Open any newspaper (or rather click into your favorite publication) these days and you’d think the manufacturing industry is dying out. Headline after headline proclaims that urban manufacturing is a dying beast. Though the face of manufacturing is evolving and changing thanks in part to computer numerical control (CNC) automation of machine tools that have traditionally been managed by hand wheels or levers and more mechanical means of operation.
Though the method has evolved somewhat manufacturing in the United States is still undergoing a renaissance. Yet as the country begins to replace the millions of industrial jobs that were lost in the recession of 2008, it’s growing in part thanks to CNC production and CNC machine shops. These sectors have been crucial in bolstering the local economies of rural and suburban areas, while also reinvigorating the former ghost towns of urban city centers.
Indeed larger, more developed metropolitan areas such as Houston, Seattle, Oklahoma, Nashville, and Salt Lake City are reaping the benefits of urban manufacturing. Their economies are all supporting higher overall job creation in the manufacturing industry. In some cases, such as Houston, the manufacturing industry is growing by leaps and bounds, exceeding the overall rate of economic growth. They also provide attractive living options and amenities that aren’t as readily available in more rural areas, which helps to drive a potential workforce into the region. There is often a domino effect to manufacturing growth as it often also stimulates positive developments in professional, business, and construction service industries.
Though the growth isn’t confined strictly to vastly populated, cosmopolitan areas. Manufacturing industry growth, aided by CNC production, is also impacting on smaller cities and towns. More mid-sized areas such as Tulsa, Anchorage, Baton Rouge, and Port Arthur and even small towns such as Odessa and Midland, Texas are all experiencing a manufacturing renaissance.
The recovery of the auto industry has played a significant role in bringing jobs and growth to these towns. Both carmakers and their suppliers, especially in the Midwestern and Mid-Southern regions, are bouncing back from the tough recession years. Cities in Michigan, known as car production corridors, are transitioning from hand or machined production methods to more automated, CNC methods which in turn has increased industrial jobs over the past few years. One of the most dominant developed urban areas benefiting from this resurgence is Detroit which has experienced an uptake in manufacturing employment and high-tech growth.
The success of large car manufacturing industries of the larger, more urban cities is trickling down to the small towns that are home to many of their suppliers. Auto suppliers in more suburban areas across the country and benefitting from increased demand for their goods and services from urban manufacturing in the metro areas.
In other areas, more diverse or specialized demands and even business abroad are driving economic growth in development in the industry. From aerospace to automobiles, to fabricated metals, more niche requirements are leading expansion that bolsters smaller cities. Generally, lower energy costs and freer regulations are attracting business to towns that once didn’t have the capacity or infrastructure to handle the demand.
The revolution still hasn’t fully spread across the country, but in examining the positive correlation between both small and large cities and a rejuvenated machining sector, the outlook appears positive to move forward.
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