“There are only three ways to create wealth: You either make it, you mine it or you grow it,” says Robert Trouskie, director of field services for the Workforce Development Institute, a New York nonprofit focused on growing and retaining well-paying jobs in the state. “The one that’s really lagged behind in the last two or three decades has been the making of things, but I think the pendulum is starting to [swing].”
Indeed, the U.S. saw about 5 million manufacturing jobs disappear between 2000 and 2014. But despite the loss, 400,000 positions still sit unfilled across the country. Most are for jobs that require special training — a need WDI has been addressing since 2003 by working with other organizations and unions to connect willing workers to available positions.
One such worker is Todd Holmquist, a recent graduate of WDI’s Accelerated Machinist Partnership, which combines classroom education with hands-on training in factories. After the aircraft plant where he worked closed in 2013, Holmquist’s income plummeted from about $80,000 a year to $20,000. He enrolled in the program just a week before his wife was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
Watch the video above to see how WDI helped turned Holmquist’s life, and employment prospects, around.
Tag: American Manufacturing
This Company Wants to Bring Back American Bike Manufacturing
Americans are fast embracing cycling as a means of commuting.
But as more and more cities make room for bike lanes, the price tag that comes with the pedaling lifestyle is a hefty one. In fact, a conventional bike costs upwards of $1,000, while more specialized bikes can retail for more than $10,000.
Despite the popularity of cycling in the United States, 99 percent of the 16 million bikes sold across the country in 2013 were made abroad — mostly in China or Taiwan — according to the National Bicycle Dealers Association. But a Portland-based startup is looking to change that statistic by bringing back jobs to Oregon and creating affordable custom bikes all at once.
Circa Cycles uses a manufacturing process that can produce a 21.5-pound custom bike in just 10 hours or less, compared to the typical 50 to 100 hours of hand labor that other companies require to make an average bike.
Founder Rich Fox broke down the process of manufacturing a bike and then found ways to reduce the time required. “It goes together almost like a Lego set. It’s kind of like a combination of Ikea, and Lego, and Swatch, in a way,” Fox tells Fast Company.
The one-of-a-kind bikes are put together with a specialized glue used to construct race cars and airplanes. And rather than using a hand-painting process, Circa bikes are anodized at a Portland shop, allowing a customer to personalize the color. Fox uses all local milling and piping suppliers to ensure a fast turnaround.
Customers can also decide on size, handlebars, drivetrains and tires using computer-controlled milling (CNC) machines to produce customized designs in a short period of time. Frames cost $1,100 with the completed bicycle starting at $1,500.
“Typically, making a custom bike takes anywhere from three months, up to as much as five years,” Fox tells Fast Company. “So the idea that you can turn a bike around in less than 10 days — it’s pretty innovative to go from zero to bike that quick.”
While the price tag is still high, Fox hopes the more affordable option will encourage more cyclists to opt for an American-made bike. Ultimately, he hopes to bring more jobs back to Oregon.
“I moved to Oregon about 15 years ago and I really love it here, and I really wanted to contribute to the local community by creating something here to boost the economy,” he says. “I just wanted to make where I live a better place.”
MORE: What Has Two Wheels, Two Pedals and Can Boost the Economy?
Swooping In and Saving a Shuttered Factory is All in a Day’s Work for This Hardworking Mom
There are many moms who are superheroes, but Allison Faunce is one who actually comes with a cape.
As Yahoo! Finance reports, Faunce’s small business, Little Hero Capes (which sells pint-sized superhero costumes), remarkably revived the Fall River Apparel cut-and-sew factory in southeastern Massachusetts.
Like many other factories in this country, Fall River Apparel had followed the same devastating narrative of America’s manufacturing decline: Jobs shifted overseas for cheaper prices, and the 30-year business that once pulled in $3 million in revenue and employed hundreds at its peak, gradually — and painfully — went bust.
“I went in one day and there weren’t anymore orders to come — and we were forced to close,” owner Jimmy Petrosso told the site. “The day we closed and I had to tell those 100 people — I was in the corner crying.”
MORE: Making ‘Made in America’ Cool Again
But in a move that truly saved the day (not to mention, an entire company) the Somerset mom decided to approach the local sewers at Fall River to help produce costumes for her growing company that was expanding faster than she could keep up with.
Now, in a case of a wonderfully symbiotic partnership, both Faunce and the factory are profiting. Yahoo! reports that Fall River has made more than 5,000 capes, which retail for $45 each. The company has also since teamed up with Wrapeaze, another thriving company that makes hooded superhero capes for kids.
“What Allison has taught me is that there are energetic younger people out there that believe in what they’re doing and believe that making it in America matters,” Petrosso said. “That gives me hope, because it was kind of tough when we lost it all…[Even if] she puts two people to work…it’s still putting people to work. So I would hope that there are more Allison’s, and they don’t give up…”
With help from super-moms like Allison Faunce, perhaps American manufacturing can make a comeback after all.
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Here’s How to Restore American Fashion Manufacturing
In case you haven’t heard, American manufacturing is making a comeback, and the fashion industry is no exception. For more than 75 years, Ohio Knitting Mills was one of the largest knitwear manufacturers in the U.S., producing private-label garments for stores such as Sears and Saks Fifth Avenue, and designer labels like Van Heusen and Jack Winter. At its peak, this business, owned and operated by the Stone-Rand family, employed more than 1,000 workers — an economic beacon for Cleveland. But amid the rise of garment outsourcing in the U.S., the factory closed its doors at the turn of the century, ending a well-known mainstay in American fashion manufacturing. But Steven Tater, a designer who met the family in 2005, wasn’t about to add Ohio Knitting Mills to the history books, alongside many other factories that have been shuttered across the U.S. Armed with a trove of creative works bequeathed to him from the Stone-Rand family, Tater has revived Ohio Knitting Mills and its brand.
MORE: Making “Made in America” Cool Again
Over the past few years, Tater and his team have put together a small sewing factory in Cleveland, where they have used patterns from the Ohio Knitting Mills archive to create their own knitwear line. These garments are produced completely in their Ohio factory. From developing and dying yarns to designing styles and patterns; and from knitting the fabric to cutting, sewing and finishing the garments, the Ohio Knitting Mills is an all-in-one design and manufacturing company. Last year, the business created its first collection of men’s sweaters, and it already has retail accounts at stores in big cities across the U.S., as well as in Tokyo. Now Tater and his employees are looking toward the future. “One of the most important lessons we’ve learned on this journey is manufacturing makes communities,” Tater says. With that in mind, he’s turning to their community for help. “In order for us to become a fully operating knitwear factory, and to produce our new collection, we have to buy yarns and other raw materials to fill our orders, as well as add some special sewing machines and hire some folks to help us make our sweaters.”
MORE: Can a Pair of Blue Shoe Laces Kickstart American Manufacturing
Tater has created an Indiegogo campaign to raise $33,400 in order to help Ohio Knitting Mills cement its place in American fashion manufacturing once again. With these funds, the business will not only grow its own eponymous knitwear brand, but Tater hopes they can also help produce knit-based designs for other labels, which until now have almost exclusively produced knitwear overseas simply because the resources didn’t exist in the U.S.. “Today, there is a large need for domestic knitting production,” Tater writes on the Indiegogo campaign. “Supporting this campaign not only helps our company, it also can help other designers to create their knitwear products with us.” If that doesn’t have you convinced, check out the awesome rewards the brand is offering. A vintage houndstooth knitted beanie? Count us in.
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Can a Pair Of Blue Shoe Laces Kickstart American Manufacturing?
Most retailers seem to be in agreement that Americans don’t care about where their products come from as long as they get what they want. Thanks to The Blue Lace Project, retailers might be in for a rude awakening this season. In an effort to prove Americans care about domestically produced goods, New York-based clothing manufacturer Flint and Tinder partnered with Portsmouth Ohio-based Sole Choice to create “the very best shoelace they’d ever made.” The result is a blue double-waxed canvas shoelace strong enough to pull a 13,000 pound truck. Founder Jake Bronstein hopes both the product and the color blue will serve as a symbol to retailers and others that there is strong demand to restore American manufacturing. The project met its original $25,000 funding goal on Kickstarter just 10 hours after it became public, and went on to raise over $150,000 in just 30 days. It’s not too late to support the movement. You can still buy a pair of blue laces for $5 at Flint and Tinder.