Drew Greenblatt: There is this Chinese shipping clerk in Shanghai that's going to open this box right here. And I'm really proud of that.
Narrator: When Drew Greenblatt bought Marlin Steel Wire Products in 1998, the workers were paid minimum wage and bent steel by hand to form wire baskets to hold bread. Fast forward 17 years and Marlin Steel's nearly 30 workers now use American steel and million-dollar robotic machinery to manufacture products exported overseas while being paid a competitive wage with full benefits and performance incentives.
Drew Greenblatt: That's how we differentiate from China. It's not by having lower paid employees. It's by having the best innovations, the the the the smartest ideas and then having talent to actually create those ideas.
Narrator: This idea was echoed by President Obama on January 9th when he and Vice President Joe Biden toured a polymer factory in Tennessee. The president highlighted the gains in manufacturing with 786,000 jobs added in the last 58 months and announced a new hub that would bring the government, companies, and colleges together to create more high-tech manufacturing opportunities.
President Barack Obama: We've got the the most dynamic economy in the world and we've got uh the best business people in the world and the best universities in the world. Let's put them all together, make sure they're working uh to create more good jobs and more opportunity for the American people.
Narrator: Back at Marlin Steel in Baltimore, the innovation is driven by a team of mechanical engineers who design sheet metal fabrications for companies like the German engineering firm Bosch and Japan's Toyota automaker. Workers like Iraq war veteran Brent Fox make these ideas a reality. Fox has moved from line worker to team leader after learning new skills on the job and says he marvels at how the small wire product company is able to compete against its foreign counterparts.
Brent Fox: working in and living in a global economy. It's, you know, it's pretty impressive that places like this still exist in America when it's so much easier to just go buy it overseas and have it shipped.Narrator: As for Greenblatt, he says with more trade deals, a better tax structure, and greater protections for intellectual property, American companies like his can contribute to growing the US middle class and helping the economy surge.
Drew Greenblatt: Mark my words, the American manufacturing renaissance is here and it's about to really blossom.
Narrator: Greenblatt says Marlin Steel is already adding more factory space to bring in more technology and hire more engineers. Aru Pande, VOA News, Baltimore, Maryland.
