Week 11 in Manufacturing News

Will U.S. Manufacturers Benefit From a Stronger ‘Buy American’ Policy?; Building U.S. Manufacturing Competitiveness and Capacity; Aerospace Manufacturing Gets UK Government Funding Boost; UK Manufacturing Faces up to Painful Cash Squeeze as Profits Projected to Halve.

Will U.S. Manufacturers Benefit From a Stronger ‘Buy American’ Policy?

Executive order reaffirming the “Buy American” policy for federal government contracting is meant to close the loopholes that have permitted some foreign sourcing of goods and services. But can U.S. manufacturers step up the pace of production to take advantage of the action?

The executive order sets out an arduous procedure for acquiring a waiver from the Buy American requirement, calling for extensive review and justification “for the use of goods, products, or materials that have not been mined, produced or manufactured in the United States.” All such waivers must be approved by the Office of Management and Budget by way of a Made in America Office.

Source: SupplyChainBrain

Building U.S. Manufacturing Competitiveness and Capacity

There are two major challenges facing U.S. manufacturing. The first is building competitiveness with global manufacturers, especially for U.S. small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and the second is overcoming strategic risks to health care, national defense, and other areas of the global supply chain.

As to the first challenge, the long-run competitiveness of U.S. manufacturing, along with the higher-wage employment that it has traditionally offered, is at risk. Productivity growth, which depends in significant measure on technical innovation, is the basis for long-run competitive success. 

Source: Americanprogress

Aerospace Manufacturing Gets UK Government Funding Boost

High-rate composites manufacturing technology for the aerospace, automotive and air mobility industries is at the heart of a £90 million ($125 million) UK government-industry investment in five research and development projects.

Source: Aviation Week

UK Manufacturing Faces up to Painful Cash Squeeze as Profits Projected to Halve

Manufacturers are suffering a triple whammy of lower sales, sharply lower profits, and a painful cash squeeze which has meant their profits are due to more than halve this year.

According to a new UK Manufacturing Barometer from consultants at Insider Pro, the data suggests that operating profits will fall by at least £6.3bn ($8.8bn) in 2020/21.

Source: Yahoo!Finance