Dear Mr. President: Ohio? Really?

Dear. Mr. President: Ohio? Really?  You want to spend $1 billion to create manufacturing clusters of prosperity based on what you saw in Ohio? Really?

Come to Michigan. We'll be glad to talk about the renaissance of manufacturing. We do it every day.

We could talk about what a small business -- to small to bail out -- is doing in Comstock Park, Michigan, just north of Grand Rapids. Commercial Tool & Die saw the need for CNC machinists so they started a sister company, Expert Tech, to train people in CNC machining and other skills needed by manufacturers in West Michigan.

Where are the workers? We understand the need. We are doing something about it, and we would be glad to talk to you about it. Walk the campus of Grand Valley State University and we can talk about the education-industry partnership that was created because we saw the need to grow new engineers for manufacturing. We can't plant those seeds fast enough.

We know about the dark days of manufacturing. We were there for the Great Collapse. However, while everyone was betting their ranches of the Creative Class, we were still inventing things and making things.

We'll be glad to talk to you about that, too

And while you are here, please visit the Medical Mile in Grand Rapids. It's a health care, life sciences, higher education cluster of prosperity, that was created by the community of Grand Rapids. 

Mr. President: Please, join the conversation about manufacturing in Michigan. We do it every day.

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Last Chance Mile: The Reinvention of an American Community, the story of Grand Rapids Medical Mile and the people of that American community is available wherever books are sold including West Coast Coffee on Monroe Center in downtown Grand Rapids and Schuler Books & Music in Grand Rapids.

Where Are The Workers? is one of five e-book essays in the Restore The Roar: Manufacturing Renaissance series available through Amazon and Vook.com.

American Axle's Strong Finish

American Axle & Manufacturing has to be one of the great comeback stories of Michigan manufacturing. The company announced a business backlog of $1.25 billion in December, a $100 million investment in its Michigan manufacturing facilities February 1, and then one week later finished 2012 with very strong year-end and fourth-quarter earnings  reports.

DETROIT, Feb. 8, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. (AAM), which is traded as AXL on the NYSE, today reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2012. 

Fourth Quarter 2012 Results

• Fourth quarter 2012 sales of $736.7 million, up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis
• Non-GM sales grew by 16.6% on a year-over-year basis to $204.1 million
• Gross profit of $84.0 million, or 11.4% of sales
• Operating income of $18.6 million, or 2.5% of sales
• Net income of $319.9 million, or $4.21 per share, which includes the favorable impact of a $337.5 million benefit related to the reversal of our valuation allowance against our net federal deferred tax assets for entities in the United States
• Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization excluding the impact of curtailments, asset impairments, restructuring costs and special charges related to the closure of the Detroit Manufacturing Complex and Cheektowaga Manufacturing Facility, and debt refinancing and redemption costs, to the extent applicable) of $64.5 million or approximately 9% of sales
• AAM's quarterly results reflect the impact of $9.7 million (or $0.13 per share) of debt refinancing and redemption costs and $6.2 million (or$0.08 per share) of restructuring costs related to the closure of our Detroit Manufacturing Complex and Cheektowaga Manufacturing Facility

Full Year 2012 Results     

• Full year 2012 sales of $2.93 billion, up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis
• Non-GM sales grew 11.6% on a year-over-year basis to $792.6 million
• Gross profit of $399.7 million, or 13.6% of sales
• Operating income of $156.4 million, or 5.3% of sales
• Net income of $367.7 million, or $4.87 per share
• Adjusted EBITDA of $346.7 million, or approximately 12% of sales
• AAM's full year results reflect the impact of $19.8 million (or $0.26 per share) of debt refinancing and redemption costs and $40.6 million(or $0.54 per share) of restructuring costs related to the closure of our Detroit Manufacturing Complex and Cheektowaga Manufacturing Facility

American Axle & Manufacturing is one of the great stories that is part of the manufacturing renaissance that we are seeing in Detroit, in Michigan and the Great Lakes region.

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Restore The Roar: Manufacturing Renaissance, a five-part short e-book series is available at Amazon, the iTunes bookstore and vook.com  

Last Chance Mile: The Reinvention of an American Community, the story of the revival of Grand Rapids, Michigan is available at West Coast Coffee on Monroe Center in downtown Grand Rapids and at Schuler Books & Music on 28th Street in Grand Rapids. Or you can order an personalized, autographed edition at www.rodkackley.com.

$100 Million & 500 Jobs For Michigan

Need one more sign that manufacturing’s roar is being restored? How about this? American Axle & Manufacturing is investing more than $100 million in its Three Rivers, Michigan Manufacturing Facility. The investment, which will be completed by December 2013, is expected to create more than 500 new jobs while further diversifying AAM's product portfolio and customer base in North America.

The investment represents the installation of new production lines, multiple assembly stations, paint line modifications, additional shipping and receiving capacity and upgrades to the facility's business offices and lobby. To complete the project, AAM has sourced millions of dollars of business to Michigan-based companies, and in turn, is positively impacting multiple communities in the state, according to a company press release.


How did Three Rivers get so lucky? It is not a hot bed of technology. It’s closest neighboring community of any size is Kalamazoo, which is known more as the home of Western Michigan University than anything else.

However, if you read American Axle founder Richard Dauch’s latest book, American Drive, you will find out that Three Rivers should thank it’s United Auto Workers union local.

Dauch wrote in American Drive that the Three Rivers UAW local was the only one that would work with him when he created American Axle. 

AAM is conducting a job fair for manufacturing facility positions on Saturday, February 16, 2013 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Kalamazoo County Michigan Works! Service Center located at 1601 South Burdick Street in Kalamazoo, Michigan. To find out more information on the job fair, or to submit an application online prior to the event, visit the careers page at www.aam.com


"Last fall, we announced that AAM would be bringing new business to Michigan," said AAM President & Chief Executive Officer David C. Dauch. "For the past two years, we have been preparing the Three Rivers Manufacturing Facility for this new business launch. Now, we are in a growth mode and hiring hundreds of associates. This is exciting news for the State of Michigan, the City of Three Rivers and for AAM."  

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Restore The Roar: Manufacturing Renaissance, a series of short ebooks is available through Amazon, Vook.com,  and the iTunes Store.