Walmart Announces Initiative To Address Manufacturing Growth
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
10-point plan aims to create 1.5 million American jobs and reclaim $300 billion in production.
Walmart has released its “Policy Roadmap to Renew U.S. Manufacturing,” which outlines 10 policy initiatives aimed at addressing the four major barriers the company sees holding back American manufacturing growth: workforce, coordination and financing, regulation, and tax and trade, according to a company press release.
“As we’ve worked over the last four years alongside our suppliers toward our goal to source an additional $250 billion in products that support American jobs, we’ve learned a great deal about the challenges our suppliers face in domestic manufacturing,” said Cindi Marsiglio, Walmart vice president for U.S. Sourcing and Manufacturing. “The good news is we’ve also learned how to overcome the challenges and, because of our experience, Walmart is uniquely positioned to help facilitate broad engagement in accelerating the expansion of U.S. manufacturing.”
Marsiglio, presented the 10-point plan to a mix of public and private-sector groups in Washington D.C., which included members of NGOs and think tanks, as well as Congressman Tom Reed (R-NY), who co-chairs the House Manufacturing Caucus.
Walmart worked with The Boston Consulting Group on the plan, which aims to recapture $300 billion in production of consumer goods and create 1.5 million American jobs, with roughly 250,000 of those being direct manufacturing jobs, Marsiglio told Retail Dive. The policy roadmap is part of Walmart’s 10-year commitment, which started in 2013, to source an additional $250 billion in products that support American jobs.
At Walmart’s fourth annual Open Call for U.S. products on June, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon signaled the company’s intention to pursue policy proposals that help create a favorable climate for job creation. He stated, “We are also committed to participating as a leader in the country when it comes to policy,” he said. “We believe that we should be one of the voices at the table and we want to help renew U.S. manufacturing and drive the creation of manufacturing jobs across the United States.”
The roadmap details 10 concrete policy actions that can be taken to address these barriers to manufacturing, and even identifies the appropriate entities, including federal, state, and local governments, manufacturers, and businesses, that must collaborate on those policy actions to affect meaningful change for the growth and job creation in domestic manufacturing of consumer goods.
“It’s important to note that there is no silver bullet that will solve the problem on its own. The barriers to domestic manufacturing are just too broad and too complex,” said Dustin Burke, a partner in BCG’s manufacturing practice. “The purpose of Walmart’s Policy Roadmap to Renew U.S. Manufacturing is to provide a framework for collaboration among key stakeholders and highlight 10 actionable policy levers that, taken together, can help strengthen U.S. manufacturing and significantly reduce long-term unemployment.”