Obama promises 500 million dollars to the textile industry

By

Matthieu Guinebault

Published
Mar 23, 2015

In the framework of the 2016 Fiscal Year budget, Barack Obama has announced the creation of 16 innovation institutes dedicated to manufacturing, with nearly $500 million in public-private investment to strengthen American manufacturing by investing in cutting-edge technologies.

After a decade of decline in the 2000s when 40 percent of all large factories closed their doors, American manufacturing is adding jobs at its fastest rate in decades, with 877,000 new manufacturing jobs created since February 2010. Ohio alone has added nearly 70,000 manufacturing jobs over that period. Manufacturing production is up by almost a third since the recession and the number of factories manufacturing across the United States is growing for the first time since the 1990s.

This initiative should make it above all possible to turn the page on the cycle of factory closures that unfolded in the United States in the 2000s, when 40% of all textile factories closed their doors. However, after a decade of decline, American manufacturing is adding jobs at its fastest rate in decades, with 877,000 new manufacturing jobs created since February 2010 and a 45% increase of textile exports between 2009 and 2014.

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The more than 230,000 small manufacturers in the U.S. employ 42 percent, or almost half, of all manufacturing workers. However, small manufacturers often trail their larger peers in adopting the latest technologies and practices to increase their competitiveness and productivity, with many small manufacturers in need of access to capital and expertise to adopt the latest innovations in manufacturing – like 3-D printing, advanced sensors, and digital design – that can help sharpen their edge. 

The investments will thus be focused on both large and small manufacturers, with the country's Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), a state-federal network of 60 centers and 1,200 manufacturing experts, in place to help small manufacturers improve their production processes, upgrade their technological capabilities, and bring new products to market.