Video: Business Leaders at MSU Talk Bringing Jobs Back to the US

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STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – The state’s top entrepreneurs and business leaders met in Starkville today to discuss bringing jobs back to the US.
Reshoring.. Its an effort to convince American companies to move production back to the US by selecting domestic suppliers or bringing production in-house.

President and CEO of the Mississippi Manufacturing Association, Jay Moon, says with labor costs rising overseas, now is a good time to bring those jobs back home.

“When you look at the size of the US market, it’s very attractive to companies. So now they can come back, manufacture, and be closer to their markets,” says Moon.

Higher labor costs in China and technology advances here in the US have manufacturers bringing production back to America. With the help of Innovate Mississippi, a non-profit that helps Mississippi businesses compete globally, United States Dinnerware produced the Bacon Bowl in Claiborne County, creating 60 new jobs.

“Developing the bacon bowl and being able to reinvigorate a manufacturing plant that is the last manufacturing melamine plastic dinnerware in the United States, United States Dinnerware in Port Gibson, MS, is very important to us,” says Milton Chamblis, Executive Director of the Claiborne County Economic Development District.

“We’ve produced 1.3 million bacon bowls earlier this year currently on the market and being sold and we also have the ability, the opportunity to sell the bacon bowl to commercial food service,” says Steven Gluck, President of United States Dinnerware.

The re-shoring initiative is also credited with helping former MSU students manufacture the signature cowbells used during football games.

“We started importing. We got connected to Innovate Mississippi MEP and they partnered us with Long Branch Fabrication in West Point MS. It’s been a great partnership ever since,” says John Howell, Co-founder of BattleBells.

The Summit included a panel of industry officials including Harry Moser, founder and president of the Reshoring Initiative based in Chicago.

Mississippi was also awarded a $2.2 million grant as part of the “Make It In America” Challenge.