Good News: Reshoring cases in response to Coronvirus
1. Outdoor-fireplace maker Blue Rooster Co aluminum castings “Outdoor-fireplace maker Blue Rooster Co., which imports cast-metal parts from China and then assembles them in Minnesota, is now looking at bringing nearly 90% of its production in-house. Currently two of its three main suppliers in China are offline. Moving production to the U.S. will require building an aluminum foundry at a cost of up to $500,000; it will take a few years to get fully running.”
2. Rare earths projects under development in U.S. The U.S. government is planning to fund domestic rare earths projects in an attempt to reduce its reliance on China, the global leader of the specialized sector.
3. Marlin Steel Manufacturing During Covid-19 Marlin has prioritized contributing to the pandemic response in any way possible. They have been taking emergency orders for products, including ventilator components, and stainless steel test tube racks, to be manufactured for hospitals, labs, and testing kit manufacturers quickly and reliably.
4. Pin Game Strong “has been scrambling to add items that are made in the U.S., such as wooden pins manufactured in North Carolina and felt pennants produced in Buffalo, N.Y.”5. Morey Corp, an EMS company “Woodridge, Illinois-based Morey Corp expects to face shortages for circuit boards and casting parts next month if the stocks are not replenished.”
6. Morton Industries tooling and fixtures “Illinois-based Morton Industries is trying to find a domestic source for tooling and fixtures used to shape metal that it previously imported.”
7. Illinois-based supplier “A Moline, Illinois-based supplier of Caterpillar and Deere that declined to be named said it is paying 40% more to domestic vendors for components that used to come from China - costs it is passing on to customers.”
8. Bachman Machine Company “Bill Bachman, chief executive at St. Louis, Missouri-based Bachman Machine Company, said an industrial company had reached out to him for price quotations for metal stampings after facing difficulty in obtaining supplies from China.”
9. Hyundai: Sourcing from the U.S. to supply Korea “Now Kyungshin, which supplies almost half of the wiring harnesses for Hyundai’s auto electrical systems in the carmaker’s South Korean manufacturing hub, is scrambling to make up for production shortfalls. It has increased output at its factories in the United States, India, Cambodia and South Korea”
10. CAD It App: prototypes “Eugene Nadyrshin has been meeting with manufacturers in the Silicon Valley to build prototypes for the computer and electronics hardware he can't get from China.”
11. Case NYC: customers reshoring “Many American companies are no longer able to obtain goods from factories in China, where the coronavirus is raging and shipping has been interrupted. So they are turning to manufacturers like Kabezian here in the U.S. He says he's gotten orders from at least a dozen companies in recent weeks for work that normally would have been done overseas.”12. Outerwear manufacturer reshores “An Atlanta-based company that makes scarves, sweatshirts and other outerwear with built-in filtration technology has moved its manufacturing operations from China to Grand Rapids amid the coronavirus outbreak. G95 Inc. expects to start manufacturing its products next week”
13. Pharmaceutical FDI “VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 23, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Algernon Pharmaceuticals Inc. development company announces that it has awarded the contract to manufacture the active pharmaceutical ingredient for NP-120 (Ifenprodil), to U.S. based Cascade Chemistry.”
14. Face Mask Reshoring via NCTO press release: “A coalition of iconic American apparel brands and textile companies, responding to the urgent call of the White House for medical supplies, have come together to build a supply chain virtually overnight and fast-track the manufacturing of medical face masks to help hospitals, health care workers and citizens battling the spread of the COVID-19 disease. Parkdale Inc.– the largest yarn spinner in the U.S. headquartered in North Carolina—helped lead the effort to build the coalition with Hanesbrands, Fruit of the Loom and six other companies to set up a manufacturing supply chain and begin ramping up production of the masks. The coalition consists of iconic American brands such as Hanesbrands and Fruit of the Loom, often competitors in the marketplace, who are banding together for the greater good of a nation facing one if its most monumental challenges.”
15. New Medical Device Company - Reshoring via startup “Darren Saravis, CEO of Long Beach, California-based medical device engineering firm Nectar Inc, launched a new company BreathDirect to make a slimmed-down version of a ventilator. The new device will cost about $10,000 and has simpler settings than other models.”
16. RESHORING: (Reuters) – “The U.S. government has cut deals with Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) and Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) and said it is in talks with at least two other companies to expand manufacturing capacity within the United States for vaccines to prevent the new coronavirus even before safe and effective ones become available.”
17. U.S. apparel faring well! U.S. apparel and leather manufacturers expect revenue growth in 2020 due to their ability to pivot manufacturing to PPE and the potential for new core business as US retail reopens
18. Honeywell 1,000 jobs total “Honeywell anticipates that the new mask production line in Phoenix will create more than 500 new jobs in Arizona. The company has already begun recruiting, hiring and training manufacturing workers on the site. Today's announcement brings the total number of U.S. jobs created by Honeywell's new mask manufacturing capabilities to more than 1,000.”
19. RESHORING - EYEWEAR - FITZ MEDICAL EYEWEAR - “Fitz Frames, makers of kids glasses, has shifted their manufacturing to focus on making protective eyewear for medical personnel. The 3D printed glasses are manufactured in the U.S. and offered in both prescription and non-prescription options.”
20. RESHORING – MEDICAL MASKS: “VPL's goal is to fill the void of overseas, Made in China, surgical masks to those Made in America, where no importation is required.
21. Reshoring - PPE – New product line Odern Plastics, a company based in Shelton, Connecticut, expanded operations with the release of a brand new product, a face shield made of a material called PETG, which is FDA-approved. According to company officials, the manufacturing plant had to be retrofitted to start this new product line.
22. RESHORING - BRIEF-Philips Announces Cooperation With U.S. Government On COVID-19 Treatment “WE ARE ACTIVELY COOPERATING WITH THE U.S. GOVERNMENT TO EXPAND OUR HOSPITAL VENTILATOR PRODUCTION AND REINFORCE OUR SUPPLY CHAIN DURING THESE TESTING TIMES” –CEO -- SUPPORT OF U.S. GOVERNMENT WILL STRENGTHEN PHILIPS’ VENTILATOR SUPPLIER BASE IN US, AND HELP ACCELERATE ACCESS TO CRITICAL MATERIALS AND COMPONENTS”
23. 3D printed swabs Neurophotometrics and Markforged partner to create a 3D printed nasal swab that provides better accuracy than current COVID-19 testing standard.
24. RESHORING VIA COVID-19 - 12 JOBS - Increased demand from pandemic opens doors for new business -- For injection molder Gentry Plastics Inc., work on emergency products led it to buy three new molding machines as its customers’ demand for products like industrial disinfectant sprayers, clean-room apparel and food processing items went “way up” in response to the pandemic, said Brian Hershman, vice president of operations at Gentry. 25. EVOLVE – 200 JOBS “A Bay Area contract medical equipment manufacturer reportedly plans to hire about 200 additional employees as it shifts its facility to help combat the coronavirus pandemic.”26. Expansion due to COVID-19 An Alabama manufacturer of protective clothing plans to expand its operations amid a sharp increase in business due to the coronavirus pandemic. AL.com reports that Kappler Inc. will construct a new 49,000-square-foot "technology and training area" near its headquarters in Guntersville, about 40 miles southeast of Huntsville, over the next two to three years. The expansion is expected to create 60 new jobs, company officials said. The 20,000-square-foot first phase of the new facility — dedicated to research and development, training operations, and manufacturing — will be completed this year, Kappler officials said. The next phase will build a 29,000-square-foot warehouse
27. New manufacturing facility “IDT broadens capacity and customer support of COVID-19 products with new manufacturing facility.”
28. Customers reshoring: Polymax TPE shifts some production from China to Waukegan, IL, to support customers that are reshoring operations.
---