August 2025 Volume 7

OPERATIONS & MANAGEMENT

REINDUSTRIALIZATION: AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME By Ellen Campbell

W e can thank 1984 presidential candidate, Walter for America’s industrial region spanning from the Great Lakes to the shores of the Atlantic. Unlike “Sun Belt,” a term that refers to the states that span across the southern half of the U.S., the term “Rust Belt” was meant as a warning. Unfortunately, the moniker stuck. So, how did the manufacturing industry that was once a shining beacon of U.S. innovation, production, and social progress become rusty? It’s an important question to ask, and one that is aptly tackled in a paper published by the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship, titled Reindustrialise: Building Capacity, Security, and Prosperity in a De-globalizing World , authored by Austin Bishop and Blake Seitz. This white paper is short in length, conversational in tone, thorough in its research, and practical in its summation. My goal in this review is to inspire FIA members to read, share, discuss the paper, and act on the valuable insights of Bishop and Seitz. Did you know that once upon a time, Cleveland, Ohio, “was one of the richest cities on the planet, rivalling London, Paris, and St. Petersburg?” Indeed, in the early 1900s, Cleveland stood as a powerhouse of manufacturing that produced remarkable economic and cultural progress in the Midwest. Cleveland native, Austin Bishop, co-founder and CEO of the New American Industrial Alliance, has a clear understanding of his hometown’s industrial past, with a keen eye for the bright future of U.S. manufacturing. Together with Blake Seitz, policy expert and content strategist at Palantir Technologies, Bishop provides research and analysis that explains the rise and demise of manufacturing in the West. Their article for ARC posits that “understanding the root causes of deindustrialization will give us a better sense of what needs to change to kickstart the revival.” Spanning the 1950s to today, Bishop and Seitz tell the story of manufacturing in the U.S. and the shortsightedness of American leadership that turned the steel belt into a rust belt. With candor, the authors state that, “it is scarcely exaggeration to say the West sold its industrial birthright for short-term financial gains, better quarterly earnings, and a jobs programme for regulators and lawyers. What we lost was sovereignty over production.” But was deindustrialization a choice? Bishop and Seitz point to the proof of more than half a century of “bad policy decisions, flawed technology, and stifling regulation.” We learn from Bishop and Seitz about the choices made in favor of globalization and free trade. We learn how U.S. manufacturing was gutted, and why loss of industry crippled the American workforce and our economy. We also learn why policy fixes failed to reinvigorate the manufacturing sector. And the exploration of the causes for deindustrialization is concluded with the sobering revelation of American fragility that is chilling. Mondale, for inspiring the term “Rust Belt.” What was a battle cry from the campaign trail is now a byword “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana

“There is nothing so powerful than an idea whose time has come” – Victor Hugo But Bishop and Seitz don’t leave us wallowing in the damage done to our country. Like any classic story of redemption (think of Rocky Balboa or Ebenezer Scrooge), the authors show us that lessons learned from our manufacturing past are fuel for a new life, and a bright future. Reindustrialization is a matter of rebuilding, and the strategy that Bishop and Seitz propose is commonsensical. Five action items grounded in lessons learned provide a plan that we can follow no matter the size or location of our manufacturing businesses. But haven’t we heard these solutions before? Probably. But not exactly. It’s a matter of timing. Consider that back in 1981, the Manufacturing Studies Board Assembly of Engineering for the National Research Council held a symposium titled Reindustrialization or New Industrialization . Grappling with the onset of deindustrialization, industry leaders at that time proposed solutions that if acted upon could have changed the course of manufacturing history. But they weren’t acted upon effectively because the time for those ideas hadn’t come. Neither business nor government leaders, nor the general public had the appetite to do the work that would turn the ship around. Apparently, additional lessons needed to be learned. Whatever the case, we can reflect on a rallying cry from presenter, Howard M. Love, CEO of (then) National Steel who proclaimed, We have two kinds of leadership in this country – private and public. Our public leadership will be no better than that demanded by private leadership. You and I must take the economic issues to the people through our employees, through civic organizations, through political organizations, and through general social discourse. “There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long-range risks of comfortable inaction.” - John F. Kennedy Being involved in the FIA is a great way to engage in the reindustrialization movement. It also provides us with connections to get involved on the local, state, and national levels – such as Lobby Days and industry/education partnerships. This year my husband, Pete, and I attended a conference hosted by the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship. This international civic organization gathers leaders of every sector in society to speak and publish on a wide range of civic issues. The cornerstone of ARC is the importance of personal responsibility - that each of us has a role to play in our families, businesses, and communities to reclaim “the best of our inheritance.” We were drawn to the virtues that ARC promotes, and the opportunity it gives us to reach a wider group of people with our story about forging and reindustrialization. The 2025 ARC conference in London, UK, drew 4,000 attendees from all over the globe. From governance, business, culture, and family to education, energy, and the environment, ARC gathered speakers and attendees to discuss values and ideas that shaped Western Civilization and inspire hope for the future of humanity.

FIA MAGAZINE | AUGUST 2025 36