Mission Back to the Future: A Plan to Revive North American Manufacturing

Revitalizing North American manufacturing will take more than rhetoric, requiring a clear mission, skilled workforce, reliable supply chains, significant investment, and decisive action.

For about a decade now, people have talked, chatted and pontificated about “reshoring.” This conversation seems to have started in the electronics industry, where companies producing the critical technologies that support virtually everything, from complex national defense systems to simple consumer devices, were becoming increasingly scarce. Soon, virtually every industry, along with government officials, began discussing the need to bring manufacturing back to North America. Yet here we are, roughly a decade later, with little real progress despite all the rhetoric.

Whatever you call it, “reshoring,” bringing manufacturing back, or something else, it requires a plan. Not just words, but a real, sustainable action plan. So, while I am not a politician, financier or multibillionaire, I have a recommendation. I call it “Mission Back to the Future.”

Briefly, my plan draws on the life experiences of a baby boomer who spent his entire career manufacturing everything from paper to the most advanced electronics. Those experiences have taught me more than a few things, often the hard way. So here goes.

1. Define your mission and stick to it. In this case, the mission is to increase and expand manufacturing in North America. All activities must align with the national interest and the goal of creating a highly competitive manufacturing environment that rivals any in the world. Define the mission and stick to it.
2. You cannot manufacture without people, period. Yes, automation, AI, and other technologies must play a part, but without people, you are dead in the water. That means investing in vocational and technical education at the high school and postsecondary levels. From the 1950s through the 1970s, North America had many schools that successfully educated and trained young and not-so-young people, equipping them with the skills they needed to enter and thrive in manufacturing. Regrettably, too many of those educational opportunities no longer exist. One of our first priorities must be to commit to and invest in the training necessary to develop a plentiful, manufacturing-competent workforce. Achieving the mission of expanding North American manufacturing demands educating and training people in the skills the industry requires.
3. Ensure a robust supply chain exists to support the manufacturing base. While the long-term goal is to establish a local supply base (read: North America), we must utilize existing supply chains in the short term. This means eliminating senseless tariffs that negatively affect the availability of materials and supplies, at least until we establish a robust local supply base. Manufacturing will never rebound or thrive if supply-chain shortages starve factories of essential materials. In particular, government officials must understand that tinkering with tariffs before completing the mission of expanding manufacturing will only choke the supply chain and jeopardize its success.

4. Without adequate and appropriate funding, the mission will never get off the ground. Expanding manufacturing requires significant investment to build facilities and equip them with the capital equipment, inventories, and personnel necessary to produce products. The operative term here is “appropriate.” Tax incentives are great, but only if recipients actually have money to invest. However, expanding manufacturing in North America at the massive scale required will force governments to raise the bar and write some checks, and I mean BIG checks! Governments have dabbled in this approach through initiatives such as the CHIPS Act in the United States. However, if we take this mission seriously, we need a Herculean effort comparable to World War II mobilization. Put another way, we must take actions similar to those of many Asian countries that have committed significant investments to achieving strategic initiatives. That level of commitment is essential to accomplishing the mission of expanding manufacturing.
5. Finally, stop talking and start taking action. Every day, week, year, or decade spent debating “how” to accomplish the mission or “who” should take the initiative represents wasted time. When you are on a mission, time is often the most critical and valuable resource. Talk without action assures mission failure!

So, there you have it. “Mission Back to the Future” requires following the five points above. However, simple does not necessarily mean easy. Accomplishing each objective requires everyone involved in the mission, including business executives, educators and government officials, to demonstrate commitment, tenacity and patience, and to repeat those efforts over and over. Put another way, everyone involved must walk the walk, not just talk the talk.

However difficult or unlikely “Mission Back to the Future” may appear to some, history provides ample precedent for what people can accomplish when all parties commit to a common mission. Consider the United States. Without that commitment, the country might never have built a transcontinental railroad, electrified such a vast nation, or sent a man to the moon and brought him back safely within a decade. In each case, those involved supported the stated mission by following the five principles outlined above.

We can do it. Manufacturing in North America can once again become abundant and globally competitive, but only if everyone commits to the mission.End of article content

Peter Bigelow has more than 30 years’ experience as a PCB executive, most recently as president of FTG Circuits Haverhill; peterbigelow@msn.com.