Reshoring Institute Intern Blog Series – Alejandra Bohon

Being one of the first Student Researchers for Reshoring Institute has been a remarkable and rewarding experience. Throughout this internship, I spent a majority of my time researching different states’ labor force, infrastructure, resources, and incentives for businesses. Along with researching the information available on the Internet, I contacted representatives from California, Nevada and Minnesota Economic Development Departments. After completing the researching I created a summary that discusses the details of the research found and an infographic that summarizes the information for each state.

I was also contributed to a research project for a client. With this project, I researched the federal and state requirements for a manufacturing company to label their products “Made in USA”. The Federal Trade Commission requires products advertised as “Made in USA” be “all or virtually all” made in the U.S. “All or virtually all” means the product should contain no – or negligible – foreign content. Manufacturers must use the cost of goods sold or inventory costs of finished goods in their analysis of acceptable labeling.

To make it even more complex I found that some states are creating their own programs regarding the labeling of products. For example, Nevada has a program that certifies at 51% of significant parts and processing are of Nevada origin and can be labeled “Made in Nevada”. Texas has a “Go Texan” program targeted specifically for agriculture.  These programs aren’t as stringent as the FTC requirements but they help incentivize companies to bring manufacturing back to their state.

In reviewing our client’s cost profile, we determined that their product contained more than negligible foreign content so they could not label their product “Made in the USA” but they could label it either “Made in the US from imported parts” or “Assembled in the USA”. Our client could also label their product “Assembled in the USA from 70% US content.”

The Reshoring Institute has brought together many concepts I learned in Supply Chain classes at USD and exposed me to real-life situations. I am really glad I had the opportunity of interning with the Reshoring Institute.

If you are interested in learning more about the work we do and how we can help you bring manufacturing back contact our Executive Director, Rosemary Coates at rcoates@ReshoringInstitute.org.

Alejandra Bohon graduated in May from USD with an International Business major and a Supply Chain Management minor.