Article Abstract:
“Competition all Around: North, South Struggle for Manufacturing Jobs”
By: Tom Murphy
Detroit is not the only manufacturing city in North America that has felt the gravity of the alarming number of companies opting to move offshore, Southern states were also hit hard with manufacturing unemployment rates when textile manufacturers pulled out. However, Detroit was still hit the hardest, losing 147,400 manufacturing jobs since 1999. Since 1998 the US has lost 3 million manufacturing jobs to China according to The Department of Labor.
Many manufacturing companies that have opted to remain in the US, moved their facilities to southern states, citing the moderate climate of the south, lower cost of living and central location is more conducive to the industry rather that the industrial north. Still southern manufacturers struggle with the transfer of jobs to even lower wage regions such as Mexico and China. Some manufacturers are still convinced US factories can still compete with Chinese prices.
In Tennessee, Charles Poe has won manufacturing business over China by underbidding the prices of his materials and still made a profit. Poe used automated factories to lower overall cost of production and therefore did not require excess labor costs.
The Tennessee Rand Co. is a custom machining supplier in Chattanooga; the company is expanding its workforce and is a local success story, producing welding fixtures and cross-car beams for Ford. Most of the Tennessee Rand Co. products go north to automotive suppliers. Tennessee Rand Co. Vice President Don Peters lives by a business model seldom used by cost-conscious Detroit, “We get business by not being the low bidder.”
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