Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has attracted a lot of attention with its latest “Made in the USA” push, and that's been by design. TV ads that highlight the plan, with scenes from manufacturing plants — full of workers, by the way, and not robots — are cool.
Pundits have given Wal-Mart a hard time about the soundtrack — “Working Man,” by Rush. Really, they picked a Canadian group for a “Made in the USA” commercial. But no worries, it's all good. Americans tend to use “U.S.” and “North American” almost interchangeably, except when they're talking about immigration issues and border security.
But for the “Made in USA” campaign to have any real impact, it can't just be about TV commercials. Wal-Mart actually has to buy U.S.-made products.
Not just products from U.S. companies, because we all know that after the rush to offshore of the last decade, a lot of the products that we buy may have familiar brand names, but the factories where they've been made are half a world away.
Last month Wal-Mart hosted its first Made In the USA open call, inviting would-be suppliers to meet with the retailer's buyers in Bentonville, Ark.
Michelle Gloeckler, the retailer's executive vice president of consumables and U.S. manufacturing, told reporters that Wal-Mart wants to increase the U.S. items it already buys. It also supports re-shoring of goods that it currently purchases, and it wants to source products from new domestic suppliers.
Which sounds like a great opportunity.
U.S. manufacturing is becoming more competitive internationally, she said, thanks to automation and lower energy prices.
