The Manufacturing Report

Ahead of Chinese Vice Premier Liu He's visit to the White House this week, podcast host Scott Paul and the Alliance for American Manufacturing's Scott Boos look into the future of U.S.-China trade relations, discuss whether the global trading system is broken, and answer listener questions.

When “Ted” Tadeusz Szarek immigrated from Poland to America in 1974, jobs were scarce. But at Wheatland Tube in Chicago, he found a career that has spanned 43 years and supported his family. Listen to learn why American manufacturing and steel matter so much to Ted and his community.

When President Donald Trump announced trade action against steel imports in March, the CEO and executive chairman of North America's largest steel pipe and tube manufacturer granted each of his employees an annual $1,000 bonus for each year the steel tariffs are in place. Although his company must buy steel to make its own products, here's why Barry Zekelman believes steel tariffs are critical to...

When Tori Tissell graduated from design school in 2011, she wasn't sure how she would make ends meet, let alone provide Christmas presents for all her friends and family. However, Tissell's ingenuity not only solved her Christmas troubles but also launched a business, Storiarts, that continues to grow today.

How will steel tariffs impact other manufacturers? Will imposing tariffs start a trade war? What happens next for the steel and aluminum industries? Scott Paul and Scott Boos offer answers to listener questions.

Without a skilled workforce, the intelligent factory of the future is worthless. Here's how the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CCAM) just outside Richmond, Virginia, is training the highly-skilled workers needed to make factories run now and in the future.

Inspired by the legacy of textile manufacturing in her hometown, Reading, Pa., Kate Williamson dreamed of making socks as a child. When her father came across an ad for a local knitting mill, the only one remaining in Reading, Williamson found a critical mentor who helped her launch her own sock company years later.

The Commerce Department publicly released its "Section 232" report on national security threats posed by steel imports on Feb. 16. With President Trump's action imminent, brush up on what "Section 232" means for steel.

Music and manufacturing merge at Furnace Record Pressing's 50,000 square-foot vinyl record plant in Alexandria, Va. Join Scott Paul on a tour of Furnace's new facility and a conversation with Furnace's CEO and Operations Manager.

Autonomous vehicles may sound like they're straight out of science fiction, but the day you'll see one on your street isn't far. Ford's Curt Magleby tells Scott Paul how his company is keeping the future of auto manufacturing in America.

Shop Made in DC co-founder Stacey Price always wanted a place to support local makers, and when a space opened near DuPont Circle, she jumped at the chance to highlight D.C.'s best. Since then, sales have expanded production lines and fostered a new sense of community.

The most popular Manufacturing Report podcast of 2017 was our interview with Frank DuBois, and for good reason. His popular Kogod Made in America Auto Index helps consumers keep American-made in mind as they shop for a new vehicle.

There's little doubt that 2017 was a monumental year for American manufacturing. There was good and bad, major developments and huge disappointments. In this episode, Alliance for American Manufacturing President Scott Paul, Digital Media Director Elizabeth Brotherton-Bunch, Communications Manager Matt McMullan and Press Secretary Jet Moody reflect on the year that was — and put forth a few of the...

What are your cats and dogs chewing on? When pets started getting sick from playing with foreign-made pet toys, Pam Wheelock wasn’t surprised. After a successful career as an occupational therapist, the Purrfect Play founder stepped in to produce healthy, sustainable toys for cats and dogs. Knowing that there’s no way to safely farm out pet toy production, Wheelock asks why anyone would put their...

In the early 1990s, T-shirt salesman Mark Baker sent a sample of his flannel designs to retailers like J.C. Penney and Sears, who promptly cribbed them and made them overseas. But despite the odds, Baker and the Vermont Flannel Company stayed committed to Made in America, and things really took off in 2007 — when the economic crisis hit. In this episode, Baker shares why Made in America is the sec...

When flatware maker Oneida decided to offshore its production, Greg Owens and his business partner stepped in and bought the company's factory in upstate New York. Liberty Tabletop is now the only maker of flatware in the United States — but the company is growing thanks to an innovative business model.

When most American workwear companies sent production overseas at the turn of the century, LC King kept things going at its iconic factory in Bristol, Tenn. And as owner and operations manager Jack King — the great-grandson of company founder Landon Clayton King — explains, LC King's decision helped support other manufacturers around the country, too. But can LC King continue to compete in the fac...

When a sleeping bag factory in Haleyville, Ala., was on the brink of shutting down, Exxel Outdoors bought it, upgraded it — and managed to create even more jobs. Today, the factory produces more than 2 million sleeping bags every year, which are sold at retailers like Walmart. "What they saw as a lost business, we just saw it as an opportunity," Exxel's CEO Harry Kazazian recalls. But it hasn't be...

Marble King makes more than 1 million, 100 percent lead-free glass marbles at its factory in West Virginia every day. But as CEO Beri Fox explains, while Marble King makes the best product on the market, the company is up against some unfair competition.

Third-generation farmer-turned-candy maker Joe Dutra launched Kimmie Candy in 2000 and almost immediately started winning awards for his tasty treats. In 2005, Dutra took a huge risk when he moved Kimmie Candy's manufacturing operations from South Korea to Reno, Nev. — and quickly reaped the benefits of making it in America. In this episode, Dutra explains how he did it — and where his candy-makin...

mHUB's state-of-the-art facility in Chicago is a place where entrepreneurs and innovators can invent new things, from cutting-edge electronics to groundbreaking medical devices to even a better mousetrap. But is it possible for those new inventions to be manufactured in the United States, too? Yes — and mHUB co-founder and managing director Bill Fienup explains how.

Documentary filmmaker Vincent Vittorio was ahead of his time. When he released the American Made Movie in 2013, he helped shine a much-needed spotlight on the devastation caused by factory job loss. Four years later, the future of manufacturing is at the center of our national politics. In this episode, Vittorio shares thoughts on how we got here — and where we need to go next.

In 2015, former investment analyst Gerard Masci and architect Brian Vallario launched Lowercase to make high-quality American-made eyewear. But after decades of offshoring, many of the secrets behind American eyewear manufacturing had been lost, and the pair had to start from scratch. In this episode, Masci and Vallario tell The Manufacturing Report how they did it -- earning accolades from The Wa...

Since President Trump took office, there's been an ongoing debate over the future of American manufacturing, particularly when it comes to industries like steel and aluminum. In a special edition of The Manufacturing Report, reporter Joseph Pete of The Times of Northwest Indiana chats with guest host Matt McMullan about why steel remains vital to the Hoosier State -- and what Trump must do now if...

President Trump repeatedly has said he would stand up for factory workers. But Trump is more than two months late on a key pledge to America's steelworkers — and that delay is creating a new batch of problems. In this episode, steelworkers Onika Rivera, Dan Simmons and Mike Howard share what they need Trump and lawmakers on Capitol Hill to do now.