Manufacturing hubs are helping to create jobs

I so enjoy covering the manufacturing sector. After entering this profession, it instantly grabbed my attention and has ever since. I talk to everyone and anyone about its impact on the country. I explain to my teenage kids how manufacturing affects their lives every single day, how if there were no manufacturing, there would be nothing in our house – we would not even have a house. There would be no car to drive. I tell my son how his broken arm would not have healed properly if it had not been for those precisely manufactured bone rods.

If you are reading this magazine, you are somehow involved in the design and manufacturing of medical devices, components, durable equipment, and the like. In addition, because of your profession, you know and understand that manufacturing drives the U.S. economy and jobs. It accounts for 12% of U.S. GDP – and good news continues to abound for this sector. The latest reports show that manufacturing has added more than 668,000 jobs since 2010, with U.S. exports growing faster than in any other modern country.

Manufacturing also supports communities deeper than the numbers in economic reports show. Investment in R&D, new or upgraded manufacturing facilities, and new ideas of how to produce something are just some of the ways manufacturing can benefit a community.

Further support on the positives of manufacturing came from this past July’s Governance Studies at The Brookings Institution third annual John White Jr. Forum on Public Policy. The panel focused on the impact of regional manufacturing hubs and other policy initiatives aiming to spur growth of the United States’ industrial economic base.

It began with the Obama administration designating Chicago; Youngstown, Ohio; Detroit; and Raleigh, N.C., as regional manufacturing hubs. The plan is for these hubs to help accelerate expansion and adoption of advanced manufacturing technologies (which was mentioned in the October 2013 TMD editorial about the NAMII, now known as America Makes, which is one of the pilot institutes).

Questions at this forum explored whether the regional manufacturing hubs were working and if they have improved America’s global competitiveness; how they can change the future of U.S. manufacturing; how to replicate them in other areas; as well as the challenges, opportunities, and lessons learned from these hubs.

Consensus was that American manufacturing is vital to the future – we all know it is – and that Congress should work to authorize additional funds for more manufacturing hubs. I agree and stand behind supporting U.S. manufacturing and doing what is needed to keep it strong and growing stronger each year. The U.S. cannot thrive or grow as a service-only economy; it needs manufacturing. I’m sure you agree.

– Elizabeth