Domestic Manufacturer Signifies Hope for Outsourcing Resistance
Despite government policies that practically force domestic companies to outsource, at least one company is determined to keep its operations and headquarters right here in the United States. And it’s doing very well.
Propelled by an advertising campaign distinguishing itself from typical outsourcers, MacNeil Automotive Products Ltd. has taken considerable steps to accentuate its “made in North America” policy – as a result the company is expanding its manufacturing operations and relocating its headquarters. MacNeil is currently headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois but will move its new headquarters to Bolingbrook, Illinois, where it already has a year-old manufacturing plant.
According to PlasticNews.com, Sam Ezzo, creative director at MacNeil Automotive, said in an Aug. 19 telephone interview that the company moved into the new 57,000 square foot facility in March 2009 after a rapid increase in orders. Even though that plant is barely a year old, MacNeil Automotive is already selling more products than it can produce in the new facility.
MacNeil Automotive has taken extraordinary efforts to stress David MacNeil’s belief in the importance of American manufacturing and has proven that American manufacturing can still be profitable. Americans want to buy American-made goods, but most of the time we’re not given the option. With so many products being made overseas and so few being made domestically, even the most patriotic of Americans find themselves buying goods made in China.
Companies like MacNeil Automotive are in short supply. The truth is, though admirable MacNeil’s efforts may be, they only employ 80 people. Following the current expansion the company will hire more people, but even then what sort of dent in national unemployment can we expect?
The importance of MacNeil Automotive stems not from the jobs it creates but from the principals it embodies: American workers can produce competitively, American consumers are willing to buy domestically and, given the success and customer satisfaction witnessed by MacNeil Automotive, this can all be done profitably. In a world where the promoters of globalization constantly admonish fair trade and claim that worldwide “free trade” is necessary and inevitable, MacNeil Automotive supplies a perfect counter-example to this line of thinking and inspires hope for the future of American manufacturing.















