving back by helping and mentoring inventors since 2014 as a board member for the San Diego Inventors Forum (SDIF)and was also a mentor for the CONNECT Springboard program for startup companies in San Diego from 2015 – 2018.   

Kelly, said, “I went through CONNECT ALL at the Jacobs Center in 2019, which used to be partly supported by CONNECT. It was a business accelerator that supported local San Diego small businesses with an emphasis on minority and low-to-moderate income founders. When I went through the accelerator, it was a free, six-month program with mentorship, learning modules, and access to a beautiful brand-new coworking space. The program ran from 2019 until 2024 and each cohort was about 4 months long with about 10-15 founders each. Unfortunately, this program recently lost funding and the building was purchased by San Ysidro Healthcare so we lost our co-working space. But I will forever be grateful for that accelerator and the folks who managed it.”

Kelly later emailed me that the former CONNECT ALL is now The Jacobs Center’s Business Accelerator program  The website says it “is the region’s first low to moderate-income and diversity-focused business accelerator program, guiding startups that want to grow rapidly with all the support they need to be successful. A partnership between the City of San Diego, CONNECT w/ San Diego Venture Group, and the Jacobs Center, the Business Accelerator was founded to provide participants with mentors, free co-working space, and guidance on how to scale their businesses.”

I told her that It’s very important to support companies like hers to restore our domestic manufacturing base. SDIF didn’t get to have any in-person meetings for three years because we lost our meeting location at AMN Healthcare’s conference center during the COVID pandemic lock downs, and Zoom meetings didn’t work out.  Finally, we found a new location to resume meeting in person last September, so we just had our 11th meeting on July 11th. I told her that our group supports the national organization, US Inventors, that is working to restore our broken patent system. Our group currently meets the second Thursday of the month at the law offices of Knobbe Martens in the Carmel Valley area of San Diego.  and invited her to our next meeting on August 8th. I thanked her for her time and wished her continued success for her much-needed product for disabled people.

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What Would be The Benefits of the ONSHORE Act of 2023?

Wednesday, July 12th, 2023

The COVID pandemic proved that we cannot rely on imports of products needed to protect the health and welfare of Americans. Offshoring of manufacturing left the U.S. vulnerable to supply chain disruptions. We cannot defend our country if the products needed by the military and defense industry become unavailable because of being sourced offshore, especially in China. It’s time for all Americans to wake up to the dangers of being dependent on other countries for manufacturers goods, especially one that has become a threat to our country.

Strengthening domestic manufacturing capabilities, especially for industries of the future, is critical for economic and national security. We must forge a new path by rebuilding American manufacturing to win the international competition for good jobs, sustained economic growth, and rebuild a strong, secure domestic supply chain if we want to remain a free country.

I am glad to see that Congress is finally paying some attention to this need:  On June 8, 2023, Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Senator JD Vance (R-OH), and Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) introduced S.1915 – ONSHORE Act of 2023, a bipartisan bill to boost domestic manufacturing and strengthen supply chains that will help bring critical supply chains back to America by assisting communities of all sizes with the site development needed to attract manufacturing facilities. 

The joint press release states: “The U.S. faces a shortage of shovel-ready sites with the necessary infrastructure and workforce for companies to quickly begin construction on new manufacturing facilities. The ONSHORE Act creates a Critical Supply Chain Site Development Grant Program within the Economic Development Administration, which would assist communities, including small towns and tribal communities, with site development to attract manufactures from critical industries to build new facilities in their area.” 

Senator Vance stated, “As our nation takes the necessary steps to reshore critical supply chains and spur innovation, everyone in America should reap the rewards This bill would deploy capital broadly to ensure the foundations of tomorrow’s industry and growth are laid in underdeveloped regions. If enacted, it will deliver good-paying jobs, build vibrant communities, and strengthen supply chains—in Ohio and around the country.” 
 
Senator Kelly stated, “As we work to bring manufacturing supply chains for critical industries from microchips to critical minerals back to America, we have to maximize this opportunity by making sure there are enough sites with the infrastructure and workforce needed for new facilities. For a lot of small towns and tribal communities, the biggest barrier to attracting investment is the cost of getting sites ready for development. We’re working to fix that, which will boost manufacturing and create good-paying jobs in every corner of our states and the country.” 
 
Senator Cotton stated, “We cannot rely on other countries like China for our essential technologies. The technologies of tomorrow should be tested, researched, and made in America. This legislation will help make the necessary investments in our communities to make that possible.”

So far, the OSHORE ACT has received enthusiastic support from the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), the Global Business Alliance, the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, the Arizona Commerce Authority, and JobsOhio..

Nathan Ohle, President & CEO of IEDC said, “The ONSHORE Act will provide communities with essential resources to aid in attracting supply chain manufacturers. Economic developers across the U.S. will welcome this new initiative and IEDC urges the swift passage and implementation of the ONSHORE Act.”

Nancy McLernon, president & CEO of the Global business Alliance, said, “Site readiness is a critical consideration for international companies planning major investments in the United States… and urges all Senators to support this measure and other policies that make it easier to invest in America.”  

Chris Camacho, President & CEO of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council said, “The availability of shovel-ready sites with the necessary infrastructure and skilled workforce is a crucial factor in attracting companies to invest in Greater Phoenix and bolster U.S. supply chains. This program ensures that strategic mega sites and regionally impactful locations are properly prepared for new industrial investment. With enhanced site-readiness, the United States will be better equipped to compete globally, foster the growth of critical industries, and ensure the production of essential products domestically.”

Sandra Watson President & CEO, Arizona Commerce Authority, said, “We applaud Senator Kelly for leading on this important legislation. This ONSHORE Act will significantly strengthen U.S. competitiveness for new manufacturing opportunities, bringing more jobs and investments to Arizona.”

J.P. Nauseef, JobsOhio president and CEO, said, “I applaud the introduction of the ONSHORE Act, which will help Ohio and the rest of the United States more fully capitalize on this generational opportunity by expanding the number of sites that are ready to support major development projects.”

I can see that basic infrastructure, such as road access or water and power utility hookups, is an important factor affecting where a new manufacturing facility is built, but there are so many abandoned manufacturing sites throughout the country that I question the need for the Economic Development Agency’s Critical Supply Chain Site Development Grant Program. There are also large retail stores, such as former K-Mart stores, that could be converted to manufacturing sites by remodeling and changing zoning. The redevelopment of these sites would provide good opportunities to revive the industrial base of states hard hit by offshoring, such as Michigan, Ohio, and North and South Carolina.

In my opinion, there is a greater need for a new type of Small Business Innovation grant program to fund establishing manufacturing plants to manufacture components and systems that are no longer made in the U.S. because of being offshored to China and other Asian countries.  This type of grant would also provide new industrial investment, including in rural and tribal communities, and regions with high unemployment.  These companies would help position the U.S. to compete against adversaries like China, boost domestic manufacturing, and build resilient supply chains. 

Priority for receiving such a grant should be given to proposals that would manufacture critical components and systems needed by our military and defense industrial base.  Semiconductors and batteries are not the only critical products that need to be onshored/reshored.  Components such as capacitors, resistors, inductors, transformers, connectors, and flex circuits also need to be returned to being made in the USA.

This kind of investment will better position the U.S. to compete against international competitors like China and the European Union and ensure more critical products are made in America.  

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It’s the supply chain … stupid!

Tuesday, April 4th, 2023

Ever since the COVID pandemic started three years ago, we have suffered from disruptions in supply chains for many products used in our daily lives as well as products and components needed for our consumer products, industrial, and defense industries.  Why?  Because we stopped making things in the USA. We outsourced everything from household goods to high tech products, as well as pharmaceuticals and medical devices. First, it was to friendly countries like the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Taiwan, and then it became predominantly China after they entered the World Trade Organization in 2001.

The shortages of semiconductors, has made news headlines for the past two years. Semiconductors are used in everything from consumer products such as cell phones, computers, and TVs as well autos, trucks, airplanes, boats, ships, drones, and space vehicles.  There is hardly any product that doesn’t have a semiconductor in it these days, even refrigerators and washing machines. Many other electronic and electro-mechanical components are also no longer made in the USA.

Our domestic innovation capacity is contingent on a robust and diversified industrial base. Our loss of manufacturing capabilities has led to a loss in innovation capacity. When manufacturing heads offshore, innovation follows. We currently lack the ecosystem of innovation, skills, and production facilities to have the secure and resilient supply chains required for economic security. As a result, we are no longer self-sufficient in producing the products we depend on for our modern way of life.    

Even worse, we are no longer self-sufficient in producing the goods and systems needed to defend our country.  Our national security and freedom as an independent country is at risk. This fact was confirmed in the article “From rockets to shells, Pentagon struggles to feed war machine,” from the March 25th issue of the New York Times which stated, “The United States lacks the capacity to produce the arms that the nation and its allies need at a time of heightened superpower tensions…Industry consolidation, depleted manufacturing lines and supply chain issues have combined to constrain the production of basic ammunition like artillery shells while also prompting concern about building adequate reserves of more sophisticated weapons including missiles, air defense systems and counter-artillery radar…illustrated by the shortage of solid rocket motors needed to power a broad range of precision missile systems, such as the ship-launched SM-6 missiles made by Raytheon…Other shortages slowing production include simple items such as ball bearings, a key component of certain missile guidance systems, and steel castings, used in making engines.”

There are two main ways that government can help rebuild the domestic manufacturing base:  penalize offshoring to other countries and incentivize American manufacturers to make is here or reshore their manufacturing to the USA.  The Biden Administration and Congress have reacted to this supply chain crisis within the last year by passing the following legislation:

CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 to “boost American semiconductor research, development, and production, ensuring U.S. leadership in the technology that forms the foundation of everything from automobiles to household appliances to defense systems.”

Amendment to The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Buy American Act – “This rule increases the domestic content threshold initially from 55 percent to 60 percent, then to 65 percent in calendar year 2024 and to 75 percent in calendar year 2029.”

Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act – This Act changes U.S. policy to establish “a rebuttable presumption that the importation of any goods, wares, articles, and merchandise mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China.” Previous law required companies to take reasonable care to avoid products produced with forced labor. This Act requires companies to prove that products from Xinjiang province were not produced with forced labor.

While these new laws and amendments to previous laws will help ease future supply chain disruptions, the real solution to the supply chain crisis is to change the financial calculations to enable making as much as possible in the United States. The Reshoring Initiative has been working towards this goal since its founding in 2010 by promoting the use of the Total Cost of Ownership Estimator® developed by Harry Moser

According to the Reshoring Initiative 2022 Data Report, “Reshoring plus FDI have followed a strong upward trend for 13 years. The underlying trend is driven by the recognition that, in many cases, the total cost of offshoring exceeds that of sourcing domestically. There have been peaks and valleys in the trend. 2017 was driven by the 2017 tax and regulatory cuts. 2018 and 2019 declined due to the trade war. The trend resurged from 2020 to 2022 driven by companies recognizing their vulnerability to supply chain disruptions and, most recently, to geopolitical events.”

The report states, “Jobs announced in 2022 were a record breaking 364 ,000 up from 238 ,000 in 2021. The total number of jobs announced since 2010 is now nearly 1.6 million…we expect 2023 and 2024 to remain strong, continuing at approximately 350,000 job announcements per year. If the current trajectory continues, the U.S. will reduce the trade deficit, add jobs, and become safer, more self-reliant and resilient.”

We need continue to rebuild our domestic manufacturing industrial base if we are going to achieve the goals of Industry Reimagined 2030 to have 50,000 more world-class domestic American manufacturers and a $1 trillion GDP by 2030

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How to Buy More Made in USA Products

Tuesday, March 21st, 2023

More than 70% (72%) of American consumers prefer American-made products and nearly half (48%) say they’d be willing to pay around 10–20% more. An exclusive poll about buy-American shopping preferences from Retail Brew and The Harris Poll was conducted among a nationally representative sample of 1,986 US adults from July 22–24, 2022.

Overwhelmingly, Americans want to know where their products are made, and they can do so at retail stores by looking for a “Made in USA” label when they shop in person.  However, when they shop online, there is no country of original information provided in the description of a product by the top online e-commerce companies, Amazon, eBay, and Etsy.

In 2020, The COOL Online Act  (S. 3707) was introduced by Senator Tammy Baldwin to require a prominent country-of-origin description for all products sold online as well as clear disclosure of the country in which the seller of the product is located. However, big retailers including Amazon want to hide where their products are coming from and lobbied to prevent this bill from being voted on by the Senate.  The text of this bill was added as an amendment to the Endless Frontier Act (S. 1260), which passed the Senate, but was not voted on by the House.  A similar bill is planned to be introduced this year.

In addition, all of the e-commerce companies take advantage of the “De Minimis” rule, created by Congress as  Section 321 to the Tariff Act of 1930. “De Minimis” is Latin for “too trivial or minor to merit consideration.” Its purpose was “to avoid expense and inconvenience to the Government disproportionate to the amount of revenue that would otherwise be collected.”

A White Paper by the Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) states, “The 1938 Congress set low-dollar thresholds for three different importation scenarios, assigning a $5 threshold for bona fide gifts and personal effects travelers brought with them, and a $1 de minimis for  any other situation…Congress raised our de minimis threshold to a whopping $800 in 2015. China’s is 50 yuan, which is less than $8.  Goods eligible for de minimis treatment enter the U.S. free of duties and taxes…Express consignment companies like FedEx and UPS and e-commerce sites like Amazon and eBay are the primary actors lobbying to keep de minimis as a giant open-border backdoor.

“U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) itself acknowledges that raising the de minimis threshold

changed the very nature of international trade.” Under the traditional paradigm, businesses would contract foreign manufacturers, entering into supply contracts, importing particular products by the container-load, and then distribute products to domestic retailers. “Large shipments would be consigned to a single purchaser, and typically consist of the same or similar goods. Under the new paradigm, that same shipping container has individual packages destined for hundreds of individual customers who are fulfilling the legal role of “importer…”

“For regular imports, the law requires importers to provide Customs & Border Protection (CBP) an advance manifest of the incoming cargo describing it. But de minimis shipments, including millions of e-commerce packages, typically arrive with no advance information.”

CPA recommends that Congress “fix this by lowering the threshold back to $9 ($5, but adjusted for inflation).”

One company is leading the effort to adopt a private sector solution.  Don Buckner Sr., recently contacted me about the new online marketplace he is developing to provide consumers with easy access to domestic manufactured products. MadeInUSA.com.  Customers will be able to identify and search by three sourcing categories: Made in USA, Made in USA with US & Global Materials, and Assembled in the USA. They may also search by a Business Certification such as Veteran, Women, Minority, GSA Holder, or Small Business. This will increase a company’s visibility, allowing access to opportunities they might not otherwise have.  Vendors must certify that products displayed on the site are produced in compliance with the Federal Trade Commission Made in USA claim. Strict adherence is required for all vendors.  MadeInUSA is now registering vendors and products at https://madeinusa.com/vendor.  The website is scheduled to go live in late 2023.

I asked what will make his website different from other websites offering Made in USA products, and

Don said, “MadeInUSA.com is an Enterprise level eCommerce marketplace specifically designed to highlight and promote vendors to domestically produced products. MadeInUSA.com is built using the latest technology and is the most comprehensive, secure, online resource for consumers and corporate buyers  As the premier and trusted online marketplace for products made in the USA, the site offers a doorway between U.S. manufacturers and the world.”

Customers will be able to identify and search vendors by one of three categories: Made in USA, Made in USA with US & Global Materials, and Assembled in the USA. They may also search for vendors by a Business Certification such as Veteran, Women, Minority, GSA Holder, or Small Business. This will increase a company’s visibility, allowing access to opportunities they might not otherwise have.

Don explained, “The MadeInUSA.com eCommerce platform is based on a drop ship model and will collect and pay all sales tax and shipping costs. All the manufacturers must do is build it and box it”

The website is now open for vendor applications to offer products directly to consumers. Vendors may list products for free but must certify that products displayed on the site are produced in compliance with the FTC Made in USA claim. Strict adherence is required for all vendors. Manufacturers and vendors can register by visiting https://madeinusa.com/vendor to submit an application.   

U.S. consumers prefer to buy domestic products.  Today, it is hard for consumers to do that and easy for imports to by-pass customs duties.  Congress has legislators working to fix labeling and import duties. I applaud the focus of Don Buckner to reconnect U.S. manufacturers to the U.S. consumers and to create American jobs through increased demand for USA branded products. 

Industry Reimagined 2030 is working with national associations and the private sector to increase consumer purchases of U.S. goods. We share the same commitment that buying USA-made products isn’t just patriotic, it’s an investment into our communities, our labor force, and our economy.  We aim to increase U.S. purchases by $500 billion that will result in 2 million jobs by 2030.  

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