The latest gadget or tech toy may get splashy headlines in the news, particularly around the holidays, but it's the goods that are lovingly handcrafted that remain in our memories and are passed down from generation to generation.

In this episode, host Scott Paul speaks with the owners of two companies featured in the Alliance for American Manufacturing's 2018 Made in America Holiday Gift Guide, holiday ornament maker Hampshire Pewter, based in Somersworth, N.H., and wooden block maker Uncle Goose, based in Grand Rapids, Mich., to discuss how they came to master their crafts and how they've adapted decades-old production processes for today.

* Photo courtesy of Hampshire Pewter

With nearly 100 great options on the Alliance for American Manufacturing's 2018 Holiday Gift Guide, there's a present for everyone on your list! Nonetheless, we thought we'd make this hectic shopping season even easier by highlighting top gift picks from Team AAM and some very special guests to the podcast.

America has lost 3.4 million jobs in the U.S. since 2001, contributing to ever-widening income inequality, according to a recent Economic Policy Institute (EPI) report. Robert E. Scott, EPI's Senior Economist and Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Research, returns to The Manufacturing Report to discuss the study and what the government can do to help.

* Photo courtesy of U.S. Department of Energy

Alice Globus began her career in astrophysics, then went on to work on Wall Street, and now leads Winky&Dutch, a jewelry and accessories manufacturing company in upstate New York. In this episode, find out what brought Globus to the factory and how she has reinvented the button.

*Photo courtesy of Winky&Dutch

President Donald Trump made revising the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) a key campaign promise, but has he fulfilled it with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)? In this episode, host Scott Paul and the Alliance for American Manufacturing's Scott Boos discuss who will benefit from the USMCA and what happens next for the trade deal.

* Photo courtesy of The White House

Trade talks are still underway in D.C. and the halls of power around the world, but The Public Theater is bringing manufacturing and trade debates to the people most impacted by trade action -- the communities of industrial America. 

On Sept. 24, New York City's Public Theater launches its fall tour of the award-winning play "Sweat" through industrial cities of the Midwest and other locations to prompt local discussion ahead of the mid-term elections.

In this episode, host Scott Paul, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage and one of the inspirations of her work, Dean Showers, discuss the true story behind Nottage's award-winning play, "Sweat".

Learn more about the tour here: https://www.publictheater.org/Programs--Events/Mobile-National/.

*Photo courtesy of The Public Theater. | Joan Marcus

The pace of innovation seemingly accelerates every day. Even in Traverse City, Mich., where manufacturers are accustomed to serving on the vanguard of technology, factories are constantly reconfiguring to continue their digital transformation.

In this episode, Part II of our Traverse City, Mich., roundtable, manufacturers discuss how they stay ahead of the technology curve and the role of automation in the factory of the future.

The factory of the future is becoming the factory of today, but how can manufacturers share this innovation with their local communities, particularly when it comes to recruiting workers?

Visiting Skilled Manufacturing, Inc.'s Aerospace Division in Traverse City, Mich., host Scott Paul speaks with some of the leading manufacturers of Traverse, including the CEOs of Skilled Manufacturing, Kalkaska Screw & Chair, and Promethient, Inc. , and the principal owner of RJG, Inc. to explore the current state of manufacturing and how these manufacturers approach community outreach.

Losing the steady paychecks that factory jobs provide can decimate a community, with ripple effects hitting nearly every corner of town. Unfortunately, many former manufacturing centers, like much of rural America, are grappling with an opioid crisis as community members face uncertain futures.

But there's hope.

In this episode, host Scott Paul and Beth Macy, award-winning journalist and author of "Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America" and "Factory Man," discuss the drug epidemic sweeping America and what we can do to help.

Plenty has been written about industrial communities and the "flyover states," but the portrayal of these communities too often reduces to stereotypes. According to Georgetown University English Professor Sherry Lee Linkon, author of "The Half-Life of Deindustrialization", the most accurate portraits of the working class can be found in fiction. In this episode, host Scott Paul and Linkon explore the role of fiction in reclaiming the voice and power of industrial communities.