Manufacturing is Alive and Well

Manufacturing in the U.S. hasn't gone away, it's just gone local, writes Allison Arieff.

1 minute read

March 30, 2011, 6:00 AM PDT

By Tim Halbur


"The monolithic single-industry model has evolved as manufacturers see the benefits of being smaller and paying attention to how patterns of consumption, ownership and use are shifting," writes Arieff.

She cites local San Francisco business Rickshaw Bagworks as an example. Rickshaw has succeeded by skipping the wholesale model to a direct-to-consumer one. Organizations like SFMade, a nonprofit dedicated to developing the local manufacturing sector in San Francisco, help connect small manufacturers and forge new business models.

Sunday, March 27, 2011 in The New York Times

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