Can A Manufacturing Business Be Successful In USA?

Week 8
Question 18

I am the kind of person that reads lables. I may not be as well read as some folks in history, or american literature, but I am pretty sure I read lables of food and clothing more than most of you. It is tough to find a garmet of clothing nowadays that is manufatured in the USA. Most of our t-shirts, jeans, pants, socks, unders, jackets, and shoes come from places all over the work; China, Bangladesh, Mexico, Guatamala, Hungary, Phillipines, India, Pakistan.... I could continue, but you get the idea. Having the worlds leading economy is a blessing, and a curse. Because the US is the largest consumer of any country, we buy a lot of clothing. However, American owned textile companies have picked up shop, and moved over seas (or south of the border) to increase their bottom line. You can't blame them, they are in business to make a profit. There are two main reasons manufacturing is more profitable in other, "lessor developed" countries. First, and most obvious, people in Bangladesh will work for .35 cents and hour, 10 hours a day doing the same job that an American working would demand $7.50 an hour and only work an 8 hour day (Please realize these figures are just an example, and not based on real figures, but as they say 75% of statistics are made up on the spot). The actual accuracy of the figures is not the point, the point is people in some countries will work for far less wage, because they don't have as much variety and choice of dependable jobs. Another reason it is so profitable for US companies to ship manufacturing jobs to say... China, is clear. The chinese government manipulates their currency to keep the exhange rate with the US very low. So they can sell their stuff cheap.

But I digress.... and want to touch on why I think it is possible for a US small business to turn a profit and be a success in manufactoring. It can be summed up in a word: Niche. Here is how... You want to produce bags. Shopping bags, Hiking Bags, Travel Bags, Clutch Bags.... Design your bags to be stylish, and ergonomic. Create a buzz and clever marketing scheme. Target your clients. use better than high quality materials so your product will last. Base your operation in a "hippie" or "green" type community like Durango, Colorado.... Seattle, WA, or Asheville, NC. Part of your apeal will be that each bag is hand made, hand stiched. Have a small manufactoring facility where your products are produced, by cool, earthy, crunchy people that fit the mold and target crowd you hope to sell too. Build your product around this image: Organic, Hand Stitched, Unique, Quality, Products produced and assembeled in U.S.A.

Thats how you can have a successful manufacturing business in the US.