Made in America

We are in Jackson Center, Ohio. This is the home of the Airstream manufacturing plant. Airstream is owned by Thor industries. Thor's first acquisition was Airstream. It took a struggling company, returned it to profitability and used those profits to expand into ambulance and bus manufacturing (see: http://www.thorindustries.com/home/). While Airstream has suffered due to the recent economic downturn, orders are up and previously layed off workers are being re-hired. Orders for new Airstreams are up and production is increasing.

On our way to Jackson, we passed a newly built plant of mammoth proportions where Honda builds motors for cars sold in the U.S. It must employ thousands. The county and state promotional literature detail hundreds of  manufacturing businesses that are succeeding in this state.

At a seminar relating to technical aspects of the axles, wheels and brakes on these remarkable trailers we listened to a representative from Dexter Axle Company (http://www.dexteraxle.com/about_dexter__). Dexter makes the axles, wheels and brakes used on all of the Airstream trailers as well as many other trailer manufacturers in this country. They make almost all of the components that go into their products (they don't have their own casting facility to make the drums).

So, while politicians make claims that America has lost its ability to make anything anymore, that is not true. Yes, we have outsourced a lot of jobs to China. The truth is we still make durable goods of the highest quality in this country. In this one small corner of Ohio, companies are making precision lathes, plastics and many other durable products. Bumper stickers in this town remind people to buy American whenever possible, and the outlook is positive for American made goods and jobs.

Here is Airstream's main manufacturing building in Jackson Center, Ohio:

New trailers coming off the line:

Dexter axle and wheel assemblies waiting to be installed. Alumapalooza rally attendees in the background.

Made for NASA, an isolation unit for astronauts returning form space (turns out there was nothing to worry about)

One of the seminars today dealt with the characteristics of differing tow vehicles and trailers. This video pretty much sums it up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqWHSsHcxRU  We have experienced the superior towing characteristics of this wonderful American icon.
Stay tuned for more pictures from Alumapalooza