Make It: Frank Conversations on the Future of Manufacturing
Oct 13, 2026 · 20 min · 16 segments
Northeast Ohio has world-class hospitals, materials experts, skilled workers, and thousands of manufacturers. Yet one local wound-care entrepreneur could not find the right manufacturing partner here…
Ethan KarpHostMargaret KashmirHostSteve says Cleveland was the best manufacturing center in the entire world, and then he asked what happened.
It was the concentration of manufacturers, suppliers, skilled trades, inventors, customers, and capital all in one location.
The next manufacturing boom will require a broader network, manufacturers and suppliers, plus startups, researchers, software companies, health systems, investors, workforce partners, and the question is whether Northeast Ohio can reconnect those pieces faster than other regions.
We still have tremendous engineering talent, thousands and thousands of manufacturers.
And to the extent that leadership today includes smart manufacturing and smart production and new materials and software and automation and the ability to commercialize inventions, we should still be able to harness all of that to do more and better than the rest of the world.
The goal is to take those regional strengths and put them into products, companies, jobs, and exports, and I think that we can put it all together.
We just need to continue on the journey of being slightly faster than everyone else.
Um, at the time of your conversation, he was president and CEO of Lincoln Electric, you know, an eleven thousand person strong global welding and automation company, uh, here in Cleveland, and here's what he has to say about the future of the region.
Steve says Cleveland was the best manufacturing center in the entire world, and then he asked what happened.
It was the concentration of manufacturers, suppliers, skilled trades, inventors, customers, and capital all in one location.
The next manufacturing boom will require a broader network, manufacturers and suppliers, plus startups, researchers, software companies, health systems, investors, workforce partners, and the question is whether Northeast Ohio can reconnect those pieces faster than other regions.
We still have tremendous engineering talent, thousands and thousands of manufacturers.
And to the extent that leadership today includes smart manufacturing and smart production and new materials and software and automation and the ability to commercialize inventions, we should still be able to harness all of that to do more and better than the rest of the world.
The goal is to take those regional strengths and put them into products, companies, jobs, and exports, and I think that we can put it all together.
We just need to continue on the journey of being slightly faster than everyone else.
Um, at the time of your conversation, he was president and CEO of Lincoln Electric, you know, an eleven thousand person strong global welding and automation company, uh, here in Cleveland, and here's what he has to say about the future of the region.
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