Input Stories

Thermal battery manufacturer Antora is growing rapidly to meet the demand for its products (The Mercury News, subscription).

What’s going on: This month, the company announced the completion of a two-building expansion of its San Jose, California, manufacturing campus, “a move that enabled [it] to more than double its space.”

• The firm, which makes energy storage technology that converts low-cost electricity into always-on heat and power, is “seeing unprecedented demand” for its technology, Antora Chief Operating Officer Justin Briggs told the news outlet. “Industrial electrification, data centers. We are really focused on data center expansion.”
• Antora now has over 100,000 square feet of manufacturing and operations space, up from just over 50,000.

Why it’s important: The energy stored in Antora’s thermal batteries “can be delivered 24/7 to manufacturers as affordable, reliable energy,” the NAM wrote in an original article in May 2025.

• “It’s a solution that is both modular and scalable, capable of serving small and large manufacturers alike.”

More online, faster: “We’ve already shipped gigawatt-hours of storage to industry in the Midwest, with more going out the factory door every day,” said Antora Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer David Bierman about the new expansion.

• “This expansion means that we can get major projects online faster—enabling the speed to power that this moment requires.”

The NAM’s view: “Antora’s batteries are manufactured in the U.S. and are a prime example of how we can avoid dependence on China for critical minerals,” said NAM Vice President of Domestic Policy Chris Phalen.

• “The company’s expansion is good news for the U.S., our energy and national security and our allies.”

This week, manufacturers mark a defining 20th century triumph in engineering that saved countless lives and prevented unquantifiable suffering: the development and large-scale deployment of the polio vaccine. In an op-ed in The Washington Times, NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons reflects on Vaccination Day, sharing how the remarkable polio vaccine saved other children from the pain and debility his own grandmother suffered.

The celebration: “On April 12, 1960, President Dwight Eisenhower declared a victory the likes of which the United States had never before seen,” Timmons wrote.

• “Five years prior, during his presidency, the U.S. had announced that the polio vaccine—a genius innovation by Dr. Jonas Salk—was ready for widespread use.”
• “Eisenhower had masterminded the Allied victory in Europe, capped off on V-E Day. He knew what victory meant. That’s why it matters that in 1960, Eisenhower called upon the nation to ‘make April 12 a new kind of V-Day—vaccination day.’”

The disease: “Highly contagious and disproportionately affecting children, [polio] infected as many as tens of thousands of Americans in a single year.” Timmons continued.

• “Survivors of polio bore lasting scars: children who needed iron lungs to breathe, iron braces to stand or metal crutches to walk.”

Timmons’ grandmother: “Born in 1912, Jane contracted polio at age 2. Over her life, she learned how to walk four times: once before polio, a second time with leg braces, a third time as a teenager without any support (defying the experts) and a fourth time in her 50s, when—after years of pain from the lasting, debilitating effects of the disease—she submitted to a risky surgery,” Timmons wrote.

• “My grandmother was resilient and optimistic, a product of the Greatest Generation that won the war. The first time I ever saw her cry was when Eisenhower died. She knew, in so many ways, what he had helped free our world from.”

Triumph over suffering: “The vaccine meant children who would never lose their ability to walk. It meant parents and caregivers who could stay in the workforce. It meant employees who stayed healthy and produced more goods, products and opportunities for American communities. It meant businesses spared from the economic disruption that comes from widespread contagious diseases,” Timmons said.

• “The polio vaccine saved the American public more than $180 billion, and that’s just in treatment costs—to say nothing of the billions of dollars in economic activity it preserved.”

A modern-day triumph: Timmons also hailed President Trump’s Operation Warp Speed, which developed COVID-19 vaccines during his first term:

• “Like Eisenhower during polio, Mr. Trump during COVID-19 led with a belief in the lifesaving power of science and vaccines. He provided the competitive policies and the regulatory certainty that America needs to drive remarkable innovation. He worked to make sure life-changing discoveries were made in America and made it to the American people.”

The last word: “That is the formula for victories that would today be unimaginable to people such as my grandmother. We can bring debilitating diseases to an end. We can deliver the next V-Day,” Timmons concluded.

• “And as we mark America’s 250th anniversary, we can empower our nation’s manufacturers to drive the greatest standard of health and living in American history.”

Lawmakers should vote “yes” this week on three bills amending Clean Air Act emissions limits and environmental reviews, the NAM told the House on Monday.

What’s going on: The measures, approved in January by the House Energy and Commerce Committee thanks to NAM advocacy, would go a long way toward repairing a “broken system” that forces manufacturers to incur an annual average permitting burden of $7.9 billion, the NAM said.

• Expanding the American economy requires “responsible and commonsense modernizations to the Clean Air Act as part of comprehensive permitting reform efforts in Congress,” the NAM emphasized.

The details: The following bills are expected to come up for a vote this week:

• H.R. 6387, the Fire Improvement and Reforming Exceptional Events Act: The FIRE Act would update the Clean Air Act to ensure wildfire mitigation efforts are not held against a state when determining nonattainment status. It also requires the EPA to update its modeling, analysis, and review processes to reflect these wildfire mitigation efforts and other exceptional events.
• H.R. 6398, the Reducing and Eliminating Duplicative Environmental Regulations Act: The RED Tape Act would eliminate the mandate that the Environmental Protection Agency review a project already subject to environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act.
• H.R. 6409, the Foreign Emissions and Nonattainment Clarification for Economic Stability Act: The FENCES Act would protect manufacturing investment here in the United States by preventing emissions from outside the US from being used in calculations that determine the issuance of a permit.

Our role: The NAM has long advocated for Congress to modernize the CAA as part of the broader effort to reform the federal permitting system.

• In its latest report, “America on Hold: How Permitting Delays Stall Manufacturing Progress,” manufacturers identified CAA permits as the most burdensome approval process—underscoring one of the report’s key priorities for the administration and Congress: modernize the Clean Air Act.
• In late 2025, manufacturers called for “12 days of permitting reform” on Capitol Hill, which included the NAM’s strong push for CAA reform legislation, calling it “integral to comprehensive permitting reform so manufacturers can get shovels in the ground quicker to expand investments and jobs.”

The final say: “Congress should act now to ensure the United States can continue to grow the manufacturing economy while also preserving the historic environmental protections that the Clean Air Act was intended to address when it passed Congress over 50 years ago,” NAM Managing Vice President of Policy Charles Crain said.

The Manufacturing Institute—the 501(c)3 workforce development and education affiliate of the NAM—will develop artificial intelligence skills training programs for manufacturing workers and the expansion of employer-led apprenticeship programs via the MI’s Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education. This work is made possible by funding from Google.   

New courses: The MI will develop two new courses for operations workers: AI 101 for Manufacturing and AI for Advanced Manufacturing Technicians.

• The 101 course will contextualize existing AI training from Google specifically for the manufacturing environment. At no cost, this training will be available to manufacturing companies and their employees through an online learning platform and to education partners that are preparing individuals to enter the manufacturing workforce.
• The AI for Advanced Manufacturing Technicians course will be a brand-new offering developed by the MI and integrated into FAME.

More FAME: The funding will also enable the MI to launch new FAME chapters in at least 15 new regions, while developing and embedding the AI for Advanced Manufacturing Technicians course across all FAME chapters.

• The FAME program is a proven model for training advanced maintenance technicians and building durable talent pipelines for manufacturers today in 46 hubs across the country.
• Google.org is also supporting the mikeroweWORKS Foundation’s provision of Work Ethic Scholarships to FAME students, which will offer financial assistance to eligible participants completing their manufacturing programs.

The MI says: “So much of the narrative around AI and the workplace is fear-based. One thing we’ve learned in manufacturing time and again is that as new technologies are introduced, it is essential to ensure our workers build the skills needed to engage,” said MI President Carolyn Lee.

Google says: “Google.org wants the manufacturers who build our world to have access to the best technology for the job,” said Google.org Global Head Maggie Johnson.

• “We’re proud to support the Manufacturing Institute’s efforts with our funding and technological expertise. This initiative will bring hands-on AI skills to the shop floor, helping manufacturing students and workers shape this new era of American innovation.”

In the news: The announcement of the funding was covered in a Fox Business exclusive and later publicized in Axios and by several local Fox and NBC stations.

Learn more: Learn more about the MI’s training and join its email list to stay updated as the MI progresses in this work.

The Essential Workers for Economic Advancement Act, introduced by Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-PA), “gets it right” regarding immigration reform and workforce development, the NAM said this week as it endorsed the legislation.

What’s going on: “Our industry is evolving by the minute, and with over 400,000 open jobs on our shop floors, we need more people, not fewer—with more skills, not less—from across our great country and from beyond our borders,” NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons said.

• “That’s why we are proud to support Rep. Smucker’s legislation. By making sure our nation’s immigration system matches the needs and ambitions of America’s manufacturers, the Essential Workers for Economic Advancement Act … will drive even more skilled workers to our shop floors.”

About the bill: The measure, which Rep. Smucker first introduced in March 2022 and reintroduced last year, would plug a hole in the immigration system: there are visas for high-skilled workers (e.g., the H-1B used by many engineers and scientists), and there are visas for seasonal labor (H-2A for agricultural workers and H-2B for nonagricultural). However, there are no visas for the bulk of the year-round manufacturing workers whose jobs do not require a bachelor’s degree but who are “essential” to production operations.

• “The act would address critical workforce shortages while safeguarding employment opportunities for American workers,” a statement from Rep. Smucker’s office reads.

The response: “I thank the National Association of Manufacturers for supporting my commonsense, bipartisan and market-driven solution that addresses workforce shortages in key industries while ensuring American workers are prioritized,” Rep. Smucker said.

Up next on immigration reform: Later this week, Reps. Maria Salazar (R-FL) and Veronica Escobar (D-TX) will host the NAM and manufacturing leaders from across the country for a roundtable on immigration reform.

The Manufacturing Institute, the NAM’s workforce development and education affiliate, recently announced the dates for its industry-influencing Workforce Summit—and it is inviting manufacturing and education leaders to submit their own strategies for shaping the next generation of manufacturing talent.

When and where: The fifth annual Workforce Summit—whose theme is “Skills at Scale: Delivering America’s Competitive Advantage”—will take place Oct. 26–28 at the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown in Indianapolis, Indiana.

• Sign up here to be notified when registration goes live.

Send your workforce leaders: Manufacturers from all sectors and of all sizes are invited to contribute to the Workforce Summit by sending their workforce leaders to attend—or better yet, having them host breakout sessions about their own talent innovations. Proposed sessions should showcase proven strategies, including:

• Upskilling programs and frontline leadership training models;
• Cutting-edge training approaches for new technology adoption;
• Creative recruitment strategies and skills-based hiring;
• Impactful community partnerships for recruitment, training and retention;
• Building strong workplace culture;
• Engaging applied learning experiences; and
• Interactive formats that spark participation problem solving and practical skill building.

Where to start: To learn more about how to submit a proposal for a session, go here. The deadline for submissions is April 30 at 5:00 p.m. EDT.

The Manufacturing Leadership Council, the digital transformation division of the NAM, has announced the finalists for the 2026 Manufacturing Leadership Awards, which honor world-class manufacturers and individual leaders for outstanding achievements in digital transformation.

• The finalists represent excellence across nine project categories and two individual categories, reflecting the breadth, depth and momentum of digital innovation underway throughout the manufacturing sector. A complete list of finalists is available here.

Partners in Collaborative Innovation: In addition, the MLC unveiled the 2026 Partners in Collaborative Innovation, which recognizes technology and consulting organizations that play a vital role in advancing Manufacturing 4.0 throughout the industry.

• The recipients are organizations that support manufacturers on their digital transformation journeys through thought leadership, technology, research and ecosystem-building.

The gala: Category winners will be announced at the Manufacturing Leadership Awards Gala on June 24 at the Fairmont Princess in Scottsdale, Arizona.

• In addition to category winners, the gala will also recognize recipients of the Future of Manufacturing Award, Small/Medium Enterprise Manufacturer of the Year, Large Enterprise Manufacturer of the Year and Manufacturing Leader of the Year. The gala takes place at the conclusion of Rethink: Accelerating Digital Transformation in Manufacturing.

New leadership: Earlier this week, the announced the appointment of Ron Castro, vice president and chief supply chain officer at IBM, as chairman of the MLC Board of Governors, and Will Bonifant, group vice president and chief supply chain officer at Hormel Foods, as vice chairman.

• The MLC Board of Governors is a distinguished advisory body composed of senior manufacturing executives who provide strategic guidance to the council on its critical issues agenda, research initiatives and programs designed to help manufacturers advance on their Manufacturing 4.0 journeys.

The last word: “In an era defined by rapid technological change and continued business uncertainty, manufacturers are demonstrating that digital transformation remains a powerful driver of resilience, competitiveness and long-term growth,” said MLC Founder, Vice President and Executive Director David Brousell.

U.S. wind and utility-scale solar projects generated a record 17% of U.S. electricity in 2025—an enormous jump from their share of less than 1% in 2005 (Energy Information Administration).

• Adding in small-scale solar, the two sources’ net total generation came to 19%.

A solar expansion: The data also reveals the astronomical growth trajectory of solar power, which has grown every year since 2006.

• “In 2025, utility-scale solar power generation totaled 296,000 GWh, 34% more than in 2024.”

• Wind power also grew, though more slowly, generating 3% more electricity in 2025 than in 2024.

Dispatchable sources: Dispatchable generation sources, which can produce electricity without depending on the variability of sunshine or blowing wind, still make up the majority of U.S. electricity production.

• Together, gas, coal and nuclear power accounted for 75% of U.S. utility-scale electricity generation in 2025.

All-of-the-above energy: “These data points demonstrate the importance of the NAM’s all-of-the-above energy strategy to power manufacturing growth in America,” said NAM Vice President of Domestic Policy Chris Phalen.

• “As energy demand continues to grow, the U.S. must invest in many sources of energy and lift burdensome permitting requirements to ensure more energy projects and electricity infrastructure get built.”
• “A permitting system that costs manufacturers at least $8 billion per year is hindering investments across all energy sources—and is constraining manufacturers’ ability to invest and hire in America. Congress must act now to support manufacturing and all forms of American energy dominance by passing comprehensive permitting reform this year.”

As America celebrates its semiquincentennial, manufacturers are looking ahead to the next 250 years, according to NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons.

What’s going on: “Manufacturing made America what it is,” Timmons said during a recent interview with Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association President and CEO David Taylor, which aired last week on that organization’s “PMA Perspective” news program.

• “The greatness of America has been really embedded in the ability of our people to create, to build. … As we set the stage for the next 250 years … we want to make sure that our federal legislators are focused on a comprehensive manufacturing strategy.”
• The interview, which took place during the NAM’s recent 2026 State of Manufacturing Tour, was held at historic Carpenters’ Hall in Philadelphia, the site of the First Continental Congress in 1774.

Four pillars of success: The tour stop in Philadelphia, the United States’ first capital, “pointed out how important our foundational ideas are to creating the environment for success for manufacturing in the years to come,” Timmons said.

• “And that’s why we want to renew that commitment with our Manufacturers’ Accord for the Next 250 Years to focus on those four pillars that made America exceptional: free enterprise, competitiveness, individual liberty and equal opportunity.”

What manufacturers need: To continue its success for at least another 250 years, American manufacturing needs several things, Timmons told Taylor, some of which the administration has delivered already. These include the following:

• A favorable tax environment: The “strengthening of [tax] reforms in 2025 was really the rocket fuel that manufacturers needed to give us a boost in terms of investment, job creation and wage growth.”
• Permitting reform: “[W]hile we have a commitment to energy dominance, we still have an issue with getting projects off the ground.”
• Immigration reform: “We … need to look at a credible system of [legal] immigration” to help fill open manufacturing jobs.
• Workforce development: “We have an obligation to make sure that our workers are trained appropriately in [new] skills,” such as interacting with artificial intelligence.

The last word: “[E]very single person has a voice in this choir,” Timmons concluded.

• “And we need citizens, business leaders [and] everyday folks to call their members of Congress … to say, ‘We want this country to come together for the good of the American people and work on policies that will reduce the cost of doing business in the United States and make us more competitive.’”

Blake Moret has big plans for his tenure as NAM Board Chair (Milwaukee Business Journal, subscription).

What’s going on: The Rockwell Automation Chairman and CEO “looks forward to chairing the National Association of Manufacturers during a period of economic uncertainty and rapidly changing technology—most notably artificial intelligence.”

• Moret, who recently confirmed that Rockwell’s new approximately 1-million-square-fooot plant will be built in New Berlin, Wisconsin, took on the role at the NAM because of his strong belief in the importance of manufacturing.
• “[M]anufacturing is at the absolute core of the American economy,” he told the Milwaukee Business Journal. “It’s important that it’s successful.”

Permitting reform: One of the NAM’s top advocacy issues is permitting reform—and getting it done is a passion Moret shares.

• “Streamlining permitting and making sure that the regulations are necessary, that they don’t add unnecessary delays in new investment. … There is certainly permitting with respect to the environment that is absolutely needed. But there’s also a lot of streamlining and efficiencies that can be introduced to get these new projects done.”

Overcoming challenges: Moret said, “A chief hurdle for manufacturing in the U.S. today is the uncertainty surrounding tariffs and the workforce shortage.” But he has recommendations.

• “A stable environment [on tariffs] would unleash more spending,” Moret said.
• On the labor pool: “Rockwell has the Academy of Advanced Manufacturing for training returning veterans for technician-level jobs. The NAM has a similar program,” he said, referring to the Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education (FAME), a program founded in 2010 by Toyota and now run by the NAM’s 501(c)3 workforce development and education affiliate, the Manufacturing Institute.
• “First, attract new entrants to fill jobs but also have the capabilities to interact with the technology. That’s really the winning hand,” Moret advised.

AI moves: Moret is a big believer in the importance of artificial intelligence, and Rockwell is making AI investments in its facilities worldwide. What’s next?

• “[E]ducating policymakers is really important,” he told the Journal. Those “who are considering existing and proposed rules need to understand how AI can be used. Also, understanding what the risks are—there is obvious risk to workforce disruption and cybersecurity. The bad guys use AI as well as the good guys. Just being able to present that from a manufacturer’s point of view will be an important role.”