First, Biden talked about global supply chains

I usually half-listen to the State of the Union Address while I am doing something else at home. That was my plan this year, too. But then, I heard President Biden talking about global supply chains and I sat down in front of the TV.

Essential character of supply chains

The President said, “Inflation has been a global problem because the pandemic disrupted our supply chains, and Putin’s unfair and brutal war in Ukraine disrupted energy supplies, as well as food supplies, blocking all that grain in Ukraine.”  He gets it – supply chains are essential to the world’s economies.

Supply chain professionals should feel some gratification that our chosen profession has been highlighted, even though supply chains have been a source of many problems over the past few years.

As we have all been telling our companies, our families and our friends for years, global supply chains are the backbone of all corporations producing goods. We make it happen. We make sure products are in the right place at the right time. We create new routes and develop new suppliers. We deal with cross-border trade.

The complexities and vulnerabilities of supply chains have been exposed lately. We are the people who are responding.

And now, we are being recognized for the essential character of our work.

Made in America

Then, President Biden talked about Made in America. Once again, he repeated one of his favorite phrases, “Where is it written that America cannot be the manufacturing powerhouse of the world?”

He spoke about new semiconductor manufacturing and our quest to regain leadership in the global chip market. This is an initiative started some time ago and supported by the bi-partisan Chips and Sciences Act of 2022.

New semiconductor plants are being built in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Ohio, and New York. These new plants, when they come online in 5-10 years, will shift our supply chains once again, not only for semiconductors but for all the materials that go into making them.

President Biden stated that America is ranked 13th in the world for the strength of its infrastructure and has been losing ground for the past 25 years. The bi-partisan Infrastructure Act will be the funding and ignition for new infrastructure projects across America.

As an example, he referenced the Brent Spence Bridge spanning the Ohio River from Covington, Kentucky to Cincinnati, Ohio. This bridge was built over 60 years ago and is in desperate need of repair, having been closed off and on, in the past few years.

If you have ever been to this part of America, you’d be aware of the number of trucks in the area, many that are routed across this bridge. This double-decker cantilever bridge carries $2 billion worth of freight every single day across the Ohio River.

It is government-supported projects like these that will require construction materials to be made in America, boosting the domestic building materials industry. America’s highways, bridges, airports, and seaports are essential to effectively move the nation’s freight and support international trade.

Our supply chain profession is being noticed, talked about, and hailed. We should all be proud of the essential job we do.

SC
MR