Manufacturing Happy Hour

248: Reindustrialization and Building in the Midwest with Chris Nolte, Co-Founder of Bloom


Listen Later

The reindustrialization movement is fully underway, and cities like Detroit are leading the charge. But how do we accelerate the timescale it takes to get America back to the ‘golden days’ of manufacturing?

The key, as you’ll hear in this episode, isn’t to keep looking back at the past. It’s to use the tools and resources we have today with a healthy dose of industry collaboration.

Joining this episode is Chris Nolte, Co-Founder of Bloom, an operations-as-a-service platform created in Detroit to help companies build, ship, and service products through a vetted network of service partners. You’ll hear a bit about Chris’ unique story as an Iraq war veteran who originally started in the business of selling electric bikes. But he noticed, as we all saw during COVID, that global supply chains are more delicate than we imagined. And that’s why reshoring and reindustrialization in the US is gaining more traction.

Chris shares his thoughts on how the US can accelerate manufacturing by saying “yes” more often, taking advantage of new technology, and collaborating across industries. You’ll also hear about how Detroit’s industrial background is making a comeback and even drawing in talent from the coasts to bolster American manufacturing.

In this episode, find out:

  • A little history lesson of Detroit and how reindustrialization has revitalized the area
  • How COVID changed the public’s perception of global supply chains and the need for a stronger industry in the US
  • Why Chris co-founded Bloom to help fill in some of the gaps needed for US manufacturers to thrive
  • Chris’ take on how “custom at scale” can become more feasible in the US
  • How Chris went from serving in the military to starting an e-bike company before starting Bloom
  • What’s holding back the US from becoming a manufacturing powerhouse like it was in the past
  • What the US can learn from China’s approach to manufacturing and why the US needs to say “yes” more
  • The culture change that’s needed and why the next generation of workers is key to making that happen
  • Why we need to be open-minded and stop looking back at the past if we want to accelerate reindustrialization
  • The secrets behind Detroit’s resurgence in manufacturing and why the Midwest needs to shout out about its successes 

Enjoying the show? Please leave us a review here. Even one sentence helps. It’s feedback from Manufacturing All-Stars like you that keeps us going! 

Tweetable Quotes:

  • “It's amazing that we're doing electric vehicles and solar panels and all these sorts of things, but if we're not making that stuff here, we're really missing the boat. We're missing so much of an opportunity.”
  • “Don't get caught up in the past because the ingredients are very different today.”
  • “Try to be open-minded because it's a very different world today and what we couldn't do yesterday, we potentially can do today and tomorrow because we have different resources.”

Links & mentions:

  • Bloom, an operations-as-a-service platform for hard tech innovators
  • Newlab Detroit, a hub with state-of-the-art prototyping equipment, work spaces, and specially pitted pilot sites
  • Episode 237 with Dr. John Liu of MIT, Manufacturing Happy Hour episode on how higher education is shaping the future of manufacturing
  • Future in the Making, Chris’ YouTube channel
  • Reindustrialize, a conference produced by Designing America that took place in July 2025 

Make sure to visit http://manufacturinghappyhour.com for detailed show notes and a full list of resources mentioned in this episode. Stay Innovative, Stay Thirsty.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Manufacturing Happy HourBy Chris Luecke

  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9

4.9

102 ratings


More shows like Manufacturing Happy Hour

View all
Economist Podcasts by The Economist

Economist Podcasts

4,217 Listeners

WSJ What’s News by The Wall Street Journal

WSJ What’s News

4,322 Listeners

HBR IdeaCast by Harvard Business Review

HBR IdeaCast

1,868 Listeners

War on the Rocks by Ryan Evans

War on the Rocks

1,081 Listeners

Acquired by Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal

Acquired

4,169 Listeners

Odd Lots by Bloomberg

Odd Lots

1,900 Listeners

Jocko Podcast by Jocko DEFCOR Network

Jocko Podcast

30,749 Listeners

Founders by David Senra

Founders

1,941 Listeners

Advanced Manufacturing Now by SME Media

Advanced Manufacturing Now

21 Listeners

My First Million by Hubspot Media

My First Million

2,640 Listeners

All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg by All-In Podcast, LLC

All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg

9,249 Listeners

Dwarkesh Podcast by Dwarkesh Patel

Dwarkesh Podcast

424 Listeners

The Manufacturing Executive by Joe Sullivan

The Manufacturing Executive

147 Listeners

Manufacturing Hub by Vlad Romanov & Dave Griffith

Manufacturing Hub

20 Listeners

BG2Pod with Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley by BG2Pod

BG2Pod with Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley

463 Listeners