For Our 10th Anniversary, AAM Is Talking Manufacturing

Nov 14 2017 |
Behold: Some of the donated American-made gifts rolled out for attendees of AAM’s 10 year anniversary party.

WATCH: Panel discussions anlayze the issues facing U.S. industry.

The Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) has turned 10. Bust out the birthday candles! 

AAM was founded in the heady days of 2007, when American industry wasn’t on the minds and lips of many Washington policymakers.

A decade later, a lot has changed. We can’t (and won’t) take credit for it all, but trade and manufacturing are now topics of debate in the half of Congress. Some would even claim the 2016 election turned on those issues.  

So, in honor of turning 10, we brought a solid gift bag, full of American-made goods (see the picture above). More importantly, though, we brought together a series of panels to analyze how important – and multifaceted – the issues facing U.S. manufacturing are in 2017.

CNN's Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash spoke to Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers, (and who are among AAM’s founding members) who described working America’s expectations of the young Trump administration.

She also talked to Tom Lewand, CEO of Shinola, who described the challenge (and promise) of scaling up a specialty watchmaking operation in Detroit.

And we heard from a panel, including a glass marble manufacturer; a steelworker who gained his job through a workforce training program; a former Commerce Department official for manufacturing policy; and a Western Pennsylvania councilman working to bring industrial jobs to his community.

All of the panelists talked about where American manufacturing has been, and where it’s going. You can watch the whole thing here.