The Robots Come Home

After hearing that Hardinge had shifted the manufacturing of its milling and turning product lines from its Taiwan plant to its plant in Elmira, New York, we traveled to Hardinge’s Elmira production facility and witnessed Taiwanese Hardinge employees teaching American employees how to build new models of machine tools. To make this moment possible, the company had to refine and execute a years-long strategic plan to shift production, or “repatriate,” those product lines from its Taiwan plant to the United States. In this episode, several executives and senior staff at the company give their first-person account of how they formulated the plan, the major challenges they encountered, and the rewards that made it worth the effort.

Most of the parts that go into Janus motorcycles come from suppliers located within just a few miles of Janus headquarters in Goshen, Indiana. Several of these suppliers are Amish, and several others have ties to the RV industry that dominates employment throughout the region. One critical component of Janus motorcycles, however — the engine — is sourced in China. This is the story of how a hyper-local supply chain lives alongside an outsourcing strategy at a distinctly American manufacturer. 

The L.S. Starrett Co. has been manufacturing precision measurement tools in Athol, Massachusetts, since 1880. Attention to U.S. manufacturing often focuses on reshoring manufacturing from other countries, but Starrett never left. The facility in Athol employs hundreds and produces thousands of tools that remain vital for measurement in machining and other fields. Through conversations with various leaders and workers at Starrett, we learn about the production being done at this plant and the kinds of jobs it has created, and we examine the priorities and philosophy that have led to Starrett continuing to manufacture in one location for more than 140 years.

Productive Robotics is an American manufacturer of collaborative robots that spun off of a printing company called ZBE. But whereas ZBE — one of the premier manufacturers of digital photo printers in the world — offshored production of its machines to China, the goal of Productive Robotics was to produce its robots in the United States. Making this a reality took years of design experimentation and searching for the right American suppliers — suppliers that utilize the kind of automation that Productive Robotics itself aims to offer.

When Puneet and Neelam Neotia moved from India to the United States several years ago, they brought with them a family background in manufacturing and CNC machining. Now the couple is working to get their startup machine shop off the ground, sourcing new customers and getting the word out about their shop in Clarksville, Indiana. The couple — proud to publicize their "Made in the USA" parts — is leveraging family connections and manufacturing capabilities back in India, but not in the way that some people assume. 

Entrepreneur Scott Colosimo found early success in China producing parts for his Cleveland-based motorcycle company in the mid-2000s.

The events that led Colosimo and his team to start over from scratch — and move production back to the United States.

Coming this Tuesday, January 24, a new season of "Made in the USA" that explores a deceptively simple question: What are the intentional choices that American machine shops and machine tool builders make in order to keep production in — or move production back to — the United States? Over the past several months we've traveled across the country to hear the challenges and opportunities facing American manufacturers committed to domestic production. Spoiler alert: It's not always easy. Subscribe now so you don't miss this one-of-a-kind series.

So far, Made in the USA has looked into system-wide effects of broken supply chains, automation, skilled workforce issues, and our perception of manufacturing jobs — all through a prism of individual experiences. Let’s look at one more system-wide question this way: Is there today, a new dawn, a new moment for American manufacturing?

The remarkable story of Geno and David Devandry — a father and son who pushed beyond their differences for the greater good of the family machine shop.

This episode investigates conflicts that exist within the majority of Americans who want to "bring manufacturing back" but do not want their children to work in manufacturing because of outdated beliefs about what a machine shop looks like.