The manufacturing industry is facing many challenges. Some of the current threats have been created by external forces, but some of them are monsters we (the industry) have created ourselves. And most of these threats are nothing more, or less, than attitudes.

Some of our governments' attitudes have led to the current weakened state of our manufacturing industry. Although most have changed their tune recently, big damage was done in the years leading up to the current crisis. Employers often carry the cost of their employees' healthcare, and manufacturers in many jurisdictions carry a disproportionate share of many other public costs (including public education in my home area, the province of Ontario). The laws in some of our jurisdictions are what many would describe as "pro-labor", "pro-environment", and now so "pro-safety" that it leaves many business owners shaking their heads asking "do they think that I don't care about my employees, or the environment, or safety?" The assumption is that without the government's enforcement, employers aren't interested in doing the right things. This attitude has to change, if there is to be a manufacturing industry in North America in ten years. Our society owes its economic wellbeing to our historic manufacturing sector, it doesn't need to be protected from it.

Labor needs to change its attitude too. Healthy manufacturers, that make a profit and that reinvest willingly, provide more meaningful jobs, and more secure jobs, than manufacturers that need artificial stimulants to do so. Companies with healthy relationships with their workforce are the ones that adapt more quickly (and more naturally, with less need of incentives) than companies with structured and more rigid relationships. The more adaptive companies are the more proactive ones, and the proactive ones are the ones that I'd be more comfortable betting my family's future income on. All too often it's the things that are negotiated into a contract to protect the employees and give them job security that are the things that impair a factory's ability to compete, which in turn erodes its viability and contributes to its closure. This attitude needs to change, if we are to keep more facilities viable in North America. The company is the creator and provider of the jobs; they are not the enemy.

Companies need to change their attitudes too. Too many companies have placed too much control in the hands of the purchasing department. The engineering department is usually responsible for creating the product that differentiates the company from its competitors, and sometimes for the company's formation in the first place. And the sales and marketing departments are responsible for the company's brand acceptance, and for the relationship with the group that matters the most; the customers. Yet despite this, the purchasing department often has power completely disproportionate to its real importance in the organization. If cost truly is king (and not a product, or innovation, or customer satisfaction, or anything else), then it becomes a race to the bottom - when nothing has "value" except cost. With this attitude, we all lose eventually. (Some faster than others, but we will all lose.)

Yes, these are challenging times, with many things outside of our control; the economy in general, the exchange rate of difference currencies, consumer confidence, the cost of energy etc. etc.. If we want to, none of us will have any difficulty finding a reason beyond our control to explain a failure. The government can point to its prime culprits, the economic crisis or other levels of government; labor will point to bad companies or bad government policies, or both; companies will point to foreign competition, or unfair government policies, or shareholder expectations. But the bottom line is, there is no future for anyone by hanging on to these excuses.

If we are to have a healthy manufacturing industry in 10 years time, it will be as simple as, or as difficult as, changing our attitudes.