The future of manufacturing may depend on smarter connections, artificial intelligence, and a new generation of entrepreneurs willing to challenge traditional business practices.
For decades, American manufacturing has faced a difficult challenge: smaller businesses often struggle to find reliable domestic manufacturers capable of producing their products in limited quantities. While large corporations have established supply chains and long-standing industry relationships, startups and independent businesses frequently face a much more complicated journey.
Entrepreneur Justin Kosmides recognized this problem firsthand. After spending ten years working in investment banking at Barclays, he decided to launch an electric bicycle business. Although he managed to establish manufacturing partnerships in Brazil and China, finding suitable manufacturing partners closer to home proved surprisingly difficult.
His experience revealed a significant gap in the American manufacturing ecosystem — one that eventually inspired him to build a new business.
The Missing Link in American Manufacturing
In 2023, Kosmides co-founded Bloom, a Detroit-based technology startup designed to simplify access to American manufacturing through an AI-powered marketplace.
The platform connects businesses looking to develop physical products with manufacturers and service providers capable of producing components, assembling products, and managing delivery.
The idea addresses a long-standing problem in the industry: finding the right manufacturing partner has traditionally depended heavily on personal relationships, industry contacts, and recommendations.
For smaller companies, this process can take weeks or even months.
Bloom aims to change that by bringing manufacturers and businesses together through a digital platform, making it easier to identify suppliers, compare capabilities, and establish partnerships.
The company's early growth demonstrates the potential of this approach. Bloom has facilitated more than 2,000 supplier matches, working with over 140 hardware businesses and a network of more than 500 American service providers.
Its customers range from established corporations such as Toyota to small hardware startups with only a few employees.
One of Bloom's most important advantages is its focus on smaller production runs. Traditional manufacturers may be accustomed to producing millions of components, while startups may need only 500 or 1,000 units.
By helping bridge this gap, Bloom is opening new opportunities for businesses that might otherwise struggle to bring their products to market.
How Artificial Intelligence Is Changing Procurement and Supply Chains
Bloom is part of a growing movement of technology companies using artificial intelligence to modernize manufacturing, sourcing, and procurement.
Other startups are pursuing similar opportunities.
New York-based Cofactr acquired sourcing startup Cogbase in 2025, adding access to a database of more than 450,000 suppliers and expanding its automated supplier discovery capabilities.
Meanwhile, Didero raised $30 million in February to develop AI-powered agents that can manage procurement activities, communicate with suppliers, track orders, and process information.
These developments highlight a broader transformation in how businesses manage their supply chains.
Artificial intelligence can help companies identify potential suppliers, reduce administrative work, accelerate purchasing decisions, and improve visibility across complex operations.
For entrepreneurs and growing businesses, these capabilities could mean lower operating costs, faster product development, and fewer obstacles when entering competitive markets.
Tariffs and Global Uncertainty Are Changing Business Decisions
Another important factor driving interest in domestic manufacturing is the changing international trade environment.
Tariffs, transportation costs, customs delays, and unpredictable delivery schedules are forcing companies to reconsider where they source their products and components.
Isaac Bunick, founder and CEO of Motormia, an AI-powered platform helping automotive enthusiasts discover aftermarket parts and plan vehicle modifications, has observed this shift among customers.
Some buyers are increasingly choosing components already available in the United States rather than relying on products manufactured overseas.
This is particularly relevant in the automotive aftermarket industry, where specialized components often come from manufacturers in countries such as Italy and Germany.
A suspension kit ordered from Italy, for example, may encounter customs delays and additional import duties before reaching an American customer.
Buying locally available alternatives can reduce uncertainty, even when those products are not necessarily the first choice.
However, domestic production is not always an easy or inexpensive solution.
Why Manufacturing Products in America Can Be More Expensive
Producing components domestically involves more than simply finding a factory with the right equipment.
Manufacturers must also consider labor expenses, insurance, product liability, regulatory requirements, production capacity, and access to raw materials.
Bunick highlights product liability as a particularly important issue in the automotive industry.
When a component is installed on a vehicle, manufacturers must be prepared to assume responsibility if the product fails and causes an accident.
Establishing the insurance coverage and legal infrastructure required to manage these risks can significantly increase production costs.
According to Bunick's estimates, a suspension kit that costs approximately €2,500 to manufacture in Italy could cost between €3,500 and €4,500 to produce in the United States.
For customers, this difference can make domestic alternatives considerably less affordable.
Tariff uncertainty also creates challenges for manufacturers and distributors that have already agreed on prices.
Consider a company with 1,000 automotive components waiting to be imported. If new duties add $500 to the cost of each component, the additional expense reaches $500,000.
Importers may find themselves absorbing unexpected costs or delaying shipments while waiting for more favorable trade conditions.
These situations demonstrate how international trade policies can influence everyday business decisions, from inventory management to customer pricing.
Can the United States Rebuild Its Manufacturing Industry?
Despite growing interest in domestic production, achieving complete manufacturing independence remains a difficult objective.
Many American businesses still depend on components, raw materials, and specialized equipment produced overseas.
Even factories operating in the United States frequently rely on imported machinery and materials to manufacture their products.
Rebuilding domestic manufacturing capacity therefore requires more than political support or financial investment. It requires skilled workers, modern infrastructure, reliable supplier networks, technological innovation, and long-term business commitments.
Kosmides recognizes that reversing decades of manufacturing relocation will take time. The transformation cannot happen overnight.
Nevertheless, companies such as Bloom are demonstrating how technology can help address some of the industry's most persistent problems.
By making manufacturing resources easier to discover and access, digital platforms can give smaller businesses opportunities that were once available primarily to large corporations.
What This Means for Entrepreneurs and the Future of Work
The evolution of American manufacturing offers important lessons for entrepreneurs, business owners, and professionals.
First, significant business opportunities often emerge from problems that established industries have learned to accept as normal.
Kosmides did not start Bloom because he wanted to build another technology platform. He identified a real problem while trying to manufacture his own product and developed a business around solving it.
Second, artificial intelligence is becoming an increasingly practical business tool. Its value is no longer limited to software development or customer service. AI is also transforming procurement, logistics, supplier discovery, and industrial operations.
Finally, the future of manufacturing will depend on collaboration between technology companies, traditional manufacturers, startups, and skilled professionals.
As supply chains evolve, businesses will need people who understand both technology and industrial operations. Expertise in procurement, engineering, logistics, data analysis, production management, and supply chain strategy will remain essential.
The next generation of manufacturing businesses may not simply be built around factories. They may be built around the intelligent systems that connect factories, suppliers, workers, and entrepreneurs.
For the American manufacturing industry, that shift could represent an important step toward a more accessible, flexible, and competitive future.
Are American Voters Really This Gloomy About the Economy?
By many official measures, the U.S. economy looks solid heading into the midterms. GDP growth is holding up, unemployment remains low, business investment is strong, and consumer spending continues. Yet voter sentiment is sour, and that gloom is shaping the political outlook.
Polling shows Republicans facing a tough environment on November 3. A large share of that difficulty traces back to how people feel about the economy. A Pew Research survey from early October found 84% of registered voters ranked the economy as very important to their vote—the least polarizing issue on the list, with strong majorities of both Republicans and Democrats agreeing.
Consumer sentiment, tracked by the University of Michigan index, has lagged for years and is now about 10% lower than a year ago. This gap between headline numbers and public mood has fueled a running debate: Is it just “vibes,” or are the usual metrics missing something real about how Americans experience the economy?
Strong Data, Weak Feelings
Inflation is the most common explanation for the disconnect. It remains above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, pushed by factors including tariffs, energy prices, and heavy investment in artificial intelligence. But inflation has fallen sharply from its recent peak of 9.1% in June 2022 to 3.7% in September 2026. Consumer sentiment is lower now than it was at that peak.
Real wages tell a similar mixed story. Inflation-adjusted pay rose between 2022 and the first half of 2026 even as sentiment stayed weak. More recently, those real wages have started to fall—a shift that may be darkening the outlook further.
The bigger issue may be distribution. Income inequality has widened over the past two decades, with only temporary narrowing during the 2008 and 2020 crises. The top 10% of households now account for roughly half of consumer spending. Spending by the bottom 80% has lagged inflation. Official totals for consumer spending therefore reflect the experience of the wealthy more than that of typical households.
Wealth gaps are even starker. The top 0.1% of American households hold about five times as much wealth as the bottom 50%. Stock-market gains and the tax treatment of wealth have concentrated those gains at the top.
It’s Not Just Personal Finances
Standard economic surveys assume people answer based mainly on their own circumstances. Growing research suggests many also weigh the broader picture—what social scientists call “sociotropic” concerns. Voters often judge the economy by how they think it is working for the country as a whole, including questions of fairness, opportunity, and whether the gains are widely shared.
Trade policy offers a clear parallel. Americans’ views on tariffs or trade deals tend to track beliefs about national effects more than immediate personal impact. Something similar may be happening with overall economic sentiment. People are assessing not only their own budgets but the kind of economy they see taking shape.
What It Means for Politics
Voters usually reward the party in power when the economy feels strong and punish it when it does not. The judgment is not mechanical. The past several years show that improving aggregate numbers without addressing lived experience and concerns about inequality may not be enough.
This election is shaping up as a referendum on whether the current expansion is delivering for ordinary Americans. Whatever the final results, the next Congress will face pressure to respond to that sense of economic insecurity. The gap between strong official data and persistent public unease is no longer just an academic puzzle—it is a political reality.
Skilled Trades Deserve the Same Respect as University Degrees
Would you be just as proud to tell someone that your child has become an electrician as you would be to say they have graduated with a business degree?
It’s an interesting question, and one that says a lot about how society views career success.
For decades, young people have been encouraged to believe that going to university is the safest route to a successful future. Academic qualifications have often been treated as the gold standard, while careers in construction, electrical work, plumbing, welding, and other skilled trades have received far less recognition.
But the reality is changing, and perhaps it's time our attitudes caught up.
Skilled tradespeople are the people who build our homes, maintain our infrastructure, power our businesses, and keep essential services running. Without them, many of the systems we depend on every day simply wouldn't function.
Yet despite their importance, these professions are still too often viewed as second-choice careers.
The Growing Demand for Skilled Workers
Across many industries, employers are struggling to find people with the practical skills needed to keep projects moving. Construction, infrastructure development, energy, manufacturing, and technology-related industries all depend on a reliable supply of qualified tradespeople.
The challenge isn't simply a shortage of workers. It's a mismatch between the skills employers need and the skills available in the labour market.
In other words, opportunities are waiting to be filled, but not always enough people with the right training and experience to fill them.
This problem becomes even more serious when fewer young people consider technical and vocational careers as their first choice.
At the same time, artificial intelligence is changing the employment landscape. Many traditional office-based roles are evolving, while jobs requiring physical skills, technical knowledge, problem-solving, and hands-on expertise remain difficult to automate.
This makes skilled trades an increasingly attractive career option for the next generation.
Employers Must Become Part of the Solution
One of the biggest mistakes employers can make is expecting every new recruit to arrive fully trained and ready to work.
Experience is valuable, but employers also need to recognise the potential in people who are just starting out.
Instead of competing endlessly for a limited number of experienced workers, businesses should invest more in apprenticeships, entry-level positions, mentoring, and workplace training.
An apprentice or junior employee may not have all the skills required on day one, but with the right guidance and investment, they can become a highly capable professional.
This approach benefits everyone.
Young people gain access to meaningful employment and practical experience. Employers develop their own future workforce. Industries become less dependent on an increasingly limited pool of experienced workers.
Training the next generation shouldn't be seen simply as an expense. It is an investment in the future of the business.
Skilled Trades Can Offer Real Career Progression
Another misconception is that working in a trade means limited opportunities for advancement.
In reality, skilled trades can offer a clear path from entry-level employment to highly paid specialist positions, management roles, contracting, and even business ownership.
Someone who begins as an electrician's assistant, construction labourer, or plumbing apprentice can gradually develop specialist expertise, earn professional qualifications, and take on greater responsibility.
With experience, determination, and the right opportunities, that individual could eventually run a team, manage major projects, or establish their own company.
These are not dead-end jobs. They are careers with genuine potential.
And importantly, they offer something that is becoming increasingly valuable: practical skills that can be applied in the real world.
We Need to Change How We Define Success
Perhaps the biggest challenge isn't finding enough people willing to work in skilled trades. It's changing the way we talk about these careers.
For too long, young people have been given the impression that university is the natural next step after school, while vocational training is somehow a lesser alternative.
That mindset needs to change.
University is an excellent choice for many people, but it isn't the only route to financial security, professional achievement, or personal fulfilment.
A successful electrician, engineer, plumber, welder, or construction professional deserves just as much recognition as someone working in finance, business, or law.
We should be encouraging young people to explore all their options, understand the opportunities available, and choose a career that matches their abilities, interests, and ambitions.
Not everyone needs a university degree. But everyone deserves access to a career with a future.
The Future Needs Skilled Hands as Much as Skilled Minds
Technology will continue to transform the way we live and work. Artificial intelligence will change industries, automate certain tasks, and create new opportunities.
But buildings will still need to be constructed. Electrical systems will still need to be installed and maintained. Infrastructure will still need to be repaired, upgraded, and expanded.
Behind every major development, there will be people with the practical knowledge and technical expertise to make it happen.
The question is whether we are doing enough to attract, train, and retain those people.
If businesses want a stronger workforce, they must invest in developing talent. If governments want sustainable economic growth, vocational education and apprenticeships must be taken seriously. And if society wants the next generation to make informed career choices, it must stop treating skilled trades as a second-best option.
It's time to recognise that success isn't measured by whether someone wears a suit and works in an office or puts on a hard hat and works on a construction site. It's measured by the skills they develop, the contribution they make, and the future they build.
And perhaps the next time someone proudly announces that their child has become an electrician, we should celebrate that achievement just as enthusiastically as any university graduation.
Why Knowing Too Much Makes You Worse at Persuading People
Here's a frustrating truth: the more you understand an issue and the more convinced you are of the solution, the worse you often become at convincing anyone else.
Behavioral economists and neuroscientists have spent decades documenting why. It's called the *curse of knowledge*—and it means your expertise has fundamentally altered how you imagine other people experience the world. It hits hardest when you're the well-informed expert in the room.
How the curse sneaks up on you
You've spent weeks developing a proposal to solve a complex problem. By the time you present it to decision-makers, you're completely convinced of the way forward—and completely blind to how your proposal sounds to someone hearing it for the first time.
That explains a baffling experience we've all had: presenting what feels like an obvious, airtight case for an idea, only to watch it hit a brick wall. From your perspective, everything is clear, logical, and persuasive.
It gets worse. Once you've invested in a solution—*your* solution—pride of ownership deepens your commitment. When stakeholders raise tough questions, you think: *They must not be listening. They must be resistant to change.* It never occurs to you that you've failed to build a bridge from their knowledge to yours, because you can't see the gap.
The antidote: questions first, pitches second
The way out is to abandon the idea that persuasion is primarily about advocating a solution. Masterful persuasion starts with *problem definition, not solution definition.*
That's a hard perspective to accept. You want to solve problems quickly and efficiently. And who can resist the ego rewards of ownership and recognition for being clever? But problem-centric persuasion offers a different reward: meaningful collaboration on genuinely thorny problems. It demands more curiosity and engagement up front—and less expertise and advocacy.
Truly effective persuasion begins with curiosity, not certainty. With questions, not answers. At some point later in the process, you'll absolutely make a pitch and advocate for a specific solution—but only after you've gathered intelligence and built a rich understanding of the problem through others. The sequence matters profoundly.
Not surprisingly, leaders who are masterful at persuasion are instinctually curious. Before they try to change your mind, they work to understand it. They ask about your concerns, priorities, constraints, resources, and values. And underneath that curiosity is the capacity to listen.
Three takeaways
1. **Don't go solo.** Resist the temptation to research the problem alone. Make it collaborative from the start—engage both decision-makers and implementers.
2. **Formulate questions before your pitch.** Go deep: What do I need to understand about this person's situation, preferences, values, identity, resources, and constraints? Then go ask them.
3. **Embrace the "setback."** The discovery process will sometimes feel like a step backward—your original perspective just became irrelevant. That's progress. You've avoided wasting your persuasive capital on an argument that would have fallen flat, and you've done the reconnaissance needed to craft a solution people will actually support.
That's the paradox at the heart of persuasion: the fastest path to changing someone's mind is to first spend time truly understanding it.