Dearest readers, yes I know it's a lengthy title but it seems the most effective way to sum up my interest in this hugely important topic. Don't worry, it won't be boring- you may get equally excited about it too. Manufacturing in North America has been decimated since the 90's for reasons most of us know. NAFTA, outsourcing, bringing a certain country into WTO and giving it tons of breaks... The idea was a noble one. Send factories to poor countries where people don't have jobs or enough technical skills. Start small- baseball hats, flags, shoes and then ramp up to electronics. You help countries get out of poverty and educate their masses, the bosses back in North America make tons of money off of cheap labor and put it into North American economies, and the local people who worked in factories can get retrained to do much better jobs, as can their kids some day. Except, that last part did not happen (or barely happened at all). What we see today is a decimated sector, and what we get in return is we upgrade our smartphones every two years instead of 3 or 4, while the supposed power those phones give us fails to empower us to compensate for what was decided against us way above our pay grade. You see, I really really dislike that, as a society, we were recruited for a mission that took many years and eventually crippled 90 percent of us. Even if you didn't work in a factory that got outsourced or shut down, you were still affected. There is a whole sector that got crippled, most of us run businesses or work at one, and now there are less people spending less money because of what happened. So, all of us got affected. I happen to like manufacturing. In Canada, for example, it was a source of employment for scores of newcomers who needed FULL TIME stable hours because they were hungry and motivated to establish themselves here and go from there. Same goes for the States. Now, most people end up with precarious retail jobs with no guarantee of stable hours and having to provide excellent customer service while at the same time you are wondering how the hell you are going to make ends meet this month. Terrible, isn't it?
So, let's look at some stuff I've been coming across over the last while that is Made in USA/Canada, how and why I think it's superior to overseas conceptualization and manufacturing, and what my hopes are for the future of domestic manufacturing.
Just the other day, I was browsing around at Homesense (a TJ Max store), and I saw these awesome shelf and cabinet liners that were Made in USA. I know, maybe not the most exciting product, but I'm a girl so there. These rolls come in sizes that match OUR cabinet and drawer standards. Then, they lay nice and flat without any need for adhesive. They look strong and durable and don't cheapen a nice kitchen. Finally, they are ribbed on top, allowing any remaining moisture from your dishes to evaporate real, real easy instead of slowly destroying your cabinets over time! Simple but brilliant at the same time. Finally, the materials used to make it have to be approved and safe for the public, and the factory where they are made must abide by our level of health, safety and labor law standards. While I never take anything at face value 100%, I feel more confident using these liners than most liners from overseas. The reason is simple. Most are not engineered ribbed this way, and the ones that are likely copied it from whoever did it first. Also, I take even less at face value the assurances made about the safety of materials used and the working conditions in the factory that would make them over there. Now, to be fair, I still buy stuff made overseas because we all do. Sometimes, there are no domestic alternatives. Other times, we are buying something based on price and we don't care about all that other (nevertheless important) stuff. Still, I think that as long as we care about these questions and we keep asking them, making answers to those questions relevant in a large chunk of our purchase decisions, we will keep both domestic and foreign manufacturing on its toes, forcing it to become better and better at a lesser cost to the human element involved.
Moving on, the next big Made in USA/Canada thing I like is the slowly rising made to order industry. Online advertising platforms and the data they collect, for all the scandals that pop up around them, have done something amazing. It is now possible to find out what people want, with a higher than ever degree of certainty, and for less money than ever before. Then, you make what they want and you don't make what they don't want. Sounds simple, right? Actually, it is beyond brilliant and also happens to be a chance to help the environment like you wouldn't believe. Let's say you have a major clothing company that also makes really cool party shirts. The company will look, often in a vague or shallow way, what the next biggest styles might be for party shirts. They'll look at their past sales, they'll do meetings, they'll do focus groups, and come up with some new styles. Or worse, they'll come up with whatever and think they can leverage their size and their ad budget to tell you what you should like next. Then, they get places overseas to manufacture the new line of party shirts really cheap in factories with questionable conditions, then sell them not so cheap for a big fat profit. The huge problem is that this creates tons of waste. They order these shirts in huge quantities, multiple sizes, and many of them will never be sold. Instead, they will be liquidated again and again until the leftovers have to be discarded. Useless, discarded clothes have some of the worst environmental impact in the world, from manufacturing to throwing them away. The made to order system is different. You find out what people like, and they don't get made (or rather printed) and shipped unless people want them, and they only ship in the quantities that people want them too. There is no waste. Sure, the final product cannot compete on price with the old system, but we are often talking about higher quality materials (especially bikinis and yoga pants), styles you really want, and a lesser environmental impact. If you only bought higher quality clothes and other items that you really want, then even if you pay more per item, you would spend less overall. Also, over time the cost of made to order items would surely go down as well. Finally, and I love this part the most, it would lead to something I like to call decentralized fashion!
What about electronics though? That one, dearest readers, is beyond my scope because we are talking about something way more complicated. All I can say is that the process of getting a smartphone in almost every person's hand in North America could have given us a huge boost in manufacturing, logistics, support, material development and many more business segments, had we managed to keep it domestic.
That little bit brings me to the future of manufacturing in North America. I don't think it can look the same as it did before outsourcing because the world has changed since then, and it has modernized at a dizzying pace. Modern manufacturing can involve highly educated laborers doing complex tasks, robotics, AI... This actually makes me think about Germany. Germany is really good at manufacturing many things. Some of them are cars and industrial robots. They are so good at it, in fact, that they can pay for domestic factories, domestic workers and still have satisfying profits. The world needs what they have, and they pay whatever the cost is. I think that, starting now, USA and Canada have to be very, very careful with new scientific breakthroughs of all sorts that would lead to advanced, globally needed and life changing products. If you keep coming up with revolutionary stuff, you get to set the price. If you get to set the price, you can afford to have domestic factories and workers- especially if no one else can copy the technology and/or manufacture it at your level. You don't need to be highly protective like this forever though, just long enough to scale, make these new things cheaper, and thereby discourage anyone from trying to replicate it overseas. Dearest readers, it is all about intellectual property and the values that make this property work for us most of all. Sure, it may give us factories where you have like ten laborers of the future work with a team of different machines and robots. Who cares? That's still ten domestic jobs! Oh, and every factory will need office staff, management, outside consulting, logistics, a coffee place nearby, cleaning staff... Hopefully this is not a pipe dream, dearest readers, because it must happen- for our collective sake.
So, what do you think about the topic now? What are some of your favorite Made in Canada/USA products?
So, let's look at some stuff I've been coming across over the last while that is Made in USA/Canada, how and why I think it's superior to overseas conceptualization and manufacturing, and what my hopes are for the future of domestic manufacturing.
Just the other day, I was browsing around at Homesense (a TJ Max store), and I saw these awesome shelf and cabinet liners that were Made in USA. I know, maybe not the most exciting product, but I'm a girl so there. These rolls come in sizes that match OUR cabinet and drawer standards. Then, they lay nice and flat without any need for adhesive. They look strong and durable and don't cheapen a nice kitchen. Finally, they are ribbed on top, allowing any remaining moisture from your dishes to evaporate real, real easy instead of slowly destroying your cabinets over time! Simple but brilliant at the same time. Finally, the materials used to make it have to be approved and safe for the public, and the factory where they are made must abide by our level of health, safety and labor law standards. While I never take anything at face value 100%, I feel more confident using these liners than most liners from overseas. The reason is simple. Most are not engineered ribbed this way, and the ones that are likely copied it from whoever did it first. Also, I take even less at face value the assurances made about the safety of materials used and the working conditions in the factory that would make them over there. Now, to be fair, I still buy stuff made overseas because we all do. Sometimes, there are no domestic alternatives. Other times, we are buying something based on price and we don't care about all that other (nevertheless important) stuff. Still, I think that as long as we care about these questions and we keep asking them, making answers to those questions relevant in a large chunk of our purchase decisions, we will keep both domestic and foreign manufacturing on its toes, forcing it to become better and better at a lesser cost to the human element involved.
Moving on, the next big Made in USA/Canada thing I like is the slowly rising made to order industry. Online advertising platforms and the data they collect, for all the scandals that pop up around them, have done something amazing. It is now possible to find out what people want, with a higher than ever degree of certainty, and for less money than ever before. Then, you make what they want and you don't make what they don't want. Sounds simple, right? Actually, it is beyond brilliant and also happens to be a chance to help the environment like you wouldn't believe. Let's say you have a major clothing company that also makes really cool party shirts. The company will look, often in a vague or shallow way, what the next biggest styles might be for party shirts. They'll look at their past sales, they'll do meetings, they'll do focus groups, and come up with some new styles. Or worse, they'll come up with whatever and think they can leverage their size and their ad budget to tell you what you should like next. Then, they get places overseas to manufacture the new line of party shirts really cheap in factories with questionable conditions, then sell them not so cheap for a big fat profit. The huge problem is that this creates tons of waste. They order these shirts in huge quantities, multiple sizes, and many of them will never be sold. Instead, they will be liquidated again and again until the leftovers have to be discarded. Useless, discarded clothes have some of the worst environmental impact in the world, from manufacturing to throwing them away. The made to order system is different. You find out what people like, and they don't get made (or rather printed) and shipped unless people want them, and they only ship in the quantities that people want them too. There is no waste. Sure, the final product cannot compete on price with the old system, but we are often talking about higher quality materials (especially bikinis and yoga pants), styles you really want, and a lesser environmental impact. If you only bought higher quality clothes and other items that you really want, then even if you pay more per item, you would spend less overall. Also, over time the cost of made to order items would surely go down as well. Finally, and I love this part the most, it would lead to something I like to call decentralized fashion!
What about electronics though? That one, dearest readers, is beyond my scope because we are talking about something way more complicated. All I can say is that the process of getting a smartphone in almost every person's hand in North America could have given us a huge boost in manufacturing, logistics, support, material development and many more business segments, had we managed to keep it domestic.
That little bit brings me to the future of manufacturing in North America. I don't think it can look the same as it did before outsourcing because the world has changed since then, and it has modernized at a dizzying pace. Modern manufacturing can involve highly educated laborers doing complex tasks, robotics, AI... This actually makes me think about Germany. Germany is really good at manufacturing many things. Some of them are cars and industrial robots. They are so good at it, in fact, that they can pay for domestic factories, domestic workers and still have satisfying profits. The world needs what they have, and they pay whatever the cost is. I think that, starting now, USA and Canada have to be very, very careful with new scientific breakthroughs of all sorts that would lead to advanced, globally needed and life changing products. If you keep coming up with revolutionary stuff, you get to set the price. If you get to set the price, you can afford to have domestic factories and workers- especially if no one else can copy the technology and/or manufacture it at your level. You don't need to be highly protective like this forever though, just long enough to scale, make these new things cheaper, and thereby discourage anyone from trying to replicate it overseas. Dearest readers, it is all about intellectual property and the values that make this property work for us most of all. Sure, it may give us factories where you have like ten laborers of the future work with a team of different machines and robots. Who cares? That's still ten domestic jobs! Oh, and every factory will need office staff, management, outside consulting, logistics, a coffee place nearby, cleaning staff... Hopefully this is not a pipe dream, dearest readers, because it must happen- for our collective sake.
So, what do you think about the topic now? What are some of your favorite Made in Canada/USA products?