Rick Weddle: Welcome to “Site Selection Matters” where we take a close look at the art and science of site selection decision-making. I’m your host, Rick Weddle, president of the Site Selectors Guild. In each episode, we introduce you to leaders in the world of corporate site selection and economic development. We speak with members of the Site Selectors Guild, our economic development partners, and corporate decision-makers to provide you with deep insight into the best and next practices in our profession. In this episode, we have as our guest, Von Hatley, managing director with Jones Walker Consulting, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Jones Walker law firm, headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, with offices across the United States. Today, Von will talk with us about advanced manufacturing and more specifically, how regions and communities can improve their competitive position by optimizing their advanced manufacturing capabilities. Join me as we welcome Von Hatley to “Site Selection Matters.” Von, we hear a lot about advanced manufacturing today. Take a minute or two if you will, to define exactly what advanced manufacturing is, and should mean for our listeners.

Von Hatley: So, first, thanks Rick for inviting me on the call today. The classical definition of advanced manufacturing is the use of innovative technology to improve products or processes. You see advanced manufacturing in many industries, but it really was born out of the research and development that came with the automotive and the aerospace industry, in addition to defense. What it means though is it’s the process to create new materials or change the molecular structure of feedstock. But it also means several different things to several different companies. Some of the newest things we see in manufacturing today is the use of 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, in addition to mechatronics, which is where people are integrating robotics softwares and electrical and mechanical systems to control and produce new products from there.

Rick: So, Von, is there really any manufacturing today that isn’t advanced or isn’t working to be advanced?

Von: Well, I think the answer is, is you really have two types of manufacturing today. One is advanced manufacturing and the other one is the manufacturers that are going out of business. At the end of the day, you can take something as simple as a toothpick. It’s made by a tree and turns into a small thing that you can hold in your hand that can be shrink-wrapped, all without the use of human hands to touch the product. And so, at the end of the day, I think that all manufacturers are working to advance their ability to produce their products and services, and then that they all wind up becoming advanced manufacturers over time.

Rick: So, it’s really just that use of that innovation, that new technology, these advanced platforms to be relevant and timely and correct in this current environment. So, out with the old and in with the new, so we say. Hey, Von, let’s unpack this whole answer a bit if we can. Talk a little bit more about advanced manufacturing, specifically the supply chains, and maybe how these supply chains can be optimized at the regional or other levels to support new investment and new job growth.

Von: Sure. Well, let’s first talk about what a company is doing to advance their supply chain. We’ve seen this only with the transportation, with the Toyota Production System in the 1970s and early ’80s into just in time manufacturing. And what that has evolved into over the last 40 year