The Rodon Blog - A Focus on Plastic Injection Molding and American Manufacturing

The last week in July was a hot one for the Philadelphia region, but it didn’t wilt the spirits of the employees at The Rodon Group and K'NEX as they hosted Secretary Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine’s first campaign stop after the Democratic National Convention. Regardless of your party affiliation, this was a proud moment for our company, to be chosen to host this historic event, the first leg of a Presidential race never before seen in our country.

Take a look at recent headlines and you will notice a lot of buzz about manufacturing.  Manufacturing in the United States is experiencing a renaissance along with all things made in America.  Even Wal-Mart has pledged to increase the number of U.S. made products it purchases to $250 billion by 2032. 

Celebrating Manufacturing with America

In 2011, The Rodon Group hosted our first Manufacturing Day event.  We were one of about 200 companies throughout the country to open our doors to students, educators and parents.  Fast forward to 2015 and we were joined by over 2,300 companies and organizations, 120 in Pennsylvania alone.  The message is loud and clear; Manufacturing Day has struck a chord.

This event resonates with so many Americans because it focuses on developing the next generation of manufacturers and innovators.  Our nation, within the last century, owes most of our economic gains to the manufacturing sector, a sector that had been in decline for several decades.  Companies took production offshore to low-wage countries, eroding our manufacturing base.  In doing so, professional trade careers were no longer seen as a viable employment choice.  Factories closed their doors, and apprenticeship programs closed as well.  The training pipeline to acquire skills dried up.

Fast forward to today and manufacturing is making a comeback.  Technical schools are beginning to see renewed interest from students and parents. So, on Manufacturing Day, we set aside our morning event to focus on teachers and students.  This year our morning educational program was highlighted by two interns who shared their experience working at Rodon with the group.  We even had a student videographer who helped get all the action on film.

The Manufacturing Alliance of Bucks and Montgomery Counties held their second Manufacturing Forum of the year.  Relevant and actionable information from some of the area industry leaders packed the morning agenda.  Topics included training, financing and cyber security.

Over the past few years, we've written many articles about the state of manufacturing within the United States but thought we'd narrow in on the Philadelphia region since our facility is located about 45 minutes outside of the city. We are proud to be third generation family business located in this region. Manufacturing is a top priority throughout the nation and continues to support over 17 million U.S. jobs. Manufacturers in the Greater Philadelphia area in particular have good reason to be optimistic about the outlook for 2015 and 2016. 

Kreischer Miller, a leading independent accounting, tax, and advisory firm serving the Greater Philadelphia area since 1975, recently announced that its Manufacturing Industry Group has released the results from its first Regional Manufacturing Capability and Outlook Survey.  The survey covered key areas such as economic outlook, workforce turnover, employee training, outsourcing, information security and more.  

Tom Wolf, the democratic Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate recently visited The Rodon Group factory as part of his “Fresh Start” campaign tour.  One of the cornerstones of Wolf’s campaign is a focus on creating manufacturing jobs in Pennsylvania.  As a business owner, who sourced American made goods for his distribution company, Wolf knows firsthand, the importance of manufacturing on our economy. During his speech to The Rodon Group employees, Wolf said he had an “aha” moment when he asked for manufacturing bids from companies across the globe.  Turns out, the lowest bids came from American manufacturers. “Conventional wisdom says you need to go to low cost countries.” Wolf stated. “Manufacturing is not something that is alien to the U.S. We offer better products, better service and lead time.”