General

The federal Registered Apprenticeship program has the potential to help alleviate some of the manufacturing sector’s labor shortage—but it needs strengthening and streamlining to do so, Manufacturing Institute Chief Program Officer Gardner Carrick told the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Wednesday.

What’s going on: “Registered Apprenticeship has an opportunity to play a significant role in the growth and scaling of the apprenticeship model in manufacturing,” Carrick said at the hearing “Registered Apprenticeship: Scaling the Workforce for the Future.” “But the program must be value-added.”

• In July, the MI—the NAM’s 501(c)3 workforce development and education affiliate—released “Manufacturing America’s Talent,” its workforce-system improvement roadmap that includes key recommendations for bettering the federal RA program framework.

FAME gives employers what they need: Apprenticeship works, Carrick said, pointing to the MI’s Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education (FAME) program as evidence. FAME was started in 2010 by Toyota and is today fully run by the MI.

• But for the RA program to work as well—and help fill the many open manufacturing jobs, forecast to reach 3.8 million by 2033 if current trends continue—the federal government must provide flexibility to allow employers to tailor the program’s offerings to their real-world skill needs.
• The fact that just 15% of FAME participants are registered apprentices is evidence that the current system is not meeting needs, Carrick continued.

What should be done: The RA program “must be employer-led, offer a sensible balance between benefits and costs and support the infrastructure needs of our education partners to deliver the skills and competencies that manufacturers are actually asking for.”

What success looks like: Today, FAME works with nearly 500 companies in 45 locations across 17 states. Its graduates—highly skilled maintenance technicians—have a 95% full-time employment rate.

• One study shows that five years after finishing the program, FAME graduates were earning just under six figures annually, Carrick said.
• “In FAME, we achieve these levels of success because the model is employer-led, which means we teach the skills that employers actually demand.”

Read the whole thing: You can read Carrick’s full written testimony here.

Manufacturing in the U.S. is seeing major benefits from the Trump administration’s tax and regulatory policies—but more must be done to unlock a manufacturing investment boom, NAM Managing Vice President of Policy Charles Crain said at the recent Financial Times–Nikkei Investing in America Summit.

What’s going on: The tax bill’s pro-manufacturing policies—including immediate expensing for factory construction, capital equipment purchases and research spending—“set the stage for manufacturing growth and investment here in the United States,” Crain told FT Economics Editor Claire Jones.

• The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was, in the president’s words, “rocket fuel” for manufacturing, Crain continued, and this year’s tax bill, preserving and expanding the TCJA, should have a similar effect on the industry.
• But “the question is … what impact do other policies have? Do they set a cap on the ‘rocket fuel’ that the tax and regulatory agenda should create? Or do they further unleash manufacturing investment and growth?”
• Crain noted that there are still significant opportunities on the table for Congress and the administration: comprehensive permitting reform to “get shovels in the ground” on critical projects, workforce solutions to reskill the manufacturing workforce and fill the industry’s 400,000 open jobs and commonsense trade policies to ensure manufacturers can make things in America and sell them abroad.

Aligning trade and tax policies: At maximum production capacity, the U.S. can make approximately 84% of the inputs needed for manufacturers to make things domestically, Crain said, and the economy currently produces about 67% of necessary inputs.

• Manufacturers must “have access to the inputs they need,” including both raw materials as well as equipment and machinery that are often “specialized for the modern manufacturing economy” and only available outside the U.S.
• Crain highlighted the variety of manufacturing investment announcements driven by the president’s tax and regulatory agenda, but noted that some manufacturers have been unable to import specialized machinery necessary to get those investments off the ground.
• He added that the NAM has been urging the administration “to ensure that trade policies align with the tax and regulatory policies that drive our industry’s growth here in the U.S.”

Immigration and workforce: Manufacturing in America requires a highly skilled labor pool, so the sector supports the use of H-1B visas, which Crain called “critically important to the industry.”

• The industry also needs what Crain called “manufacturing-skilled talent,” in important occupations such as technicians, welders, machinists and electricians. He noted the industry’s efforts to build a domestic supply of these workers, but also said that manufacturers need an immigration solution to fill those skills gaps.
• Manufacturers are committed to producing their needed talent in the U.S., partnering with community colleges and participating in workforce-development programs, such as the Manufacturing Institute’s Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education (FAME) and Heroes MAKE America initiatives.

The AI effect: Artificial intelligence has been a boon to the industry, according to Crain—and the industry is working to ensure its workers have the skills they need to leverage this exciting technology.

• “AI poses tremendous promise for manufacturing,” he told Jones. “Our shop floors are more interconnected and more modern now than they ever have been,” and companies are using AI to “drive efficiency, to design products, to improve worker safety, to improve their supply chains” and more.
• At the same time, “we need the workers who come into the sector as well as the workers who are currently in the sector to be trained to utilize and to work with AI to actually be able to maximize the productivity gains that AI presents.”

Kentucky is one of the top manufacturing states in the U.S.—and the Kentucky Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education (FAME) is helping keep it that way (Spectrum News 1).

• The state has more than 6,000 manufacturing facilities that together employ more than 260,000 residents and contribute over $47 billion each year to the state’s GDP.

What’s going on: KY FAME represents the Bluegrass State as part of the FAME USA network. FAME is the workforce initiative founded by Toyota and is today supported by the Manufacturing Institute, the 501(c)3 workforce development and education affiliate of the NAM.

• FAME USA, which has eight chapters across Kentucky, develops highly skilled, professional manufacturing talent using a “dual-education apprenticeship style [that] means students earn a full-time salary while they learn, an Advanced Manufacturing Technician certificate and an associate’s degree in two years’ time.”

Why it’s important: Kentucky, like the rest of the U.S., has long experienced a dearth of skilled manufacturing workers. KY FAME is helping build its own pool of talent with a dedicated and novel earn-while-you-learn model that is appealing to both students and manufacturers.

• Program participants work three days a week, Gene Fife, program coordinator of the Greater Louisville Chapter of KY FAME, told Spectrum News 1. “They’re coming to school for two days a week. One that allows them to perhaps graduate debt-free, and they have some money in their pocket for a reward for their hard work.”

Hopeful outlook: Manufacturing jobs in the state are still increasing due to advancements in technology and Kentucky’s growing industrial market.

• “I believe manufacturing is never going to go away,” Fife said. “The advent in AI and a lot of other things have really helped, and with robotics and things like that, we are able to do things in manufacturing we weren’t able to do as little as five years ago. But you always need that person [who] can fix it when it breaks.”

What participants say: “This program as a whole is phenomenal,” said Wyatt Drury, who is in his second year with the Greater Louisville Chapter of KY FAME, working as a maintenance technician at a local carbon steel pipe and tubing manufacturer.

• “It’s helped me out tremendously, and even if my company doesn’t want to hire me, I have open opportunities to go anywhere.”

The last word: “FAME is proof that when manufacturers take the lead in developing their own workforce, everyone benefits—students, companies and communities,” said MI President and Executive Director Carolyn Lee “The Kentucky chapters continue to deliver the skilled talent our industry needs to keep growing and innovating.”

Get involved: Interested in learning more about FAME USA? Go to fame-usa.com to learn more.

Amazon has a new package-sorting robotics system capable of doing the work of three separate stations “in one place,” the retail and technology giant announced recently (CNBC).

What’s going on: “The system, called Blue Jay, is made up of a series of robotic arms that are suspended from a conveyor belt-like track. Those arms are tipped with suction-cup devices that allow them to grab and sort items of varying shapes and sizes.”

The backdrop: The system is the latest in a lineup of robotics Amazon has begun using for an array of tasks, from removing goods from shelves to sorting packages. These investments not only make jobs more efficient, but they also increase safety for employees.

• In May, it unveiled “Vulcan,” a system that has a sense of touch.
• The company’s foray into robotics began in 2012, when it acquired Kiva Systems.

Employee-centered: Amazon, which plans to hire 250,000 workers for full- and part-time roles this holiday season, said “employees remain ‘at the center’ of its robotics development. … [and] its goal is to ‘reduce physically demanding tasks, simplify decisions and open new career opportunities’ for workers.”

Related development: Also recently, the global company unveiled augmented reality glasses for delivery drivers.

• The gadgets, which have been tested by hundreds of drivers, have artificial intelligence, cameras and sensors to scan packages and display hazards, driving directions and reminders.
• The glasses also feature a button drivers can use to call emergency services.

Washington, D.C. – National Association of Manufacturers President and CEO Jay Timmons released the following statement on the passing of former Vice President Dick Cheney: 

Photo Credit: Ian Wagriech, National Association of Manufacturers 

 Former White House photographer and NAM Director of Photography Dave Bohrer interviews Vice President Cheney at the NAM board meeting in September 2018. 

“With a career in public service that spanned decades, Vice President Cheney demonstrated an unwavering commitment to those values that have made America exceptional and that manufacturers strive to advance: free enterprise, competitiveness, individual liberty and equal opportunity. 

“Chief of staff under President Ford and a six-term congressman during the Reagan Revolution, he was a power player during some of the most consequential times in Washington. Our defense secretary during the Gulf War and a calm presence during 9/11, he was guided by a sense of duty to keep America safe—because America was a nation and idea worth protecting. A patriotic citizen, he lent his voice to the cause of family equality and in defense of our very democracy. 

“Vice President Cheney believed that America was a force for good. He once wrote, ‘There is no other like us. There never has been.’ And indeed, there is no other like Dick Cheney. There never has been. Our deepest condolences to Lynne, Liz, Mary and their entire family.” 

-NAM- 

The National Association of Manufacturers is the largest manufacturing association in the United States, representing small and large manufacturers in every industrial sector and in all 50 states. Manufacturing employs nearly 13 million men and women, contributes $2.90 trillion to the U.S. economy annually and accounts for 53% of private-sector research and development. The NAM is the powerful voice of the manufacturing community and the leading advocate for a policy agenda that helps manufacturers compete in the global economy and create jobs across the United States. For more information about the NAM or to follow us on Twitter and Facebook, please visit www.nam.org. 

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Call it an AI double-header: On Wednesday, NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons and Manufacturing Institute President and Executive Director Carolyn Lee spoke at two different AI-focused events—one hosted by Siemens and Widehall and the other hosted by NVIDIA—where they outlined manufacturers’ policy and workforce priorities.

• Siemens and Widehall: Timmons and Lee both participated in a fireside chat at Shaping an AI Ready Workforce, part of a series of events called AI for Real: DC that is sponsored by Siemens and Widehall.
• NVIDIA: Later in the day, Timmons spoke on a panel called “How AI Factories Can Drive Local Economic Development” at NVIDIA’s GTC DC conference.

Policy environment: Timmons said, of the current policy environment, “If you look back on 2017 and the tax reform plan that was put in place, the president actually announced his plan at our board meeting, and he said at the time it would be rocket fuel, and it really was….That was very important in terms of investment opportunities and job creation, regulatory certainty and modernization, [which are all essential for] energy policy.”

• “We’re very pleased that the administration is focused on energy—they call it energy dominance. That is going to be incredibly important for AI data centers [and AI-enabled factories].”
• “We want everybody to know what manufacturing is all about, why it’s modern, why it’s sleek, why it’s technology driven, and very different from [when] my grandfather was in manufacturing.”

Workforce outlook: Lee joined Timmons onstage at the Siemens-Widehall event:

• “We have to change the narrative around manufacturing. Part of that is seeing facilities like Siemens that are bright and clean and full of technology, and we know that the students today actually gravitate to that. They’re digital natives. I’m not. Most of us in this room are probably not. So [we need to] lean into that and let them see that there’s an opportunity for them, and in doing so, they’re strengthening their communities.”

AI and the workforce: Lee also addressed how the workforce can adapt to the advent of AI, saying “It is about learning the skills. It’s about adapting. It’s making sure that manufacturing and our communities can be competitive…. None of us can do this alone. All of us need to come together.”

• “As much as policy can enable this, policy is not going to solve this. We need to have employers first [drawing up] the agenda, working with the educational institutions to make sure that our education partners understand what is happening in our industries and training to those needs.”
• “We run the most successful multi-employer apprenticeship program that’s operating now in 20 states, and it continues to grow…. Companies see that coming together to build the solutions and train the common core of the workforce is good for all of us.”

At NVIDIA: Timmons again addresses the use of AI in manufacturing at NVIDIA’s conference, saying, “The truth of the matter is, every form of technology through decades has begun with manufacturing. Right now, we have about 50% of manufacturers across America [that] have AI in their operations.”

The roadmap to AI and Energy Dominance: “Today, we came out with a report about AI and energy dominance, the manufacturer’s roadmap, and basically it’s [saying] that we need an incredible amount of additional capacity on the grid to be able to power these AI factors or data centers and in order to serve the needs of the broader economy.”

Policy fixes: Timmons spoke of the need for bipartisan agreement, and for certain commonsense policy changes.

• “[I]f we turned on every factory right now in this country, and we put every manufacturing worker on the line, we could only produce 84%of the critical inputs necessary to build a new factory right here in United States…. So at a minimum, we have to import 16% of those critical inputs.”
• “What we need to see is some sort of a speed pass, to provide duty free access to those critical inputs for additional manufacturing capacity until we can build it here ourselves.”

The last word: “We need to have a nonpolitical and very much a policy century,” Timmons said in conclusion.

ICYMI: Read our full story on the Manufacturing’s Roadmap to AI and Energy Dominance.

The NAM called on Congress this week to reform the 340B program, which drives up health care costs—one of manufacturers’ top concerns as reported in the NAM Q3 2025 Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey.

What’s going on: On Thursday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a hearing titled “The 340B Program: Examining Its Growth and Impact on Patients.” In advance of the hearing, the NAM detailed for Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-LA) how the program has increased health care costs for manufacturers.

• The NAM noted that “the expansion of this program was associated with approximately $23 billion in additional employer-based health care expenses in 2023, of which employees paid about $4.5 billion per year in added insurance premiums. That equals approximately $137 in additional annual premium costs for single coverage and $415 for family coverage.”

Congressional intent: The 340B program was created “to provide lower cost medicines and expand care for low-income and underserved patients, but many covered entities have taken advantage of the program to increase their profits, which has in turn increased the cost of [employer-sponsored insurance].”

• “Manufacturers believe the 340B program is an important tool in expanding care for underserved communities, and we urge fundamental changes that would restore this program to its core purpose.”

Solutions oriented: The Health Resources and Service Administration is in the process of standing up a 340B Rebate Model Pilot Program, on which the NAM submitted comments.

• “This pilot program is a critical first step in enhancing program integrity and transparency in a way that makes the 340B program work for everyone but will not be fully sufficient in reforming the 340B program,” the NAM told the HELP Committee.

Next steps: The NAM suggested that reforms to “current fee structures, third-party administrator behavior, sub-grantee eligibility and how patients benefit from the program.”

• “Additional reforms, such as patient definition and child site eligibility, will also return the program to the intent with which Congress created it.”

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, National Association of Manufacturers President and CEO Jay Timmons released the following statement celebrating plans to reopen the former Mead paper mill in Chillicothe, Ohio, under new ownership by U.S. Medical Glove Company.

“Never bet against the people of Chillicothe and Ross County. And never bet against the vibrancy of manufacturing in the United States.

“As a proud son of Chillicothe, Ohio, and the proud grandson of someone who supported and sustained his family through a manufacturing career that spanned four decades on the shop floor of the paper mill, I am thrilled to see that Mead has found new life.

“But I am not surprised.

“Manufacturing in the United States is anchored in the qualities that make this country exceptional. Those qualities that define us—those qualities that define our industry—include the values of innovation, resilience and reinvention. This is the story not only of Chillicothe’s comeback but the ever-larger leadership of our nation’s indispensable sector: U.S. manufacturing.

“And the success of our industry depends on leaders who invest in the workers, the facilities, the communities and the policy that our sector needs to propel our nation as the best place on Earth to build, grow, invest and hire. Because when we invest in manufacturing, we not only strengthen the hand of the United States on the world stage. We invest in the American people.

“Manufacturing opens doors—to strong, secure and prosperous families, to greater investments in our parks, roads, bridges and schools, and to the optimism at the heart of the dignity of work. And under the ownership of U.S. Medical Glove Company, those doors in Chillicothe swing wide open again.

“I congratulate the great people of Chillicothe and Ross County—and give my thanks to all of the leaders who made this possible, including Ross County Commissioners, Chillicothe Mayor Luke Feeney, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, Attorney General Dave Yost, Sens. Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted, as well as Congressman Dave Taylor.

“To Sen. Moreno—who wrote letters, held rallies and shaped negotiations to find a new owner to keep the mill open—you in particular have reminded us that our nation’s prosperity does not guarantee itself. Leaders do. And you have led, like all of the manufacturing champions in our nation have led, to make sure that manufacturing in this country, in Chillicothe and so many communities like it, beats on as a powerhouse of prosperity.”

-NAM-

The National Association of Manufacturers is the largest manufacturing association in the United States, representing small and large manufacturers in every industrial sector and in all 50 states. Manufacturing employs nearly 13 million men and women, contributes $2.90 trillion to the U.S. economy annually and accounts for 53% of private-sector research and development. The NAM is the powerful voice of the manufacturing community and the leading advocate for a policy agenda that helps manufacturers compete in the global economy and create jobs across the United States. For more information about the NAM or to follow us on Twitter and Facebook, please visit www.nam.org.

Manufacturers are increasingly adopting and using generative artificial intelligence, and it is changing their businesses for the better. But for the use of GenAI to be truly transformative, company leadership must ensure their strategy builds on six specific pillars, according to a recent article in the Manufacturing Leadership Council’s ML Journal.

1. Establish an AI control tower: Many businesses are spending money needlessly on duplicative GenAI initiatives. Instead, they should set up an AI “control tower,” a centralized hub for AI tools and use cases that lets them reuse assets to save money and speed up implementation.
2. Reimagine future business models and functions: Rather than implementing piecemeal updates, companies should consider larger, full-scale revisions with AI. Those that don’t innovate risk being left behind.
3. Ensure confidence in AI: Keeping human team members in the loop as GenAI deployments happen will ensure employee confidence in the transformation—as will having a clearly defined set of processes and rules in place to govern algorithm and model creation and use.
4. Address talent and tech gaps: Even as the newness of GenAI implementation wears off, it’s important to continue to provide training. A recent EY AI Anxiety in Business survey found that 80% of workers would feel more comfortable using AI if they were trained on it.
5. Develop an ecosystem of alliances: To stay ahead of the curve, manufacturers must establish partnerships. These will be critical in filling gaps in their capabilities in an evolving landscape. Specifically, alliances in these four categories are recommended: technology, professional services, academics and data.
6. Drive focused data maturity to be AI-ready: When it comes to data maturity, company leaders should aim to be smart and focused. Not every piece of data needs to be pristine to be included in your models. Rather, a firm’s data strategy should be governed by how the data will be used.

The benefits: This strategy should address seven key needs: accessibility at scale, visibility, timeliness, openness, reliability, expansiveness and trust and security.

Nominations are open: The MLC, the NAM’s digital transformation arm, is now accepting nominations for the 2026 Manufacturing Leadership Awards. Learn more here.

What do all artificial intelligence components have in common? They all have their “genesis in manufacturing,” as NAM Vice President of Domestic Policy Chris Phalen said recently at a Climate Week event in New York City.

And for manufacturing—and by extension, AI—to thrive, we need permitting reform as soon as possible, he added.

What’s going on:  Manufacturers “are driving [AI] innovation … creating everything that we’re talking about,” Phalen told Steve Clemons, editor at large for The National Interest and emcee of a panel discussion at “AI for Real,” a talk on industrial AI presented by Siemens and Widehall last month. (Siemens USA President and CEO Barbara Humpton spoke before the panel.)

• But to lead globally in the technology, “the U.S. need[s] everything online to get AI to where we think it can go to outcompete China,” Phalen continued. “And it’s important that we don’t get into a position where there’s a competition for scarcity of electricity. … [P]ermitting reform is going to be absolutely essential to all of that.”
• The NAM has long emphasized the importance of permitting reform—cutting the costly, often duplicative and unnecessary federal regulations involved in getting new energy projects online—in maintaining U.S. energy dominance on the world stage and surpassing competitors in AI.

Augment, not replace: Phalen also discussed the continuing, critical role of human workers in manufacturing, and how AI will supplement rather than replace employees.

• “People are definitely still in the picture,” he said. AI is not “a wholesale replacement; it still needs us. The future still needs us. Manufacturers are committed to having a people-centric business model going forward, but these are things that … are going to be able to augment what humans are able to do and innovate already.”

But seriously, permitting reform: Asked what the U.S. has “to get most right to deliver on the [AI] vision” for the U.S. discussed by Humpton earlier in the event, Phalen returned to the desperate need for permitting reform.

• “It’s permitting reform,” he told Clemons. “[A]ll of the things that are going to ‘make AI for real’ are going to require permitting, and … as it stands right now, there are myriad ways it can go wrong—not just in the kind of documentation phase, but also [the] very, very long statute of limitations that allows pretty much anyone to challenge any project.”
• China, he added, is building huge amounts of energy “generation of all kinds. … We can’t tie one hand behind our back and expect to compete with that kind of generation and innovation, frankly. So it’s permitting reform.”

Photo credit: Diane Bondareff Photography