There’s More Evidence of a Resurgence of Manufacturing in the United States

The Atlantic Monthly’s December issue offers up a pair of excellent articles on the resurgence of industrial activity in the United States. In “The Insourcing Boom,” Charles Fishman takes us through the story of Appliance Park, an industrial park in Kentucky that was headquarters to

GE’s appliance division. The park had 16,000 workers in 1955, but gradually emptied out as Jack Welch move more and more of its appliance production offshore. But in the past year, GE has begun to bring back production of things like water heaters and dish washers. And they’ve learned that by redesigning products and production lines, they can produce products more cheaply than in China with the added benefit of not risking the loss of intellectual property. In a second article “Mr. China Comes to America,” James Fallows describes how manufacturers are increasingly establishing facilities in the United States to be close to innovation that’s being driven by pairing technology, design and such tools as 3-D printing. Fallows story focuses on San Francisco. But Washington state is also seeing a resurgence of manufacturing. Let us know what you are up to by entering our Washington Manufacturing Awards. The nomination form is here.