It’s interesting to watch the shine come off technology’s bellwether brands in the New Year and speculate whether manufacturing will follow suit. Last week’s whipsaw stock market sent mixed messages — as did a weaker-than-expected ISM report on December manufacturing. Manufacturing advocates who take ISM with a grain of salt were rewarded by a strong […]
The popular narrative as Gavin Newsom ascends to lead California is that the worst is ahead, that a laundry list of challenges will develop into full-blown crisis, a red-hot economy will cool, and campaign promises will bankrupt the state and sabotage his tenure. That’s just the start. Has any newly elected official suffered from such […]
Ferey Feridian’s excellent column this week on the potential of automation to transform U.S. manufacturing also underscores the gap in the rate of adoption between small and large manufacturers and the “uneven rates of digitization across sectors,” referenced by Feridian that we read about each week. It’s a big deal: Ensuring that small companies are […]
Our “Best of Manufacturing 2018” coverage begins next week in our last issue of year. It’s a beginning and not an end as we also open nominations for the fifth annual Colorado Manufacturing Awards this month that culminate April 4, 2019, when we announce winners. We’ll talk plenty about the CMAs in the coming weeks. […]
I’ve been fortunate to participate in CU Leeds’ excellent Colorado Business Economic Outlook the past two years, parsing manufacturing data with capable economists and business stakeholders lined up by Richard Wobbekind’s team at the Business Research Division. The 54th annual Report will be presented December 10 at the Grand Hyatt in Denver. Here’s a first […]
We’re hosting a series of CEO roundtables around Colorado to spark conversations across manufacturing industries and connect executives with new people and ideas. Much like in our weekly reporting, workforce is an ever-present topic. But as we also continue to report, the other big story in Colorado manufacturing is the evolving industry makeup of the […]
I wouldn’t be the first to say that VF Corporation‘s recent decision to move to Colorado was the culmination of one of Governor Hickenlooper’s big missions. He set out to establish his state as an international leader in the powerful new outdoor recreation space, and he’s succeeded, some would say brilliantly. But even as we […]
About half the manufacturers I ask support President Trump’s trade war. The perception seems to be that about half the outcomes have been positive and half not, intended or otherwise. Not a surprising symmetry. For me, the bigger issue is where we go from here. If there’s a grand plan, I’m not aware of it, […]
New manufacturing infrastructure is coming online across the U.S. and the timing couldn’t be better: Interviews with manufacturing executives in Q3 CompanyWeek profiles indicate that real estate/space is today as pressing a challenge as workforce, a first in our data analysis. San Francisco denizens celebrated the opening last week of the Manufacturing Foundry, a four-story […]
Conventional economic wisdom holds that policymakers must not “pick winners,” something we task instead to a free and open marketplace. President Obama and his lieutenants were famously vilified for “picking” California-based Solyndra and Colorado-based Abound Solar for important loan guarantees, only to see them default and shutter. It mattered little then that the DOE’s loan […]