Photo by Bill Hudson

Birmingham Alabama — Monday May 14th, 2012, Gonzeaux #7

It’s an image that was so arresting and shocking at the time that I’ve never forgotten it. It stained my memory like indigo on fine white linen, never to be washed out. I was nine years old. I’m talking about the sight, on national television, of black people being attacked by German Shepard’s in the Birmingham, Alabama race riots of 1963. The high-pressure water hoses were cruel, but the dogs, those vicious dogs, made my skin crawl, and it flipped a switch in my head. From that point forward I was a social progressive.

I’ve not ever visited Alabama. I’ve been to nearly every state in the USA, but never had a reason to come here, and if someone had suggested it, I probably would have found a reason not to go. My visit now is deliberate. It will be nearly 50 years since I saw those people fighting for their rights. This Gonzeaux trip has been about seeing what’s happening in the states with regard to innovation, so, I elected to visit Alabama and see what’s going on now, it’s only fair.

Innovation is not just about invention and corporate profit is it? Innovation is fundamentally about change, improvement, and doing things differently for the benefit of all. Social innovation is perhaps the most challenging innovation of all. Fighting for civil rights was a tough business in 1963. It meant beatings, humiliation, even death. Make no mistake, those courageous black people on the streets in Birmingham were innovators of the first order.

What questions would those courageous people have for the experts and corporate change mavens attending the Front End of Innovation in 2012? Would their questions be about opportunity to play? Or would they focus on simple social dignity — has that been achieved in the corporate world?

Birmingham today seems like a bit of a shell city. There was a new music festival happening downtown but to be honest, other than the people watching, I couldn’t relate. Twenty minutes of a screaming white rapper were all I could handle. So, I visited the park where the race incidents occurred, and, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. The fact that the museum exists at all is a testimony to how far Alabama has come. The museum presented more images I won’t soon be able to forget. Side by side water fountains, one cooled, one a passive tap, one for whites, the other for colored. Didn’t know the Birmingham police had tanks, yes tanks, in their arsenal to maintain segregation. Growing up in the north this divide was not nearly so well defined, although I do recall blacks dutifully going to the back of the bus in Cincinnati. I’m not saying us northerners were holier than thou, clearly, we were not. We had our color line as well.

In the park across the street, where the incidents happened, there were two sculptures that featured the attack dogs. Both sent shivers up my spine.

I have no idea what’s going on in Alabama with regard to business or science innovation. The days when NASA had a big presence here are over. Modern day entrepreneurs here could do worse than to model the success of the late businessman A.G. Gaston. I hope to do another post on him later. I will say that the first order of business has now been taken care of — racism may still exist, but overt discrimination is over. To put it simply, folks here have a fighting chance for their share of the American dream. I’d hope that Alabama will present the USA and the world with another image, one for the future, an image of innovation, that will bring a smile to our faces. Happy to post it here first!

Onto Georgia.

Nashville, Tennessee — Saturday May 12, Gonzeaux #6

Nashville is throwing the recession out of town. The building boom cut short by the downturn seems to be back in full swing here. A huge new convention centre is going up, downtown residences, and an extension to the already way cool Country Music Hall of Fame is nearly done. Good stuff, but for me, beside the point — not Gonzeaux Innovation material.

The innovation story here has more do do with persistence of effort and entrepreneur’s who simply don’t stop until they make something happen — persistence personifies Nashville innovation — two cases in point:

1. Snappy Auctions: Debbie Gordon had a fairly brilliant idea a few years back to help people sell their stuff on E-bay. She made a success of a single shop where people drop off their stuff, using her enormous personal energy and skill. The chain of franchise stores that came later did not do so well –the market shifted; e-Bay made it easer to do single items, more people had internet connections, and franchise owners found it challenging to bring in enough transactions. So, Debbie did what good entrepreneurs do, she tried something else. She’s currently heading up a firm, S3 Consulting, that takes used medical equipment and re-sells it for universities — a great niche business. Persistence matters.

2. Mercury Intermedia: When you think of Nashville, the first thought is country music right? If you had to predict where the dominant provider of mobile apps for big players like the New York Times, TED, Fox News, CBS, and Showtime (partial list) you’d guess the silicon valley, I know I would. No, Mercury, based in Nashville, quietly dominates this high tech niche. The leader of Mercury is a visionary, Bill Tallent, and he’s had an extraordinary career moving from Genesco to Telco Research, and then a series of small businesses. How Mercury got into mobile apps is a story of simply responding to customer needs; Tallent started by doing pop-up ads. Now they own the space. It’s another entrepreneurial persistence story.

Both of these stories also illustrate it doesn’t matter where you are — you can innovate, you can disrupt. The history of innovation is filled with farm boys and people outside the big cities. If you get involved in markets, learn what’s happening, and anticipate customer needs — innovative magic can happen. When Debbie Gordon saw a warehouse of used medical equipment, she didn’t see a waste of space, or a big headache (as her customers did) she saw dollar signs. When most guys would have retired, Bill Tallent started another business.

Off to Alabama. If only I could do the rest of this road trip with Debbie and Bill…would that be some rolling Gozeaux innovation ideation or what?

Elizabethtown, Kentucky — Friday May 11, 2012, Gonzeaux #5

I’m sworn to secrecy. As I sit here in Ruby Tuesday’s enjoying a petite sirloin and free wifi, I contemplate the secretive nature of innovation.

Open innovation is all the rage isn’t it? You hear all the time how much it makes sense to have a generous attitude about ideas. The paradox is, some innovations need to be kept secret, or, the innovator loses advantage.

Or worse, loses freedom.

Do you think Pixar is sharing early rushes of their latest movies with just anybody? Or is Apple giving us any sense of their new strategy? No, it will be a surprise when they announce something really cool. Pixar has never had a box office failure. One of the reasons is they kill projects that don’t meet their standards — and consumers are none the wiser.

Secrets are sometimes a very good idea.

So, in Kentucky there are two big innovation secrets. One is a guy I just talked to in Louisville about his new software project. The other is marijuana. Kentucky used to grow a lot of tobacco, they still do, but the new cash crop, increasing in the recession years, is bluegrass state pot. Kentucky grows more marijuana than any state except California – 2 billion dollars worth of weed have been chopped down in Kentucky, West Virginia and Tennessee. That’s a lot of weed, and, that’s the tip of the iceberg, or shall I say, the top of the bong bowl. If the feds got 2 billion worth, how much did the growers keep? 10 billion?

Is it wrong to think of this secret cash crop as innovation? If you define innovation as novel, useful, and  profitable, it arguably is highly innovative. The novelty comes in how the growers are hiding crops from the authorities, they are quite creative! Useful? If it weren’t of use to consumers they wouldn’t pay for it. Profitable? See figures above.

Innovation often walks the line between legal and illegal, or, in the dark shadows of secrecy. Innovation sometimes needs hid in the closet (or in a steep mountain “holler” accessible only by foot) until the proper time, sometimes innovation needs done on the sly. I heard a story about a line worker that hid a major process improvement innovation because he wanted to maintain the illusion of much harder work. That improvement, unhidden, could have saved the company millions of dollars.

How do you take a disruptive innovation to market without risking life, limb, reputation, career, money, or the company? This need to be creative in revealing an innovation is not often talked about, but imagination is required. This would be a good question for the experts at FEI 2012!

Maybe those Kentucky boys growing weed can lobby to grow medical grass — legally, and step out of the shadows as economic innovators.

Due to the training they’ve been given at the accelerator, they know a bit about innovation process, branding and fund raising — and the focus is still entirely on the doing. It’s small, it’s uncomplicated, it’s informal, and yet, wow, things are happening.

In the spirit of expanding the FEI 2012 conversation, I asked Mike what question he would like to pose to the group which will form next week in Orlando. He asked what the focus of the conference was and I said “the front end of innovation” and I also explained that most of the attendees were big companies, or, suppliers who serve them. He paused for a moment and looked a bit quizzical, and simply said:

“Can they really do that?”

It’s so fundamental a question that it took me by surprise, but it bears talking about. He meant, can big companies really do disruptive innovation, and I assume he meant “like a start-up.”

FEI 2012 will be 99% big company oriented. Mike’s been there, he’s former P&G. In our chat, he talked about how big company middle management has no real incentive to create anything new like a disruptive innovation. Of course top management needs to create new products, new lines, but they’re not the hands-on people are they? Your average big company manager works year to year making budget adjustments, i.e. reduce traditional media spend, boost digital spend, and if you don’t understand the new marketing technology, farm it out to agencies or suppliers. If these adjusting managers show profit improvement, they’re good, they keep their $180,000 a year salary — so, why create something totally new?

Innovation managers who take big risks at big companies are as likely to end up with a broken head as a breakthrough.

Reading this morning’s news, clearly the glory days at P&G appear to be in the past. They’re laying off thousands in a massive cost cutting effort. In theory they no longer need 1600 people because of new efficiencies in digital marketing, so maybe they are just adjusting to the new reality, but I’m not sure. P&G did well under A.G. Laughley’s open innovation initiative, but the momentum from that fine work seems to have ground to a halt. It’s been a long time since the big success of the Swiffer. What’s been their most recent breakthrough innovation? I’m not a close P&G watcher, but nothing comes to mind. The news underscores Mike’s salient question — can big companies really do the front end of innovation?

While the big companies fiddle, The Brandery burns — by ramping up to support 10 start-ups at a time under it’s roof, with mentorships and small stipends of cash. The Brandery is doing something I thought was impossible, they’re drawing talent to Cincinnati from all over the world — 32 countries so far — and neighbouring states.  Those people and small companies are renting space, buying homes, and creating a new economy from whole cloth. Some are even setting up shop in the newly revived Over-the-Rhine area which I wrote about last post.

So, FEI speakers and participants — how would you answer Mike’s question, can you really innovate?  And, are you creating breakthrough’s — or breaking your head trying?

Cincinnati, Ohio — Wednesday May 9, Gonzeaux #3

After one of the prettiest drives you can imagine through southern Indiana east into Ohio, I find myself this morning in the very urban, once blighted, “Over-The-Rhine” neighbourhood of Cincinnati. This is clearly an Ohio innovation success story, in more ways than one. I would not have predicted it. I nearly lost my life here.

Flashback 1974: I’m driving my beater 1960 Dodge Valiant through this neighbourhood with my dog Peaches sleeping in the back seat. It’s early evening and stopped at a red light, the Valiant stalls. It won’t start back up. I manage to push the car over to the curb. Before I can blink I’m surrounded by 5 guys. I see the flash of metal in hand. I’m young, fit, big, full of anger, and with a bouncer’s skills — but not ready to take on this crew. They move in for the kill. Peaches, an athletic Malamut-Golden Retriever mix, smells trouble and jumps out of the open back window onto the pavement, growls viciously and bares an impressive and wolfish mouth of teeth. “Easy Peaches” I say, grabbing her collar, and the boys say the same, “yeah, easy Peach, nothin wrong”. The boys back off as I “hold back” that sweet protective little bitch. Peaches probably saved me a beating. In 1974 travelling through Over-the-Rhine — it was best to keep moving.

I mention all this because this historic neighbourhood has gone through a sea change. The Iris Book Cafe where I pen this Gonzeaux episode is filled with cool books, used vinyl, quirky artsty-fartsy types looking at each other’s prints, and free wifi. It’s typical of what’s here now. I took a slow drive all around this hood and the signs of new life are everywhere: restaurants, shops, galleries, clothing shops, the new school for the Performing Arts, it feels a bit like Greenich village in NYC, except more authentic, and less over-commercialised, so far. Good thing, this neighbourhood has been a haven for crime, poverty and hopelessness for 50 years. Cincinnati’s relatively recent race riots started here. Kudo’s to the entrepreneurs, builders, the city, and the consumers who are creating this revival. Not sure if there was federal money involved here, but guessing there was.

There is also a very hip innovation “accelerator” about three blocks from where I sit. The Brandery, in essence, teaches people how to create a new venture, coaches, and for the right business plans, provides start-up funds, mentorship, and more. Brave of them to locate here, but it’s a bet that appears to be a good one as this area continues to improve. The Brandery is part of how Ohio digs out of it’s jobs hole — you train and help entrepreneurs start new businesses. There should be a Brandery in every major city in this state. I’m hoping I can somehow add KILN innovation process knowledge to The Brandery mix.

I’ve blogged about Cincy innovation before. As for Ohio Innovation, well, Ohio desperately needs to innovate. The industrial manufacturing base it once had has eroded, the economic balance it once had is largely gone (remember NCR? Moved to Georgia, remember Cincinnati Milacron? sucked up by some Japanese company). There is great scientific research going on at Ohio Sate, Ohio University, and the Univesity of Cincinnati, and, converting that academic knowledge to new business and economic growth has been, and still is, a challenge that’s not being well addressed. There are a few good news innovation stories in Ohio, like Over-the Rhine, but clearly not enough. The urban neighbourhoods in Cleveland, Columbus, and Dayton, to name a few, are all desperate places with large numbers of unemployed.

I wonder what Jeff Dyer, author of The Innovator’s DNA would suggest for these cities, and for organisations struggling to stay alive in them. I wonder what Phil Duncan of P&G, who lives in Cincinnati, would say…well, when I get to FEI 2012 in Orlando next week, I’ll ask.

Right now, off to visit The Brandery. Tomorrow, passing through Louisville on my way to Nashville.

Indiana is the state of Nick Tippmann. Who’s Nick Tippmann? The future of Indiana Innovation that’s who (and not Bobby Knight). More on Nick and Bobby below, but first,

Observations:

• Indiana is very flat. Driving south on I-65 — farms in all directions as far as the eye can see.
• Farms are small business, in a way, the first small businesses, that tradition lives here.
• Driving through small towns with the Dairy Queen’s, feed stores, beauty shops and all the other specialties you can imagine…more small business.
• People work hard here, long and hard. At the hotel I’m staying at I’ve been served by two people who were clearly over 70, doing the job, well, and with a smile.
• How many state cops does Indiana employ? Mercy! Those boys are everywhere.

Yes, Indiana is the home of Gary and Hammond, former industrial centers, but Indiana, just by observation, is a small business state. Loads of exceptions of course. Magnavox in Fort Wayne for example (now owned by Philips), and here in Bloomington, Cook Medical (quietly brilliant).  But the flavour of Indiana, beyond corn, soy, and sorghum — has to be small business.

Just last weekend, here in Bloomington, there was a “Start-Up Weekend”. Local entrepreneur and scanner par excellence, Nick Tippmann was instrumental in putting it on. Guys like Nick are the future of Indiana innovation. He’s already doing it, as an undergrad at IU. He’s developed “Impulse Coupons” to deliver time sensitive vouchers for nearby businesses. Not only is he doing innovation, he’s inspiring it as well, by helping to put on the Start-Up Weekend. The idea behind the weekend is to kick-start new ventures in an immersive weekend. Brilliant. Also, Nick, nice touch with the Van Gogh background.

Nick should be at FEI 2012 in Orlando! I wonder what kind of conversation Nick would have with futurist Michio Kaku? If Indiana wants Innovation, they need to grow about 10,000 more Nick’s — and maybe a bit less corn. Would love to have Nick on board at KILN!

A Bit of Gonzeaux Humour

Bloomington is in the lower half of the state and is famous for Indiana University, and its wacky ex-basketball coach Bobby Knight (if you want to hear something quite profane and yet amazingly funny, check out this audio clip, warning: not for the faint of heart). Apologies, but Bobby is Gonzeaux eh? Say what you will about the madman, he was a winner, and an innovator in basketball.

Next on the Gonzeaux Tour: Cincinnati, and a revisit to Skyline Chili, Graeter’s Ice Cream – and The Brandery.

Three Oaks, Michigan, Monday May 7 — Gonzeau Tour Begins

I’ve spent a frantic weekend preparing for the Gonzeaux Tour trip to Florida to attend the FEI 2012 Conference*. Two requests for proposal came over the transom on Friday and they required weekend work, and a lot of it. I had hoped for a bit of peace and thoughtful packing prior to what might be a week of cheap hotels, crashing with friends and family, but it was not to be. So, the first leg begins in an hour and I haven’t even packed a bag yet. I do have piles of stuff to take: KILN IdeaKeg boxes, large mural paper, Post-it’s, iPad, iPod, Garmin, pocket knives, sunflower seeds, water, dirty bucks, and an Indiana brand guitar in a battered case. And a black leather motorcycle jacket. Just wearing it makes me feel good.

It occurs to me that innovation is like this at big companies. It’s easy to be busy with business as usual. Innovation seems like “extra” work. As a writer, a consultant, and a founder of KILN, this Gonzeaux Tour is a form of innovation for me (us), doing something different, and hopeful of a better result, and yet, have not done nearly enough to make this idea pay off. More logical minds would call it off, but innovation is also about pressing on and trying to make lemons from lemonade. So off I go. I’m committing to making it work.

State of Michigan Innovation

Michigan has had it tough these last few years. As the car industry shrank, and as a lot of manufacturing moved offshore, the decent jobs that made living in this state a bit of heaven have largely gone up in smoke. There is a whiff of fresh new innovation here though, several new tech battery plants are going online soon, the car companies have made a comeback, and stalwarts like Whirlpool (just invested heavily in a new campus in Benton Harbor) and Steelcase continue to lead their categories. But let’s not forget Michigan’s greatest innovation: Motown. I mean the music, the record label, not the great city of Detroit.

Last Friday night here in Three Oaks, MI, I was privileged to be entertained by a music group called “Hitsville”. The 9 member band did a 2 hour show at The Acorn (speaking of rural innovation, how about a theater that operates 50 weeks a year in a town of about 2000?). Hitsville were amazing, they put on a show that had every gray  hair in the audience off their asses and dancing. They did a find job of re-creating that Motown sound, and even in a pensive mood it lifted my spirits. Can we revisit the Motown story and look at it through the lens of innovation? Every Michigan business should, the elements of Motown’s success:

• Entrepreneurial energy and risk taking, courage really
• Visionary leadership
• Hard work, having fun doing it, collaboration
• Finding and training amazing talent
• Knowing their consumer and accommodating their needs, but remaining authentic
• Not compromising on quality
• Selling, selling, selling

Michigan — I challenge you to return to your roots of innovation. Look at Motown, look at Ford, and bring this state back to glory.

Gotto go Gonzeaux now, more later, on the Innovation in the State of Indiana. Want me to pop in? Send me a note: gregg@greggfraley.com.

* Really looking forward to hearing Tom Szaky at FEI — he’s CEO and Founder, TERRACYCLE and author of Revolution in a Bottle. That’s him in the picture. You’ve got to love a guy who makes millions from garbage nobody else wants…that’s innovation!

Literally. Okay, it’s not a battle, it’s a conversation, but it’s definitely a road trip, and definitely about the Doing.

I’m heading down to Orlando, FL to attend the Front End of Innovation Conference (FEI) taking place May 15, 16, and 17. Instead of doing the boring (and convenient) thing of taking a cheap flight from Chicago to Disneytown, I’m opting to drive through the heartland and a bit of the south — I’m going Gonzeaux (“GAWN zoe”) on my way to FEI.

FEI is an amazing event, and, wouldn’t it be great if that innovation “conversation” was happening all over? And online?

As I Go Gonzeaux I’m going to take the pulse of the “state of innovation” in as many states as I can. I’ll post daily here, and report on innovative things I see, and talk to entrepreneurs, companies and organizations along the way Doing interesting, new, different, and yes, Innovative things. My intent is to extend the amazing FEI conversation to people and places in the USA that can’t attend — but have something to contribute.

To start the conversation, where and how is innovation happening in the USA heartland?

I’ll be happy to do a talk or consult on innovation (and/or creativity/creative problem solving/idea generation/new product development/trends/starting-up, etc.) to anyone who invites me — if you’re within shouting distance of my travel route (roughly I-75, but with swings on I-65) I’ll come and talk to any group of entrepreneurs, inventors, small business people, leaders, CEO’s, students, teachers, new product development specialists, or, in a word, innovators. Not only will we talk but we’ll put an emphasis on sharing what efforts are being worked on — and that data will be made public and brought with me to FEI in Orlando.

If I can add a helpful idea, refinement, connection, or help you kick start an innovation effort — well, you won’t be able to stop me. And of course I’ll want to talk a bit about what KILN is doing and I’ll be promoting Jack’s Notebook (the first and only business novel about creative problem solving). I’d like to share ideas and methods to kick-start innovation, with specific tools, techniques, processes, and program initiatives. We can talk open innovation, idea management systems, process, people, culture. I hope to talk to start-ups, small businesses, and large companies. Some of the speakers are from the heartland. Phil Duncan, Global Chief Design Officer with P&G is a featured speaker at FEI.

I hope we can stir up a bit of buzz via social media. Please help me spread the word. Use #Gonzeaux as a twitter hashtag, and/or #innovation and/or #fei_innovation. CC: @greggfraley or @kilnco. When in doubt default to #Gonzeaux.

My vision for this epic quest is something like Hunter Thompson meets Clay Christensen. It’s not Gonzo Journalism, but I hope it shares that energy. I’m returning to the roots of that term, Gonzo, back to the French. It means, sort of, “shining path.”  Like Thompson, it will be personal, not entirely objective, but I hope, always interesting, and about Doing Innovation.

I might even do some Ralph Steadman style drawings on my iPad to illustrate the trip.

I’m starting in Three Oaks, Michigan, so, the states I’ll be “covering” will include, at least, and on these approx dates:

• Michigan – leaving here May 7
• Indiana – May 7, 8 (Indianapolis)
• Ohio – May 9 (Cincinnati)
• Kentucky – May 10 (Louisville)
• Tennessee – May 11 (Nashville)
• Alabama – May 12 (Birmingham)
• Georgia – May 13 (Atlanta)
• Florida – May 15 (Orlando)

My day to day itinerary will be partially shaped by who responds to this. So, anybody along the route with an interest in meeting up, please send me an email: gregg.fraley@kilnco.com — and if I can I’ll make plans to stop by and pay you an innovation visit. Want some PR for your thing? Want some ideas for a thorny challenge? Need a keynoter for a company meeting? Get in touch!

If this goes well, or even goes interesting, I’ll think about visiting another set of states on the drive back. Might head up the east coast…might head further west and swing back. Don’t know yet, demand will shape it.

It’s time to Go Gonzeaux.

I’m proud to wear it. The answer to my question of whether a wristband can create USA jobs is an emphatic Yes. There are already innovation success stories. I’m a wristband-come-lately — this has been going on since last November.

Hats off to Starbucks for linking with the Opportunity Finance Network (see: createjobsforUSA.org) to raise awareness for job creation — and actually help fund entrepreneurs. Starbucks donated 5 Mil to kick start the effort. The idea behind the wristband is awareness AND, it’s also about funding underserved businesses (aren’t banks supposed to do this?). I see this as a very creative way to create jobs. It’s a donation you’re making, but I like the idea that it funds growth and jobs directly.

Small businesses create jobs, it’s a fact. And, it’s also a fact that many small businesses with good ideas, solid business models, and hard working people can’t get the money they need to grow. Once upon a time, banks did this work, but in many places banks have become disconnected from the communities they purport to serve. This effort by Opportunity Finance Network seeks to create a national network of more community friendly lenders to fill the gap, and, grow USA jobs.

Google Offers, Banana Republic, Take Part, Blast Radius, and NASDAQ OMS are also supporting the effort.

So, head over to your local Starbucks USA readers, and buy an overpriced coffee, and, a wristband. The unemployed American you’re helping thanks you in advance.

In theory, it’s an investors dream, relatively low risk, high return, a chance for explosive growth (this is my opinion, investors get in touch with me — gregg@greggfraley.com — to see the plan and make your own judgment). The pitch meeting is Tuesday, April 24th, 8:30 to 11 at the Queen City Club.

So what’s the problem? IGT is having a tough time raising the funds needed to start operations.

The problem breaks down into two things: 1.) transforming plastic to high value new plastic products is an expensive process to start-up. It requires high-tech heavy equipment, and, a large physical plant to put in in. And, 2.) there is a reluctance to invest in new manufacturing in the USA. So, big capital requirements — not so hard to understand the reluctance to invest millions in a newco. However, it’s not easy to understand the reluctance to rebuild the manufacturing base. Manufacturing jobs are a staple of a properly diversified economy. So, why the reluctance?

Many believe that the USA simply can’t compete with offshore countries like China. USA labor is too high etc. Well, that’s a lot of malarkey. But if I’m a VC with funds to invest, would I rather take a shot at the next Facebook, or the next — yawn — waste recycling manufacturing business. VC’s would do well, as would local government officials, to stifle the yawn, and invest, but it’s a tough sell.

That’s why I think the reshoring concept is so brilliant. The Reshore Initiative is spreading the word that if you look at total cost of ownership, on balance, if done properly, USA firms (and are you listening UK) can indeed compete. The visionary behind reshoring is Harry Moser. I don’t know much about Harry, yet, but I applaud and encourage his efforts. For more about how reshoring can work, see this Forbes piece, a good case study type article on Reshoring, Buzzworthy Benefits of ‘Reshoring’.

I’m hoping this concept of reshoring is  being picked up in cities like Cincinnati. It could make all the difference for a brighter future.