October 7, 2012

Made in America

Every day Made in America seems to be going farther down the path of the Dodo bird that was driven to extinction in 1681 by man's unintended consequences. All across the country store shelves are stocked with Made in China (or India, Honduras, etc.) products, a disappointment to many of us Americans.

But there is another side to this story that should give us hope. Here is an example:

Our family owned and operated small business, founded in 1992, designs, manufactures, and sells PC-based video microscopy equipment. Our patented products are installed in 17 countries.

When I was setting up distributors in Japan, Europe, Australia, and India, I asked principles in each of the companies if they thought it would be to their advantage to purchase the parts from us, assemble the products in their home country, and sell the products under their own brand. In every case I got the same response — "no, our customers want American products".

It seems that, when it comes to purchasing mission-critical laboratory equipment, many in the world still respect American ingenuity, product quality, and production capability.

Perhaps we should focus our educational resources more on science-based curricula that will inspire the curiosity that grows the intellectual capacity needed to restore our Nation's world-class design and manufacturing base.

Perhaps we should ask our children to put down those cell phones and video games and encourage them to use Leggo's to build real-world things from their imaginations.

Historically, America has been the bright star in a darkening world because of our talents and perseverance. Our ancestors brought the best the world had to offer to our shores and those people fulfilled their promise to be productive citizens and built this wonderful nation. We owe it to the generations before and after us to carry on that great tradition.

After all, many in this world still see America as the bright star that we still are.

Rex A. Hoover
Sumerduck