SCHENECTADY, N.Y. — The Obama administration has long heralded the potential of American factories to offer good, stable middle-class jobs in an economy that desperately needs them. But experts say there might be another advantage to expanding manufacturing in the United States: a more innovative economy.
A growing chorus of economists, engineers and business leaders are warning that the evisceration of the manufacturing work force over the last 30 years might not have scarred just Detroit and the Rust Belt. It might have dimmed the country’s capacity to innovate and stunted the prospects for long-term growth.
“In sector after sector, we’ve lost our innovation edge because we don’t produce goods here anymore,” said Mitzi Montoya, dean of the college of technology and innovation at Arizona State University.
These experts say that in industries that produce complex, high-technology products — things like bioengineered tissues, not light bulbs — companies that keep their research and manufacturing employees close together might be more innovative than businesses that develop a schematic and send it overseas for low-wage workers to make. Moreover, clusters of manufacturers, where workers and ideas can naturally flow between companies, might prove more productive and innovative than the same businesses if they were spread across the country.
A General Electric facility in upstate New York provides a test case. In a custom-built facility the size of four football fields, workers are casting into thin tubes a kind of ceramic that G.E. invented. Those tubes get filled with a secret chemical “brownie mix,” packaged into batteries and shipped across the world.
The plant sits just a few miles down the road from the research campus where G.E. scientists developed the technology. That allows them to work out kinks on the assembly line, and test prototypes of and uses for the battery, the company’s scientists said.
“We’re not thinking about just one generation,” said Glen Merfeld of G.E.’s chemical energy systems laboratory, showing off a test battery his employees had run into exhaustion. “We’re working on the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth.”
The idea is to knit together manufacturing, design, prototyping and production, said Michael Idelchik, vice president for advanced technologies, who holds a dozen patents himself. “We believe that rather than a sequential process where you look at product design and then how to manufacture it, there is a simultaneous process,” Mr. Idelchik said. “We think it is key for sustaining our long-term competitive advantage.”
Economists and policy experts are now researching whether such strategies offer the same benefits for other businesses — and examining how those benefits might show up in national data on innovation, productivity and growth.
At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Suzanne Berger has helped to start the
Production in the Innovation Economy project to study the subject. “It is something that’s very difficult to establish systematically,” said Professor Berger. “You really have to be willing to look at case-by-case evidence, qualitative evidence. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
Thus far, she said, the anecdotal evidence from about 200 companies has proved striking, with company after company detailing the advantages of keeping makers and thinkers together. That does not mean every business, she stressed. Companies with products early in their life cycle seemed to benefit more than ones with products on the market for years. So did companies making especially complicated or advanced goods, from new medicines to new machines.
“It’s the companies where the challenge of producing on a commercial scale requires levels of scientific activity that are just as complex as the original challenge of developing the technology,” Professor Berger said.
Economists said that while the link between making and innovating within individual businesses was not yet well established, the link between making and innovating between different companies was.
It is what they call a “spillover” effect: manufacturing companies near one another create a kind of commons. Workers exchange ideas over drinks and at baseball games. They switch jobs, taking their knowledge with them. They draw other companies, who compete to offer them goods and services. It all adds up to a more productive, more innovative economy.
For instance, the economist Michael Greenstone of M.I.T.analyzed what happened to towns after marquee manufacturing plants, like a BMW factory, moved in. Other factories in the town became more productive, he and his co-authors found. Wages rose, too. Such evidence has left many economists and other experts concerned about the overseas movement of manufacturing jobs and facilities over the past 30 years.
The bulk of those jobs, experts were keen to note, were jobs that the United States probably would not want back — like repetitive assembly positions. But many were more cerebral positions, where manufacturing workers were not simply following a schematic, but solving problems.
“Outsourcing has not stopped with low-value tasks like simple assembly or circuit-board stuffing,” wrote Willy C. Shih and Gary P. Pisano of Harvard Business School. “Sophisticated engineering and manufacturing capabilities that underpin innovation in a wide range of products have been rapidly leaving, too.”
That might have left the United States falling behind in some fast-growing areas of cutting-edge technology, like bioscience and nanotechnology.
“The manufacturing process itself is going through an innovation revolution,” said Stephen Hoover, chief executive of Xerox PARC. “It’s not four million people on an assembly line. It’s a small number of really highly skilled people.”
The White House has studied these arguments and evidence, and found itself convinced.
“A vibrant manufacturing sector is inextricably linked to our capacity as a nation to innovate,” concludes a White House report published this year. It has pushed for allocating billions of dollars to an array of policies to bring back manufacturing and keep it in the United States.
Experts and executives for manufacturing companies described the proposals as helpful, but too small to make a significant difference. When asked what might help rebuild the country’s manufacturing commons faster, they mentioned things like a larger immigration program for science, engineering and technology graduates; tripling government investment in basic research and development; hugely increasing export financing; and changing the country’s regulatory scheme.
“Other nations are competing intensely to create an attractive business and regulatory environment for manufacturing firms” said James Manyika
, dire
ctor of the McKinsey Global Institute, which recently published a report on manufacturing’s link with innovation. “The United States just hasn’t done this as aggressively as other countries have.”
Foxconn Begins Manufacturing Amazon Smartphone
in Uncategorized/by MAM TeamDecember 18, 2012
Perhaps the most surprising part of the report relates to the price of the supposed device. The report claims that Amazon’s smartphone will be offered for a price somewhere in the range of $100 to $200. If true, such a low price point would be consistent with the company’s strategy of bringing customers into its e-commerce ecosystem over profit margins on its hardware. Despite the success of the Kindle line of devices, the company barely breaks even on every Kindle Fire $159.00 at Amazon device produced.
But, contrary to the high profit margin strategy of Apple, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos apparently believes in a different approach. In October, in a statement accompanying Amazon’s third quarter results, Bezos said, “Our approach is to work hard to charge less. Sell devices near breakeven and you can pack a lot of sophisticated hardware into a very low price point.”
The Asia-based news source also claims the device is scheduled to be launched some time in the second or third quarter of 2013, which might allow the handset to compete, give or take a few months, with the release of an updated iPhone, assuming Apple hews to its usual release schedule.
Last month, Digitimes reported that Foxconn was producing phones for Amazon and Microsoft.
12 Days of Christmas & Holiday Giveaway – DAY 10
in Uncategorized/by MAM TeamWelcome to Day 10 of our Fabulous
12 Days of Christmas & Holiday Giveaway
We are giving away an average of $500 worth of American made prizes daily for 12 days. All prizes have been generously donated by our Made in America Movement Members and Sponsors.
Rules for each day/entry:
(1) Comment at the bottom of this BLOG
(2) Enter via Rafflecopter widget below.
It may seem overwhelming at first, but its really quite easy.
(3) Are you on GOOGLE+? Give us a “+” up on the right hand corner of this blog. Not necessary to enter, but while you’re here… ;-)
It will help us rank higher on GOOGLE!!
(3) SHARE (via Facebook) blog link on your wall.
The more you share this link, the better your chances are to win.
Giveaway begins at 12PM EST
Giveaway will run for 24hrs only
One winner will be chosen at random.
Name of winner will be posted at 6pm EST.
Winner will have 24hrs to get in touch with us;
otherwise prize will go to runner up.
Today’s retail value of all prizes is over $400
That’s over $400 worth of potential American Made gifts you won’t have to spend a dime on!
We want to keep our giveaways flexible and allow our readers to enter in whatever ways they are most comfortable. There are a LOT of entry options below, but don’t be overwhelmed. The FACEBOOK likes are required, the Twitter follows are not… however, the more entry options you complete, the more chances you’ll have to win.
This giveaway will close at 12pm EST on 12/19. The winner will be randomly selected, verified for correct entry participation, and notified by email.
Now, let’s have some fun and win some prizes!!!
12 DAYS OF PRIZES
DAY 10
12 Days of Christmas & Holiday Giveaway – DAY 9
in Uncategorized/by MAM TeamWelcome to Day 9 of our Fabulous
12 Days of Christmas & Holiday Giveaway
Rules for each day/entry:
(1) Comment at the bottom of this BLOG
(2) Enter via Rafflecopter widget below.
It may seem overwhelming at first, but its really quite easy.
(3) Are you on GOOGLE+? Give us a “+” up on the right hand corner of this blog. Not necessary to enter, but while you’re here… ;-)
It will help us rank higher on GOOGLE!!
(3) SHARE (via Facebook) blog link on your wall.
The more you share this link, the better your chances are to win.
Giveaway begins at 3PM EST
Giveaway will run for 24hrs only
One winner will be chosen at random.
Name of winner will be posted at 6pm EST.
Winner will have 24hrs to get in touch with us;
otherwise prize will go to runner up.
Today’s retail value of all prizes is over $500
That’s over $500 worth of potential American Made gifts you won’t have to spend a dime on!
We want to keep our giveaways flexible and allow our readers to enter in whatever ways they are most comfortable. There are a LOT of entry options below, but don’t be overwhelmed. The FACEBOOK likes are required, the Twitter follows are not… however, the more entry options you complete, the more chances you’ll have to win.
This giveaway will close at 12pm EST on 12/18. The winner will be randomly selected, verified for correct entry participation, and notified by email.
Now, let’s have some fun and win some prizes!!!
12 DAYS OF PRIZES
DAY 9
12 Days of Christmas & Holiday Giveaway – DAY 8
in Uncategorized/by MAM TeamWelcome to Day 8 of our Fabulous
12 Days of Christmas & Holiday Giveaway
Rules for each day/entry:
(1) Comment at the bottom of this BLOG
(2) Enter via Rafflecopter widget below.
It may seem overwhelming at first, but its really quite easy.
(3) Are you on GOOGLE+? Give us a “+” up on the right hand corner of this blog. Not necessary to enter, but while you’re here… ;-)
It will help us rank higher on GOOGLE!!
(3) SHARE (via Facebook) blog link on your wall.
The more you share this link, the better your chances are to win.
Giveaway begins at 3PM EST
Giveaway will run for 24hrs only
One winner will be chosen at random.
Name of winner will be posted at 6pm EST.
Winner will have 24hrs to get in touch with us;
otherwise prize will go to runner up.
Today’s retail value of all prizes is over $650
That’s over $650 worth of potential American Made gifts you won’t have to spend a dime on!
We want to keep our giveaways flexible and allow our readers to enter in whatever ways they are most comfortable. There are a LOT of entry options below, but don’t be overwhelmed. The FACEBOOK likes are required, the Twitter follows are not… however, the more entry options you complete, the more chances you’ll have to win.
This giveaway will close at 12pm EST on 12/17. The winner will be randomly selected, verified for correct entry participation, and notified by email.
Now, let’s have some fun and win some prizes!!!
12 DAYS OF PRIZES
DAY 8
12 Days of Christmas & Holiday Giveaway – DAY 7
in Uncategorized/by MAM TeamWelcome to Day 7 of our Fabulous
12 Days of Christmas & Holiday Giveaway
Keep entering, sharing, liking, tweeting, googling… well, you get the point. We are making a difference. This is what we need to do folks. Spread awareness! Let everyone know about us. Let’s wake people up from their slumber. American made products is where it’s at!! Let’s do this!
5 more giveaways to go. We are giving away an average of $500 worth of American made prizes daily for 12 days. All prizes have been generously donated by our Made in America Movement Members and Sponsors.
Rules for each day/entry:
(1) Comment at the bottom of this BLOG
(2) Enter via Rafflecopter widget below.
It may seem overwhelming at first, but its really quite easy.
(3) Are you on GOOGLE+? Give us a “+” up on the right hand corner of this blog. Not necessary to enter, but while you’re here… ;-)
It will help us rank higher on GOOGLE!!
(3) SHARE (via Facebook) blog link on your wall.
The more you share this link, the better your chances are to win.
Giveaway begins at 3PM EST
Giveaway will run for 24hrs only
One winner will be chosen at random.
Name of winner will be posted at 6pm EST.
Winner will have 24hrs to get in touch with us;
otherwise prize will go to runner up.
Today’s retail value of all prizes is over $650
That’s over $650 worth of potential American Made gifts you won’t have to spend a dime on!
We want to keep our giveaways flexible and allow our readers to enter in whatever ways they are most comfortable. There are a LOT of entry options below, but don’t be overwhelmed. The FACEBOOK likes are required, the Twitter follows are not… however, the more entry options you complete, the more chances you’ll have to win.
This giveaway will close at 3pm EST on 12/16. The winner will be randomly selected, verified for correct entry participation, and notified by email.
Now, let’s have some fun and win some prizes!!!
12 DAYS OF PRIZES
DAY 7
Chinese Firm Wins Auction for Battery Maker A123
in Uncategorized/by MAM TeamDecember 9, 2012
Navitas Systems, a Woodridge, Ill.-based company, has agreed to buy A123’s Ann Arbor-based government business, including all U.S. military contracts for $2.25 million.
The firms outbid others — including Johnson Controls — at a bankruptcy auction on Saturday.
“We are pleased with the result of the auction and believe that the selected bids from Wanxiang and Navitas maximize the value of A123’s assets for the benefit of our stakeholders,” said A123 CEO Dave Vieau. “We think we have structured this transaction to address potential national security concerns.”
But some members of Congress still raised concerns.
“I am very concerned by Wanxiang’s acquisition of A123. A123 maintains several contracts with the Department of Defense and given the thin line between Wanxiang and the Chinese Government,” said Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Zeeland, in a statement. “I am concerned about the government of China having access to sensitive technologies being used by our military forces.”
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware will hold a hearing on the sale of A123 on Tuesday.
A123 filed for bankruptcy in October and initially sought approval to sell the bulk of itself to Johnson Controls Inc. in less than six weeks.
The startup — which has lost $900 million since 2007 and has 1,000 employees and contractors in Michigan — received $50 million in debtor-in-possession financing from Wanxiang.
A123 vowed to create 3,000 jobs by the end of 2012, but only has 1,300. The company won $249.1 million in grants from the Obama administration in 2009 to build battery plants in Romulus and Livonia, but has only spent $132 million. It also received more than $125 million in tax credits from the state of Michigan.
In a letter to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner — who chairs the Committee on Foreign Investment, which reviews the sale of U.S. companies — Sens. Carl Levin, D-Detroit, Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, and members of the House raised concerns.
They said the deal may pose a “threat to U.S. national security.”
The Energy Department could seek to recover equipment purchased with the A123 grant if the plants aren’t operated. Or it could release the remaining $117 in grant funding.
A123 has 625 employees at plants in Romulus and Livonia and an Ann Arbor office, along with 348 temporary workers in the state.
The company is the latest in a string of advanced battery firms that have gone bankrupt despite millions of dollars in subsidies from state governments and the Bush and Obama administrations.
In January, New York-based Ener1 filed for bankruptcy protection. A similar filing was made in March by Canada-based Azure Dynamics, which has offices in Oak Park and installs the battery electric powertrain in Ford’s Transit Connect.
The Obama administration awarded $2.4 billion in stimulus grants in August 2009 for advanced batteries and electric vehicles, saying the awards would create thousands of jobs.
The president set a goal of 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015, but sales have totaled fewer than 40,000 since 2011. Many battery suppliers have created a small fraction of the promised jobs.
dshepardson@detroitnews.com
(202) 662-8735
High-Tech Factories Built to Be Engines of Innovation
in Uncategorized/by MAM TeamDecember 13, 2012
“In sector after sector, we’ve lost our innovation edge because we don’t produce goods here anymore,” said Mitzi Montoya, dean of the college of technology and innovation at Arizona State University.
These experts say that in industries that produce complex, high-technology products — things like bioengineered tissues, not light bulbs — companies that keep their research and manufacturing employees close together might be more innovative than businesses that develop a schematic and send it overseas for low-wage workers to make. Moreover, clusters of manufacturers, where workers and ideas can naturally flow between companies, might prove more productive and innovative than the same businesses if they were spread across the country.
A General Electric facility in upstate New York provides a test case. In a custom-built facility the size of four football fields, workers are casting into thin tubes a kind of ceramic that G.E. invented. Those tubes get filled with a secret chemical “brownie mix,” packaged into batteries and shipped across the world.
The plant sits just a few miles down the road from the research campus where G.E. scientists developed the technology. That allows them to work out kinks on the assembly line, and test prototypes of and uses for the battery, the company’s scientists said.
“We’re not thinking about just one generation,” said Glen Merfeld of G.E.’s chemical energy systems laboratory, showing off a test battery his employees had run into exhaustion. “We’re working on the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth.”
The idea is to knit together manufacturing, design, prototyping and production, said Michael Idelchik, vice president for advanced technologies, who holds a dozen patents himself. “We believe that rather than a sequential process where you look at product design and then how to manufacture it, there is a simultaneous process,” Mr. Idelchik said. “We think it is key for sustaining our long-term competitive advantage.”
Economists and policy experts are now researching whether such strategies offer the same benefits for other businesses — and examining how those benefits might show up in national data on innovation, productivity and growth.
At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Suzanne Berger has helped to start the Production in the Innovation Economy project to study the subject. “It is something that’s very difficult to establish systematically,” said Professor Berger. “You really have to be willing to look at case-by-case evidence, qualitative evidence. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
Thus far, she said, the anecdotal evidence from about 200 companies has proved striking, with company after company detailing the advantages of keeping makers and thinkers together. That does not mean every business, she stressed. Companies with products early in their life cycle seemed to benefit more than ones with products on the market for years. So did companies making especially complicated or advanced goods, from new medicines to new machines.
“It’s the companies where the challenge of producing on a commercial scale requires levels of scientific activity that are just as complex as the original challenge of developing the technology,” Professor Berger said.
Economists said that while the link between making and innovating within individual businesses was not yet well established, the link between making and innovating between different companies was.
It is what they call a “spillover” effect: manufacturing companies near one another create a kind of commons. Workers exchange ideas over drinks and at baseball games. They switch jobs, taking their knowledge with them. They draw other companies, who compete to offer them goods and services. It all adds up to a more productive, more innovative economy.
For instance, the economist Michael Greenstone of M.I.T.analyzed what happened to towns after marquee manufacturing plants, like a BMW factory, moved in. Other factories in the town became more productive, he and his co-authors found. Wages rose, too. Such evidence has left many economists and other experts concerned about the overseas movement of manufacturing jobs and facilities over the past 30 years.
The bulk of those jobs, experts were keen to note, were jobs that the United States probably would not want back — like repetitive assembly positions. But many were more cerebral positions, where manufacturing workers were not simply following a schematic, but solving problems.
“Outsourcing has not stopped with low-value tasks like simple assembly or circuit-board stuffing,” wrote Willy C. Shih and Gary P. Pisano of Harvard Business School. “Sophisticated engineering and manufacturing capabilities that underpin innovation in a wide range of products have been rapidly leaving, too.”
That might have left the United States falling behind in some fast-growing areas of cutting-edge technology, like bioscience and nanotechnology.
“The manufacturing process itself is going through an innovation revolution,” said Stephen Hoover, chief executive of Xerox PARC. “It’s not four million people on an assembly line. It’s a small number of really highly skilled people.”
The White House has studied these arguments and evidence, and found itself convinced.
“A vibrant manufacturing sector is inextricably linked to our capacity as a nation to innovate,” concludes a White House report published this year. It has pushed for allocating billions of dollars to an array of policies to bring back manufacturing and keep it in the United States.
Experts and executives for manufacturing companies described the proposals as helpful, but too small to make a significant difference. When asked what might help rebuild the country’s manufacturing commons faster, they mentioned things like a larger immigration program for science, engineering and technology graduates; tripling government investment in basic research and development; hugely increasing export financing; and changing the country’s regulatory scheme.
“Other nations are competing intensely to create an attractive business and regulatory environment for manufacturing firms” said James Manyika
, dire
ctor of the McKinsey Global Institute, which recently published a report on manufacturing’s link with innovation. “The United States just hasn’t done this as aggressively as other countries have.”
12 Days of Christmas & Holiday Giveaway – DAY 6
in Uncategorized/by MAM TeamWelcome to Day 6 of our Fabulous
12 Days of Christmas & Holiday Giveaway
Keep entering, sharing, liking, tweeting, googling… well, you get the point. We are making a difference. This is what we need to do folks. Spread awareness! Let everyone know about us. Let’s wake people up from their slumber. American made products is where it’s at!! Let’s do this!
6 more giveaways to go. We are giving away an average of $500 worth of American made prizes daily for 12 days. All prizes have been generously donated by our Made in America Movement Members and Sponsors.
Rules for each day/entry:
(1) Comment at the bottom of this BLOG
(2) Enter via Rafflecopter widget below.
It may seem overwhelming at first, but its really quite easy.
(3) Are you on GOOGLE+? Give us a “+” up on the right hand corner of this blog. Not necessary to enter, but while you’re here… ;-)
It will help us rank higher on GOOGLE!!
(3) SHARE (via Facebook) blog link on your wall.
The more you share this link, the better your chances are to win.
Giveaway begins at 3PM EST
Giveaway will run for 24hrs only
One winner will be chosen at random.
Name of winner will be posted at 6pm EST.
Winner will have 24hrs to get in touch with us;
otherwise prize will go to runner up.
Today’s retail value of all prizes is $575
That’s $575 worth of potential American Made gifts you won’t have to spend a dime on!
We want to keep our giveaways flexible and allow our readers to enter in whatever ways they are most comfortable. There are a LOT of entry options below, but don’t be overwhelmed. The FACEBOOK likes are required, the Twitter follows are not… however, the more entry options you complete, the more chances you’ll have to win.
This giveaway will close at 3pm EST on 12/13. The winner will be randomly selected, verified for correct entry participation, and notified by email.
Now, let’s have some fun and win some prizes!!!
12 DAYS OF PRIZES
DAY 6
12 Days of Christmas & Holiday Giveaway – DAY 5
in Uncategorized/by MAM TeamWelcome to Day 5 of our Fabulous
12 Days of Christmas & Holiday Giveaway
7 more giveaways to go. We are giving away an average of $500 worth of American made prizes daily for 12 days. All prizes have been generously donated by our Made in America Movement Members and Sponsors.
Rules for each day/entry:
(1) Comment at the bottom of this BLOG
(2) Enter via Rafflecopter widget below.
It may seem overwhelming at first, but its really quite easy.
(3) Are you on GOOGLE+? Give us a “+” up on the right hand corner of this blog. Not necessary to enter, but while you’re here… ;-)
It will help us rank higher on GOOGLE!!
(3) SHARE (via Facebook) blog link on your wall.
The more you share this link, the better your chances are to win.
Giveaway begins at 3PM EST
Giveaway will run for 24hrs only
One winner will be chosen at random.
Name of winner will be posted at 6pm EST.
Winner will have 24hrs to get in touch with us;
otherwise prize will go to runner up.
Today’s retail value of all prizes is $563
That’s $563 worth of potential American Made gifts you won’t have to spend a dime on!
We want to keep our giveaways flexible and allow our readers to enter in whatever ways they are most comfortable. There are a LOT of entry options below, but don’t be overwhelmed. The FACEBOOK likes are required, the Twitter follows are not… however, the more entry options you complete, the more chances you’ll have to win.
This giveaway will close at 3pm EST on 12/12. The winner will be randomly selected, verified for correct entry participation, and notified by email.
Now, let’s have some fun and win some prizes!!!
12 DAYS OF PRIZES
DAY 5
Sears Accused of Misleading Public on Craftsman Line
in Uncategorized/by MAM TeamThat issue is at the forefront of a claim that the company snookered consumers into believing that its famous Craftsman tools were made in the U.S. Sears has beaten back the lawsuit for now, but the battle appears to be far from over.
A California judge rejected an effort late last month to certify the suit as a class action. In his 42-page decision, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Anthony Mohr argued that there were “serious problems” with the case and that it would be a “nightmare” to manage because there are 40 million potential class members, according to the National Law Journal.
Sears, which registered the Craftsman trademark in 1921, cheered the decision. But Barbara Hart, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, said the ruling will be appealed. In an interview with MSN Money, Hart said that her clients will seek certification under a narrower class definition.
“We are pleased with the court’s ruling but as the matter is still pending, we decline to comment further,” Sears spokesman Larry Costello wrote in an email.
Costello declined to say how many Craftsman tools were made in the U.S. and Hart, who filed suit against the retailer in 2004, isn’t sure either. After the suit was filed, Sears took Craftsman tools off the shelves and blacked out the words “Made in America,” she said.
Sears will not share records about where its Craftsman tools are made, but Hart said the company utilizes more than 130 Chinese manufacturers for the Craftsman line.
Craftsman has been one of the few bright spots for Sears in recent years as the retailer has struggled to compete against larger rivals such as Wal-Mart and Target. The stock has slumped more than 20% in the past year. Sears not a bargain for investors, trading at more than double its average 52-week price target of $17.83.
According to a recent report in the New York Times, the “Made in the USA” label has grown in popularity because it is a “signifier of old-school craftsmanship.” It’s also hard to find in today’s global economy. The U.S. trade deficit with China alone is about $232 billion.
The Made in America Movement