Employees of the Lordstown General Motors plant in Ohio are banking on the Chevy Cruze to keep them working. We should be cheering them on too. Why? Because Lordstown's story is being told in auto communities across the nation.
"The last eight months have been so chaotic," said Lordstown Mayor Michael Chaffee. "We went from the top of the world in August (2008), to treading water and praying in April."
But the Cruze gives Lordstown residents hope their plant will stay open. GM also hopes the smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicle will carry the smaller, more efficient car company through the next century.
Keeping the plant is one thing, but in an area that American industry has been leaving for 30 years, the loss of jobs from the last major manufacturing employer is huge.
Twenty miles from Lordstown is Youngstown, Ohio, a once-booming manufacturing and industrial community that relied on steel mills to sustain its middle class. When the mills downsized or closed beginning in the late 1970s, residents left to seek work elsewhere, and the standard of living declined for those who remained.
Unlike previous decades, when industry left the area for other parts of the nation, companies are now moving out of the country entirely, permanently erasing thousands of jobs. And it's not just the jobs that are fading, but also health care, pensions and other benefits that built the working middle class.
John Russo, co-director for working class studies at Youngstown State University, has been studying this erosion for years and said he finds the push for cheaper U.S. labor depressing.
"We seem to be willing to create jobs for a working people where the wages and benefits cannot support paying their basic bills," Russo said. "So, it seems to me, Youngstown's story, now Lordstown's story, is a part of America's story as we begin this next century."
President Obama believes "The fight for American manufacturing is the fight for America's future," yet he hasn't come up with a formal plan to address the decline. Granted, he has a lot on his plate, but maybe he could find a few minutes to share a beer with Ohio Rep. Sherrod Brown who is proposing a a national manufacturing policy that aligns federal actions with the goal of strengthening our manufacturing sector.
All you nay sayers about Michigan's economy need to stop being so gloomy and smell the roses - or at least understand that many Midwest manufacturers are now stronger than several years ago.
A recent article in the Financial Times was titled US manufacturers restructure and survive claims that we're better positioned now and likely to survive another downturn in the economy. Here's an example they cite.
Mark Schurman, who works for Herman Miller, an office furniture maker based in south-western Michigan, dreads to think what would have happened to the company had it not restructured since the last US recession.
"We lost about 40 per cent of our business in the space of about 18 months between 2001 and 2003," he says. "If we hadn't made the changes we've made, I don't believe we could have survived."
Those changes - chiefly, slashing costs and diversifying internationally - have made the manufacturer more productive than ever and, it hopes, better-placed to weather any economic downturn in the US.
This international business publication acknowledges that the auto industry continues to suffer, but sees overall stability.
Midwest states, where manufacturing is concentrated, are among the most productive in the country.
The top five US states in terms of manufacturing productivity are all in the region: Indiana, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio and Iowa.
Our small manufacturing businesses are lean, efficient and know how to make a penny squeak. And that's a good thing - for all of us.
Even though Calhoun County is weathering Michigan's stormy economic forecast, Battle Creek's manufacturing performance is flourishing according to this article in today's Battle Creek Enquirer.
Erickcek, the senior regional analyst for the Kalamazoo-based W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, was in Battle Creek Thursday to present his lecture, "Stormy Weather: Calhoun County Economic Outlook 2008-09," to the Battle Creek Economic Club. [...]
Erickcek said while Michigan as a whole is performing worse than the nation, he said Calhoun County is more on track, most notably in the manufacturing sector.
Erickcek said despite the state's flat manufacturing economy - which remains stagnant because of poor performance by Detroit auto manufacturers - Battle Creek has done remarkably well. Manufacturing in Battle Creek makes up 38 percent of the city's output growth, compared to a 12 percent state average.
"The numbers are exceptional. Battle Creek has 6 percent growth in manufacturing compared to a national average of 3 percent," Erickcek said. "It towers over the nation." [my emphasis]
Did you notice who he blames for our state's flat manufacturing economy? Not Granholm. He blames Detroit's automakers.
Describing the state as a "one horse town with a sick pony," Erickcek said Detroit automakers have not reached the level of product innovation that foreign makers, like Toyota, have.
Part of Battle Creek's success is in its ability to market local auto supply companies to foreign makers, said Jim Hettinger, chief executive officer of local economic development group Battle Creek Unlimited.
"One of the reasons we are doing so well is that we have worked hard to firm up relationships with the other car companies, not just in Detroit," Hettinger said.
Amazing. Battle Creek isn't waiting on the Detroit automakers. They're going anywhere and doing anything to bring jobs to their area. Hmmm...where have I heard that before?
