Close your eyes for a moment and think about the word manufacturing. What image came to mind? Did you think of smokestacks? You’re not alone. Valid or not, many people equate manufacturing with pollution. Indeed, the phrase smokestack industry is often synonymous with manufacturing as a whole, even if a steel mill and, say, a medical device assembly plant are polar opposites.
That’s unfortunate. For one, it doesn’t help efforts to get young people interested in manufacturing careers. More importantly, U.S. manufacturers have cleaned up their act considerably. Despite claims to the contrary, they did not offshore their most environmentally harmful industries to countries with lax pollution laws.