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We—manufacturers, government and the public—have failed dismally to capitalize on the opportunity to revamp supply chains and grow U.S. manufacturing.

Ready or not, those of us in manufacturing are (mostly) all back to work, coronavirus or not. It’s tough to make things via Zoom. While many office workers will be working from home for the foreseeable future, manufacturing personnel are back in the trenches. So, let’s talk about how to ensure that going to work doesn’t turn into a stop on the way to intensive care.

The impact of COVID-19 on this country didn’t need to be this bad. It shouldn’t have been this bad. But this is what happens when a country turns its back on manufacturing. America traded its independence for short-term corporate profits, and recovery is going to take much more than a few trillion dollars in federal emergency loans. A euthanized industrial base can’t magically be brought back to life.

John Glenn, the famous astronaut and politician, wrote about his history-making earth orbit flight, “As I hurtled through space, one thought kept crossing my mind: Every part of this rocket was supplied by the lowest bidder.” Today, we are all John Glenn.

The news about the 737 MAX has got me thinking about my own experience with the aerospace industry. There’s something cultural about the avionics and aerospace industries, the Defense Department and the FAA; they are impervious to ideas. The status quo cannot be unseated.

While manufacturers agree that the quality revolution that began in the 1980s is a good thing, quality does not seem to have improved as a result.