Made in America 2020

It’s been a tough year for manufacturers of all stripes. In April alone the US manufacturing sector lost 1.3 million jobs as the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the nation’s economy. Despite gains in May and June—due at least in part to the restart of the auto industry—the sector has a long road to recovery. A statement released by the Alliance for American Manufacturing (a non-profit, non-partisan partnership between some of the country’s leading manufacturers and the United Steelworkers) spelled out some of the current difficulties:

“Manufacturing has fewer barriers to return to work—ease of social distancing, strong safety protocols already in place, many firms exempted from state shutdown orders—so the major obstacles now are weak demand, plunging exports, and the continuing public health crisis. There is an urgent need for action on all three fronts.”

To supply that action all eyes look to the federal government. Something on the order of $3 trillion has been spent in a combination of loans and stimulus, with another aid package of nearly $3 trillion more (the HEROES Act)  is as of this writing stalled in the Senate.

But it’s not all gloom and doom. Some manufacturers are expanding their facilities now, when money and real estate are cheap, to take advantage of the eventual economic rebound. Some have broadened their product offerings (for example, mobile handwashing stations) to find the opportunities amid the crisis.

If history has any lesson to teach us at this point, it’s to never underestimate the inventiveness, adaptability and grit of the American manufacturer. Here are just a few companies working to make the products contractors love, right here in the US of A.