The Future of America's Manufacturing Jobs. NPR, Talk of the Nation, February 2, 2012. More and more factory work in the United States is being done by machines, and the industry increasingly relies on highly skilled workers. NPR's Adam Davidson explores the shifts in the manufacturing industry, and Tim Aeppel of the Wall Street Journal discusses the implications for the U.S. economy. Read/Listen to the full story.
Midwest Learns to Manufacture More with Less. NPR, Weekend Edition Saturday, December 31, 2011. CEO Eric Treiber walks out onto the factory floor of Chicago White Metal Casting. Workers are busy making aluminum, zinc and magnesium metal parts for cars, swimming pools and farm equipment. The floor's a lot louder than it was a few years ago. At Chicago White Metal Casting, revenue is up 4 percent from 2010 — and that year was better than the one before. Chicago White Metal Casting isn't alone: Most U.S. manufacturing came back strong this year. Nowhere was that more evident than across the Midwest. But even if it was a good year for industry, not many of the jobs lost during the recent recession returned. Read/Listen to the full story.
The History Of Factory Jobs In America, In One Town. Adam Davidson, NPR, January 12, 2012. Greenville County in South Carolina is where manufacturing's past and future live side by side. This is not a metaphor; it's a visible fact. In South Carolina, and throughout America, factories produce more than ever. Yet in Greenville, there are abandoned textile mills everywhere you look. A decade ago, life in Greenville was organized around the mills. Each mill had its own village, its own church, its own bar. These places were abandoned over the past decade as mill after mill went out of business. What's left are deeply depressed near-ghost towns. But sometimes, amid the stretches of shuttered buildings, you can find a living relic. Read/Listen to the full story.
The Transformation Of American Factory Jobs, In One Company. Adam Davidson, NPR, January 13, 2012. This the second in a two-part series. Part one is about the History Of Factory Jobs In America, In One Town. Larry Sills is the CEO of Standard Motor Products, like his dad and his grandfather before him. The company makes replacement parts for car engines. Larry grew up with the company, and he has seen the workforce change over the years. A few decades ago, a lot of his workers had no high school degree. Some couldn't read. "We had a plant in Connecticut where we didn't realize it, but they were illiterate," he says. "And then when we switched to the next generation, we had to be able to read the instructions. To our astonishment, they couldn't do it." But in today's factory, workers don't just have to know how to read. Read/Listen to the full story.
Making It in America. By Adam Davidson, The Atlantic, January/February, 2012 Issue.
In the past decade, the flow of goods emerging from U.S. factories has risen by about a third. Factory employment has fallen by roughly the same fraction. The story of Standard Motor Products, a 92-year-old, family-run manufacturer based in Queens, sheds light on both phenomena. It’s a story of hustle, ingenuity, competitive success, and promise for America’s economy. It also illuminates why the jobs crisis will be so difficult to solve. Read the full article.
