Most regions have pockets of manufacturing strength. Very few have a manufacturing ecosystem. Matt Bogoshian has spent 15 years trying to change that.
In this episode of Manufacturing Happy Hour, host Chris Luecke sits down remotely with Matt Bogoshian, Executive Director of the American Manufacturing Communities Collaborative (AMCC) – the nation’s only designated National Manufacturing Community of Practice.
Matt brings the on-the-ground experience of someone who has spent years helping communities across the US turn good intentions into real, durable systems change.
Together they dig into the Big Six elements that every thriving regional manufacturing ecosystem needs, the five steps to creating lasting systems change, and why trust is the one precondition that has to come before everything else.
Matt also shares the story of ‘What’s So Cool About Manufacturing’, a program getting middle school students inside real factories and changing how the next generation sees manufacturing careers.
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3 Quick Things from this Episode
- Building a strong manufacturing ecosystem isn’t something any single organization can do alone. It requires workforce trainers, infrastructure developers, capital providers, and manufacturers all working from a shared framework. Without that coordination, even the best intentions stay fragmented and inconsistent.
- America has had the blueprint for manufacturing revival for over a decade. The challenge has never been knowing what to do, it’s been building consistent structures that can outlast political cycles and one-off funding programs. That’s the step most regional initiatives never quite reach.
- Getting the next generation excited about manufacturing starts earlier than most people think. Programs like ‘What’s So Cool About Manufacturing’ are putting middle school students inside real factories and letting them tell those stories through video. The interest that sparks can go all the way – from an associate’s degree to a PhD in manufacturing.
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Tweetable Quotes
- The American project is not going to thrive long term unless we have a strong cornerstone of manufacturing priority products.” – Matt Bogoshian
- “Trust is the coin of the realm. Having trusted relationships is really a precondition to everything else.” – Matt Bogoshian
- “There’s no ceiling on how high a kid could go in manufacturing.” – Matt Bogoshian
Please Scroll Down for Recommended Resources from this Episode
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What We Discuss with Matt Bogoshian
- What it takes to build a regional manufacturing ecosystem of support, and why it requires more than any single organization or initiative
- Why the ‘American project’ can’t succeed long-term without a strong base of manufacturing priority products, and what that means for every community in the US
- The five steps to creating lasting systems change: relationship building, storytelling, strategy, activation, and the critical step most initiatives never reach
- Why trust is the precondition for every other element of ecosystem building
- What the Big Six elements of a thriving manufacturing ecosystem are, and why most regions are underperforming in at least four of them
- How the Big Six framework helps diagnose where any region stands, and what coordination looks like when it’s working
- Why the gap between regions that thrive and those that don’t is rarely about resources, and what it’s really about
- How ‘What’s So Cool About Manufacturing’ is changing how young people see manufacturing careers, and why there’s no ceiling on where those careers can go
Recommended Resources
- American Manufacturing Communities Collaborative (AMCC), representing a coalition of nationwide communities with the shared goal of revitalizing American manufacturing
- The Buena Vista, opened in 1916, this corner spot in San Francisco serves its signature Irish coffee alongside American staples
Connect with Matt and AMCC
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