 |
|
|
|||||
Inside a new factory near Louisville, Kentucky, bright orange robots will soon begin carefully loading boot parts into a machine that adds soles. Its one step in the highly automated process of making a Keen work bootand an illustration of what it looks like now to bring factories back to the United States.[Photo: Keen]Keen, which is headquartered in Portland, Oregon, started planning the new factory last year, long before current tariffs were in place. And the company, unlike the majority of shoe brands, had already been manufacturing some shoes in Portland for more than a decade.The Portland factory is now closing as the company prepares to open the larger factory in Kentucky next month. When it first started operations in Oregon in 2010, the business world was skeptical. Many people told us that [making shoes] could not be done in the U.S., primarily because of some of the cost factors, says Hari Perumal, Keens chief supply chain officer.[Photo: Keen]The company wanted to be closer to its American market, so it looked for a solution. Labor was the biggest challenge. Footwear is a very labor-intensive product to make, Perumal says. And its 10 to 12 times more expensive to hire workers in the U.S. than in factories overseas, he says.[Image: Keen]The team focused on its high-end work boots, a product with strong demand for an American built label. They started by streamlining the process to add soles to the boots. In a traditional factory in Asia, adding soles would happen on a long production line. Instead, Keen turned to a process called direct injection fusing. The shoes upper is loaded into a machine where heated polyurethane is molded into an outsole, bonding it directly to the rest of the shoe without glue. Robots also prep materials. In the new Kentucky factory, robots will also handle steps like flash trimming of excess material.Even with advanced automation in place, its still more expensive to make shoes in the U.S. than in other countries. Keen plans to continue making many of its shoes elsewhere, including in a factory that the company owns in Thailand. But making boots in the U.S. has some obvious advantages, and the brand plans to continue growing the number of products it makes in Kentucky.[Photo: Keen]With a U.S. factory, Keen can more nimbly respond to demand from American customers if it needs to make more or less of a particular style. The carbon footprint of delivery is much lower, Perumal says. (Kentucky was chosen strategically since its within a two-day drive of 80% of the U.S. population; the company already had a distribution center next door to the new factory.) And customers have made it clear that they want American-made work boots. We have seen a huge surge in the request for American-built products, says Perumal.[Photo: Keen]Thats not to say that the rest of the footwear industry is necessarily likely to follow. Keen struggled to find and keep workers at its Portland factory, despite paying high wages. It also has to invest in training, since American workers no longer have experience making shoes. Because the company has to source components globallyand tariffs now apply to those partsthe cost of manufacturing in the U.S. is now growing even more. The company has pledged not to raise prices for consumers because of tariffs for the rest of the year, however.[Photo: Keen]To encourage more American shoe manufacturing, Perumal say the government could help by eliminating tariffs on components. We dont have a supply chain ecosystem, he says. All thats needed to make the shoes is outside the U.S. right now. It took 40 years to build this global supply chain.Even if more factories relocated to America, its not clear that there are enough workers whod take traditional shoe manufacturing jobs. If you have 4% unemployment in the U.S., are we going to find 20,000 or 40,000 people that want to work for shoe company wages here? he asks. Our economy has migrated more toward service.The new Kentucky factory will create jobs, but at a small scale: the factory is initially launching with a lean team of 24 skilled production and operations staff. Robots will do the rest.
Category:
E-Commerce
Remote work is going mobile. Starting today, the Florida-based high-speed rail service Brightline is launching a partnership with the shared workspace provider Industrious to turn parts of its stationsand even entire train carsinto coworking spaces. Industrious coworking spaces are now open in Brightline’s stations in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and Orlando, as well as a bookable train car for business meetings or private events on the move. “If people can work from anywhere, then anywhere can be a workplace,” says Jamie Hodari, cofounder and CEO of Industrious. “I think that’s something that’s been underdeveloped.” [Photo: courtesy Brightline] Brightline sees the addition of formal workspaces as a way to build on its high-speed connections between cities across Florida, giving riders more ability to use its network for both leisure and business travelsometimes simultaneously. “It’s a solution for modern professionals where we’re enhancing productivity through mobility,” says Megan Del Prior, Brightline’s vice president of corporate partnerships. “A lot of folks are riding for business. With our long-haul offering going from Miami to Orlando people are traveling during the workday and still need to work within the station spaces as well as on the trains,” she says. The coworking spaces are built in underutilized conference and meeting rooms inside Brightline’s stations, according to Del Prior. The bookable train cars available through the partnership have no special features, but do include Wi-Fi and charging ports like all Brightline train cars. [Photo: courtesy Brightline] Hodari says the idea for the partnership grew from Industrious’s previous experience building out workspaces in unconventional locations. In 2018, the company partnered with the outdoor apparel brand L.L. Bean to create a pop-up outdoor coworking space in New York City’s Madison Square Park. “The whole thing sold out within five minutes,” Hodari says. “It was such a sign that people are really curious about trying working and being productive in unfamiliar or new settings.” [Photo: courtesy Brightline] According to Hodari, the addition of coworking spaces to train stations is a recognition that people are already doing work in these spaces, either taking calls while waiting for their train or working on projects once their train is in motion. The experience of working like this, though, can be less than ideal. “Oftentimes it can be this really unpleasant, highly unproductive thing,” he says. “And it can be kind of painful for the people around you, where you’re talking loudly and you’re in your earphones and you’re unwittingly a nuisance.” Having dedicated spaces for meetings or focused work will enable people to make more of their travel time, Hodari says, noting, “You don’t stop being productive or engaging with your colleagues or other people because you’re in movement.
Category:
E-Commerce
If youve gone shopping for a home appliance sometime in the last 30 years, youve probably noticed a blue Energy Star label on certain water heaters, stoves, light bulbs, and even windows. The program, launched by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1992, helps consumers identify energy-efficient products. But now the Trump administration is planning to shut it down. President Donald Trump has been attacking energy-efficiency measures since his return to office. In February, he said he would call on the EPA to revert to older efficiency standards for light bulbs, toilets, showers, and more. In his Unleashing American Energy order, Trump promised to safeguard the American peoples freedom to choose from a variety of goods and appliances, including but not limited to lightbulbs, dishwashers, washing machines, gas stoves, water heaters, toilets, and shower heads. Experts say the Energy Star standards are meant to help the environment by reducing water and energy consumption; they also lower U.S. households energy bills. And though Trump has framed standards as limiting to consumer choice, the Energy Star program itself is voluntary, and doesnt narrow what manufacturers can produce. To earn the Energy Star label, products do have to meet certain efficiency standardsbut the program doesnt stop manufacturers from making items that are not considered energy efficient, or Americans from purchasing them. (Energy Star stopped recommending any gas stoves in 2022, for example, but gas stoves are still available in America.) Energy Star also points consumers toward tax credits to bring down the cost of efficient appliances. Energy Star certifies all sorts of items, from heating and cooling (including heat pumps, ceiling fans, air conditioners, and thermostats) to appliances (like washers and dryers, dehumidifiers, dishwashers, refrigerators, and cooking products), plus water heaters, lighting, windows, and personal electronics like computers and TVs. By certifying efficient appliances, Energy Star has helped American households and businesses avoid more than $500 billion in energy costs since its founding, per a 2023 report. With an annual budget of around $50 millionless than 1% of the EPAs spending, the Alliance to Save Energy notesEnergy Star saves Americans $40 billion on energy bills each year. Energy Star has also prevented about 4 billion metric tons of emissions from entering the atmosphereequivalent to taking more than 933 million gas cars off the road for one year. Trump considered dismantling Energy Star in his first term. His move to eliminate it now comes alongside plans to shutter the EPAs climate change division and climate protection partnership division, sources told CNN. Historically, Energy Star has had bipartisan support, and more than 1,000 companies, cities, and organizations have signed a letter to the EPA urging continued support for the program. Republican senators have even praised the program, The Washington Post notes, saying it helped customers reduce their energy bills. Energy efficiency in general has strong public and bipartisan support. A March 2025 survey by Consumer Reports found that 87% of Americans agree that new U.S. home appliances should need to achieve a minimum level of efficiency (that included 94% of Democrats and 82% of Republicans). Supporters of Energy Star add that axing the program goes against the Trump administrations promises to lower energy costs for Americans, as well as efforts by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency to save taxpayer money. If you wanted to raise families energy bills, getting rid of the Energy Star label would be a pretty good way, Steven Nadel, executive director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, said in a statement. This would take away basic information from consumers who want to choose cost-saving products easily. Theres a reason this program has been so popular with consumers and manufacturers alike. The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, which represents a variety of appliance makers, said the industry is proud of its efficiency achievements, and that Energy Star is an example of a successful private-public partnership. “AHAM supports the continuation of a streamlined Energy Star program, which could be managed through the Department of Energy,” a spokesperson added. (Energy Star is currently a joint program of the EPA and DOE.) “Moving the program to DOE would meet the administrations goals of preserving a full selection of products from which consumers can choose, and also reducing unnecessary regulatory burden.”
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||