On the heels of his speech on advanced manufacturing last Friday at Carnegie Mellon University, President Obama will be touring the Alcoa aluminum factory in Battendorf, IA. From the White House press release:

On Tuesday, June 28th, President Obama will travel to Iowa and visit the Alcoa Davenport Works Factory in Bettendorf, where he will tour the facility and discuss the critical role that the manufacturing sector plays in the American economy.  Manufacturing serves as the backbone of communities across the country and the continued revitalization of the manufacturing sector is critical to our nation’s success as we compete in a 21st century global economy.

We’re glad to see that the president is making an effort to  highlight the importance of American manufacturing for our economy and to introduce programs to kick start a “manufacturing renaissances." But, as we said last Friday, we still have a long way to go.

America has been falling behind in manufacturing while the rest of the world aggressively supports its industry. We are playing catch-up following decades of neglect. Programs such as the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership Obama introduced last week show a lot of promise, but the efforts will be futile unless our manufacturers also have a solid foundation of support for challenges like unfair trade practices, currency manipulation, developing a skilled workforce, and a more efficient infrastructure.

Click here to watch a live stream of Obama's visit at 2:00pm ET.