For the longest time, manufacturing was the backbone of American society. That is until most of these jobs were transferred overseas. However you slice and dice the economics of the manufacturing sector, it definitely hurt a lot of Americans who lost their jobs. Today, America is trying to bring these jobs back to American shores while still maintaining an economic advantage.
At Bluff Manufacturing, we are doing our part. We manufacture all of our products in our Fort Worth, TX facility providing jobs to our employees and offering quality products to our consumers. As part of the NAM (National Association of Manufactures), Bluff Manufacturing has always been on the forefront working as a representative for keeping American manufacturing jobs within American shores.
One way to accomplish this mighty goal is to draw more Congressional attention to the issue. And these efforts just got a major boost recently. A recent visit from John Wood, North Texas Regional Director for the office of Senator John Cornyn. helped define the importance of manufacturing to the U.S. economy. Bluff Manufacturing’s President, Clark Smith, along with NAM conducted a plant tour for John Wood. The tour of the production facility allowed the Senator’s representative to observe the production process, meet several employees, learn about the benefits of Bluff’s unique compensation model, and understand Bluff’s two-year apprenticeship/training program. All these were critical in highlighting to Congress not just the challenges of manufacturing – job losses and global competition, but also the solutions and remedies that could help create more manufacturing jobs within the U.S. and contribute to bolstering the economy.
Shifting manufacturing jobs overseas to cheaper labor markets has always been a part of free trade. But more importantly, it was to keep shareholders happy. While it may not always be possible to retain all labor-intensive manufacturing jobs in the U.S., a happy middle-of-the-road solution is very possible. Americans can still retain skill-intensive, advanced manufacturing jobs within America. Good training, unique compensation models, and a competitive workforce are just a few elements / examples than can put the American worker back into the manufacturing sector.
President Obama’s visit to Detroit in July 2010 highlighted the issue of the recovering auto industry that pulled itself out of crisis, changed its economic model, and got new leadership.
I think it’s safe to say the nation’s manufacturing backbone is getting stronger. We will continue to participate in free global trade, but this time we will work harder to get it right. Companies can be competitive while still keeping manufacturing jobs in America. This is not only a possibility, but at Bluff Manufacturing, we have made it a reality.
