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Is manufacturing in US making a comeback, if so where?
I have read in other forums it is, and in fact still lots of manufacturing never left. Especially in the high tech sector. So what high tech stuff do we actually make here, and not just design?
Manufacturing has been fine, what dropped was manufacturing employment. In USA buying a machine that stamps out 500 widgets per hour is a much better deal than paying 10 people to stamp out 50 widgets per hour. In some developing country the equation might be different since the widget makes are making 1/6 as much so manufacturing employment remains higher, especially for low-tech products like plastic spatulas and shirts.
for many companies the words "manufacturing here " can mean different thing .
i worked for a company that at one time made their own line of commercial and industrial water and sewage pumps here totally . .
our competition was manufacturing off shore and it reached a point we were just not competitive and could not win bids at margins that would have allowed the business to survive .
so we turned to manufacturing the pump castings overseas , but doing all assembly , quality control ,engineering ,sales , etc right here . that was what it took to become a major player
well that enabled the company to grow from an 8 million dollar company with 8 employees to 100 million last year . it employs over 350 Americans in 5 states . it has seen the suppliers we dealt with and vendors of all types grow by leaps and bounds so that growth went right through the supply chain and support companies they use .
so the castings are still made over seas in a state of the art Chinese cnc equipped factory but like car manufacturers do , the manufacturing here really amounts to assembly .
for many companies the words "manufacturing here " can mean different thing .
i worked for a company that at one time made their own line of commercial and industrial water and sewage pumps here totally . .
our competition was manufacturing off shore and it reached a point we were just not competitive and could not win bids at margins that would have allowed the business to survive .
so we turned to manufacturing the pump castings overseas , but doing all assembly , quality control ,engineering ,sales , etc right here . that was what it took to become a major player
well that enabled the company to grow from an 8 million dollar company with 8 employees to 100 million last year . it employs over 350 Americans in 5 states . it has seen the suppliers we dealt with and vendors of all types grow by leaps and bounds so that growth went right through the supply chain and support companies they use .
so the castings are still made over seas in a state of the art Chinese cnc equipped factory but like car manufacturers do , the manufacturing here really amounts to assembly .
Then why so expensive to make the castings domestically?
i work at a manufacturing job. i've never seen many factory jobs leave, but i've seen lots of workers leave their factory jobs. we have a lot of people stay on the job for about two days and then quit. we see lots of that stuff. sure, there are a few factories that have closed but not many. i don't think we have lost many factory jobs. this is just nonsense from the media.
Manufacturing has been fine, what dropped was manufacturing employment. In USA buying a machine that stamps out 500 widgets per hour is a much better deal than paying 10 people to stamp out 50 widgets per hour. In some developing country the equation might be different since the widget makes are making 1/6 as much so manufacturing employment remains higher, especially for low-tech products like plastic spatulas and shirts.
i think they could make these low end products but they just aren't making them because people are lazy. they just want to import products from china and sell them. we need to make them right here in the usa. i know they can make these things profitably. they don't have to be original or high tech. we can make fans and little plastic widgets like they do in china. we need more factory startups and less website startups.
i think they could make these low end products but they just aren't making them because people are lazy. they just want to import products from china and sell them. we need to make them right here in the usa. i know they can make these things profitably. they don't have to be original or high tech. we can make fans and little plastic widgets like they do in china. we need more factory startups and less website startups.
It's economics. We don't have the cost base and now we no longer have the supply chain. We still do make many things in the USA but major production - as in the garment industry, is never coming back to the US unless you can somehow reverse globalization, which is probably impossible and even if you did succeed it would not be a good idea because it would require raising many prices to the consumer.
Then why so expensive to make the castings domestically?
labor , utility costs and mostly epa regulations on some of the processes like vpi impregnation of motor winding's . the air filtering systems that are required are much to costly and are really not needed .
Manufacturing has been fine, what dropped was manufacturing employment. In USA buying a machine that stamps out 500 widgets per hour is a much better deal than paying 10 people to stamp out 50 widgets per hour. In some developing country the equation might be different since the widget makes are making 1/6 as much so manufacturing employment remains higher, especially for low-tech products like plastic spatulas and shirts.
Lieqiang, manufacturing in the USA is not “fine”. Much lesser than previous volumes of all types of goods are no longer produced in the USA, but we are purchasing greater volumes of those same finished goods. Many particular goods sold in the USA are effectively entirely produced beyond our borders. We’re purchasing more of those goods but their producers are no longer within our borders.
The foreign producers employ foreign workers. They use foreign materials. their production facilities are built by foreign construction companies. Their facilities and production line mechanisms are maintained by foreign enterprises. those foreign industries employ plumbers, carpenters, accountants, lawyers, janitors, poster designers, supervisors, cafeteria workers, human resource departments.
When a USA company relocates their production overseas, their production support is foreign support. The loss of sales volumes experienced by a USA tool and die company cuts their production volumes and that increases their remaining productions’ costs per item; which in turn causes other of their clients to relocate their production beyond USA’s borders. This progresses until USA’s tool and die industry is a shadow of what it was previously.
Those factories that consumed electric power and crowded our highways with trucks carrying their production supporting goods, also shared and reduced the overheads and costs per mile of our electricity transmission, highways, tunnels, bridges, railroad tracks, and interstate water routes; and of course, they contributed something to our governments’ tax revenues.
They provided jobs for the graduates of our colleges. They supported research and development within their own enterprises. our colleges and university laboratories. When you produce, you gain the knowledge and experience from manipulating the materials, tools and managing the people involved with that production.
Regardless of the types of goods being produced, (e.g. agricultural, ranching, fishing. mining, lumber, text-books, medical devices, locomotives or mop handles), the benefits of production are earned by those who produce.
There’s no economic difference between foreign or domestic vehicles on USA highways or in USA repair shops. Their entire economic differences occurred prior to their reaching their USA assembly lines' shipment platforms, or when the imports reached the jurisdiction of the U.S. governments, and enterprises, and were handled by USA labor.
Consider all of this and more the next time you hear an idiot spout that producing any kind of goods is unimportant because their production is automated and requires much fewer workers.
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