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’ ve spent the last year watching billions of dollars pour into American manufacturing, and it’ s an exciting time to be in this industry. New factories are breaking ground. Reshoring is no longer a talking point; it’ s a line item. Manufacturing output reached a record $ 2.91 trillion in value added in 2024, factory construction spending is up nearly 190 percent since 2021, and foreign companies are now committing more capital to U. S. manufacturing than to any other sector in the country- a picture laid out in detail in MISUMI’ s recent industry report, The Rise of U. S. Manufacturing.

By almost every measure, we’ re in the middle of the biggest industrial buildout in decades, and the momentum is real. It’ s well known that the U. S. is projected to need 3.8 million additional manufacturing workers by 2033. That’ s a big number, but here’ s the part that gives me real optimism: the workforce signal is already starting to catch up. Enrollment at high-vocational community colleges is up nearly 20 percent since 2020. Undergraduate certificate programs have grown for four straight years. Students are making rational choices, and they’ re choosing skilled trades.

Our job now is to accelerate that pipeline. It’ s why we’ re investing heavily in the next generation of engineers, partnering with hundreds of schools around the country to provide the mentorship and hands-on experience students need.

What we can learn from manufacturing leaders abroad

I think about this a lot when I look at countries like Japan, Germany, and South Korea- nations with manufacturing traditions that, in some cases, go back over a century, and that have built extraordinary training infrastructure to match their industrial ambition.

Germany’ s dual education system integrates apprenticeships directly into

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