October is manufacturing month, and so we’d be remiss if we didn’t highlight the power of manufacturing on our jobs, economy and quality of life. Manufacturing is powerful in its influence although it is often overlooked.

Here are a few statistics from the National Association of Manufacturers to put the power of manufacturing in the proper light:

  1. Manufacturers contributed $2.8 trillion to the U.S. economy
  2. For every $1 spent in manufacturing, another $1.82 is added.
  3. The majority of manufacturing firms are quite small yet there are 12.82 million manufacturing workers in the U.S.
  4. Manufacturing workers earn almost $85k annually
  5. 92% of manufacturing employees are eligible for health insurance
  6. Over the the next decade, 4.6 million manufacturing jobs will be needed.
  7. Over the past 28 years, U.S. manufactured good exports have quadrupled
  8. Manufacturing in the U.S. would be the 8th largest economy in the world.
  9. Manufacturers perform 64% of all private-sector R&D
  10. Foreign direct investment in U.S. manufacturing exceeded $1.6 trillion.

We are excited about the future of manufacturing in the U.S. and in the Inland Southern California area. In fact, according to a Brookings study, it is one of the top two recommendations to create a consortium for advanced manufacturing excellence. We are working with the Inland Empire Economic Partnership, more than 10 local universities and community colleges as well as partner organizations and exporters to bring this to a reality! We are currently seeking CEO and manufacturing executive involvement from an advisory capacity. If you are interested, please contact us.

To illustrate one success in manufacturing, we thought we’d highlight my interview with Ingram Micro after they won the Manufacturing Council of the Inland Empire’s Innovation Award in Process & Resource Efficiency. As Innovation Awards Chair, it was an exciting day to see such innovation and success in the Inland Empire! In this interview, I had a great conversation with Ismael Reyes Jr, Lean Leader II and process expert as well as Cindy Baughman, Senior Process Manager and finance guru at the Manufacturing Summit to explore further what they achieved with 33 lean projects, a $1 million dollars of savings and more. Watch the video.

In alignment with what we see with our clients, the 80/20 of success boils down to people and leadership combined with the appropriate process improvements to drive dramatic improvement to performance to customers and the bottom line. If you are interested in discussing a rapid assessment of what can be achieved in your organization, please contact us.