"New York City is where dreams come to audition", and this goes for manufacturers too.
Recorded live at New Lab in Brooklyn, this episode is split into three segments and features seven guests. Chris explores what manufacturing means in a city best known for 'wall street’.
Andrew, James, and Stacey open the show by digging into New York's overlooked industrial past, including a 250-year stretch where the city was the largest manufacturing hub in the country. Jacob, Nikki, and Miquela then take the stage to talk about what's being built in the city today, from robotics to a single Brooklyn facility housing 17 different manufacturing verticals.
Finally, Michelle of New York Embroidery Studio joins Chris one-on-one to share her insights after nearly 30 years of manufacturing experience, including how she pivoted her entire operation overnight to produce PPE during COVID.
In this episode, find out:
- What the Brooklyn Navy Yard's 300-acre footprint looks like today, decades after its WWII peak
- Why New York's robotics ecosystem might never look like Detroit or Pittsburgh and how that could be an advantage
- What 17 different manufacturing verticals look like inside a single Brooklyn facility
- How one manufacturer pivoted from designing gowns for the Met Gala to producing 3 million isolation gowns a month
- Why New York's built-in market of 8 million consumers gives local manufacturers an edge most cities can't offer
- What it took to solve a 20-year-old medical design flaw by giving a doctor direct access to a factory floor
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Tweetable Quotes:
- "All These inventions that came from here - the laser, the CCD, the ATM machine, the transistor, vulcanized rubber - all those things went somewhere else to build.” - James Williams, Chief Strategy Officer at Nanotronics
- "It's not that somebody is getting rid of the hand tools, it's that it's merging with additional technology." - Miquela Craytor, Founder & Principal, Craytor Strategies
- "Smart people that have problems need to have access to factories to create and build new things." - Michelle Feinberg, Owner of New York Embroidery Studio and NYES Protect
Links & mentions:
- CliftonLarsonAllen, sponsor of the All-American Manufacturing Summer Tour, offering industry-focused wealth advisory, outsourcing, audit, tax, and consulting services.
- MaintainX, sponsor of the tour, helping frontline teams streamline maintenance, standard operating procedures, and more from a mobile device.
- New Lab, an innovation hub based at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, hosting this episode and supporting startups working on advanced technology and manufacturing.
Make sure to visit http://manufacturinghappyhour.com for detailed show notes and a full list of resources mentioned in this episode. Stay Innovative, Stay Thirsty.
