Innovation in Urban Manufacturing

Our friends at the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation recently passed us a story from the New York Times that lamented the loss of manufacturing and the subsequent impact on innovation in the United States. At Allentown Economic Development Corporation, we are acutely aware of manufacturing’s importance to local economies, and are working to strengthen urban manufacturers and communicate the benefits of urban environments to manufacturers.


The article discussed the loss of entire industries in the United States with the recent closure of certain plants. When a Sherrill Manufacturing plant in upstate New York closed last year, it shuttered the US flatware manufacture industry. The story then tied the loss of such manufacturers to an overall trend of companies using imported components and to an industrial policy that diminished American innovation. It sprawls around a bit, but the final point is solid: that there is a link between our innovative capacity and our ability to make things.


Allentown and the Lehigh Valley have a long history of innovation, most notably the production of the transistor at Western Electric, but also seen through the patenting activity of companies like Air Products, Lutron, and the various iterations of LSI. Central to this history of technical improvements is our manufacturing base, and the quality of its output. We believe that as we continue to stimulate existing manufacturers to invent new ways of doing things, we will help the region start to lead again.

Manufacturing Space in Allentown

To that end, we have focused the efforts of our Bridgeworks Enterprise Center Small Business Incubation Program on manufacturing. We converted a 60,000 square foot former Mack Trucks plant into a multi-tenant industrial building with manufacturing suites ranging in size from 1,200 square feet to over 6,500 square feet. All of the manufacturing environments have space appropriate for small, creativity-driven industries and our entire organization is focused on helping those producers to be successful. From operating low-interest loan funds to providing technical assistance, AEDC is preparing itself to be an asset to urban manufacturers.


We have also pledged to promote urban environments as ideal locations for the next generation of entrepreneurial manufacturer. Urban environments offer a multitude of benefits to people who make things, but for the purposes of this post, consider the creative collaboration opportunities that come from chance encounters. When we have an agglomeration of manufacturers in a dense population, the opportunities to connect at the local bar or restaurant increase. These connections should result in increased joint ventures, supply chain improvements, and a community that draws other creatives in from around the world. These collaborations are the building blocks of innovation. Imagine where the possibilities could lead this region.


Rather than read stories about the loss of the next industry, let’s write stories about the creation of the next industry here in the Lehigh Valley. We’ll start small and with a lot of innovators buzzing together in close proximity to one another. They will live close to where they work and make a high-quality product in an old building in a dense urban environment. They will sell outside of our borders and attract other people like them as well as capital. Support our efforts to make this happen.