America’s precision machinists are searching for balance. On one hand, the business of contract manufacturing has become a lowest-cost, shortest lead-time proposition (read how, in space procurement). On the other hand, when provided room to operate, companies are leaning-in to engineering, to design-to-manufacture, to an operating ethos that values quality and acumen and technology and […]
US manufacturing ebbs and flows across multiple industries. For communities intent on matching economic assets with emerging opportunities, the future is bright. Sometime in April, if it hasn’t happened already, US manufacturing employment will surge past 13 million total jobs for the first time since November 2008. Back then, manufacturing was in a free fall […]
Here’s how Primes and the companies that fly can make life easier for suppliers If “Prime” contractors like SpaceX and Lockheed Martin, along with companies like lunar explorer Ultimate Machines, are the public face of America’s new space economy, contract manufacturers and other suppliers to the industry are the glue. Their parts comprise the systems […]
Two plus two equals three at Denver’s influential apparel House of Brands A year ago, I forecast tough sledding for VF Corporation, Denver’s multi-billion-dollar apparel and outdoor industry amalgam. The headwinds buffeting most consumer-brand importers were transparent enough then and remain so today; among them are supply-chain disruptions that have turned inventory management into a […]
Takeaways from the first Colorado Food & Beverage Co-Manufacturing Summit Aerospace gets the headlines, but more Coloradoans work at food companies than in any other manufacturing industry in the state – over 26,000 employees and another 10,000 or so in beverage businesses. As long ago as 2013, growth in this powerhouse sector convinced me that […]
U.S. manufacturing is on a winning streak, even as its success is challenging economic convention. How the newly energized sector co-exists with America’s powerful “import economy” is a topic of interest and intrigue in 2024. Tariffs are sustained. Other pro-manufacturing measures are stymied in ‘24 As fashionable as it’s become to be pro-manufacturing, America still […]
It’s time to revisit my annual forecast from a year ago – including an Elon Musk guess – to own-up to the misses and revel in my prescience. I’ll forecast the year ahead for manufacturing next time. My fab five from last year: 2023 is the year of the semiconductor supply chain – who builds […]
Last month I reported on the national competition for 20 regional innovation hubs (RIH) – to be funded by the CHIPs and Science Act – and the six Colorado entries invited to present to the Polis administration per its TechHubNow! initiative. The process was intended to preview the entries, enable feedback and, in the end, […]
Colorado’s advanced manufacturing ecosystem is deep in aerospace acumen; established if underpublicized in bioscience and food and beverage; up and coming in battery and EV-related applications; and awakening as a semiconductor node, where America’s newfound interest in a national chip industry has raised the stakes for companies and communities. It would be back to the […]
The Polis administration says it’s all-in on the national competition for 20 new innovation centers that could boost American advanced manufacturing. Local manufacturers stand to benefit – or not. By Bart Taylor, Moss Adams Science and technology influencers gathered in Denver in late May to parse ideas in support of a Colorado bid to land […]