Ethan Karp

2 weeks ago | forbes.com | Ethan Karp

Manufacturing leaders know just how difficult it is to lift your head up from the day-to-day work of running a business to create a technology strategy and roadmap—and do truly innovative things. So, I’m encouraged by Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in Manufacturing list, which includes not only startups, but also long-standing firms who are innovating.

1 month ago | forbes.com | Ethan Karp

Since his inauguration, President Trump has signed 89 executive orders, 36 of them within the week he took office. For any industry, that’s a lot to sort through. For good reason, tariffs have been the focus for manufacturers, but they’re not the only executive orders that could influence the industry. In effort to gain a broader view of what’s been put on paper, below are four others that could make an impact.

1 month ago | forbes.com | Ethan Karp

Most people hear family business and think of the long-standing ice cream parlor on the corner or the mechanic whose first customers drove Model Ts.As it turns out, many of them are in manufacturing. In fact, of the manufacturers in America are small businesses and most of them are family owned. But it’s not always easy to keep it that way. Over the next 10 to 15 years, 125,000 family-owned manufacturers will transition ownership as the previous regime retires.

1 month ago | forbes.com | Ethan Karp

For decades, manufacturing was a loaded word—synonymous with decline, job losses, and factory closings. It was seen as a relic of the past, not an engine of the future. But today, that narrative has flipped: Manufacturing is America’s comeback story. And in these divided times, it may be the one thing we can all agree on. The Reality CheckManufacturing contributes $2.9 trillion to the U.S. economy, employs 13 million Americans, and leads all other sectors in R&D investment and patents.

2 months ago | forbes.com | Ethan Karp

The last few days were a wild ride for manufacturers. To briefly recap, on Saturday, President Trump signed his long-promised tariffs, establishing a 25 percent duty on goods imported from Mexico and Canada and a 10 percent duty on Chinese goods. It didn’t take long for our neighbors to the north and south to threaten their own retaliatory tariffs.