Made in America

ABC News recently did a Made in America segment where they worked with a family to furnish three rooms (Kitchen, Bathroom and Living Room) exclusively with products that are Made in America. The findings were almost all items could be sourced from American companies at comparable prices to foreign competitors, except televisions; televisions were no longer manufactured in the US. Also, the findings were only high end Refrigerators and Stoves are still Made in America.

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/world-news-made-america-challenge-groundbreaking-project-american-made-goods-12772486

Here are some of the facts:

• In 1960, foreign goods made up just 8 percent of Americans' purchases. Today, nearly 60 percent of everything we buy is made overseas
  
• 2010 US Imports were 1.935 trillion while 2010 US Exports were 1.3 trillion. This equates to $695.04/month per American Adults (232 million American Adults). While goods and services exports total about $517/month per American Adult. (Made in the USA Certified made the claim if each American Adult reduced their spending on foreign made products by $180/month we could eliminate our trade deficit)
  
• If every American spent an extra $3.33 on U.S.-made goods, it would create almost 10,000 new jobs in this country
  

Chart from Made in the USA Certified

These facts are spurring a new spirit of Economic Nationalism where Americans are seeing the current US trade deficit as unsustainable and the need to create more jobs in the US by purchasing more items Made in America and exporting these goods to the emerging middle classes all around the world.

Also, other trends positively impacting American Manufacturing are:

• Increase in Cost of Foreign Workforces while American Workforce Cost are Flat
  
• Companies Desire to be more responsive to customers (long lead times of manufacturing overseas)
  
• Cash Management – overseas orders have to be paid for before they are shipped and it may be 30 days before the products arrive in the US
  
• American Productivity – American Manufacturing has been able to produce more output with fewer workers due to automation and work processes.
  

For more on Reshoring – bringing Manufacturing Jobs back to the US: http://www.agenttech.com/newsletter/201008_Reshoring.html

For companies that are looking for ways to become even more productive, feel free to read my book – The Consumer’s Workshop: The Future of American Manufacturing or contact us to see if we can help.

Thanks,
Ben Moore
President
Agent Technologies, Inc.