Steve Jobs: American Manufacturing Icon at One of the Most Successful Manufacturing Firms in History

American manufacturing of computer equipment reached an all-time record high in July.

Following the announcement on Wednesday night of his resignation as Apple CEO, Steve Jobs has been receiving lots of well-deserved praise and accolades for his entrepreneurial genius at Apple, one of the most successful, profitable and valuable manufacturing firms in the history of the world.  That's right, we shouldn't forget that Apple, Inc. (NAICS Code 3341: Computer Manufacturing) is part of the American manufacturing sector , a sector that the Boston Consulting Group predicts is headed for a renaissance.  

Given Apple's escalating success under the leadership of Jobs, especially in recent years, perhaps Apple and Jobs have already helped launch the renaissance of American manufacturing.  And when we think of Steve Jobs, we should be sure to remember that at his core, he's an American manufacturing icon, genius and titan.  As much as we hear the never-ending media narrative that "America doesn't make anything anymore," or that "American manufacturing just can't compete globally anymore," Apple's success clearly demonstrates that the narrative is false.  

For example, Apple and its domestic competitors in the U.S. computer industry (Dell, H-P, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Intel, etc.) are all world-leaders, and collectively produced more output last month than ever before in history (see chart above of the Federal Reserve's monthly production index for computer and peripheral equipment).  And it's a remarkable fact that U.S. manufacturing output of computer equipment has doubled in less than six years since 2005, after doubling previously in just seven years.  So much for the claim that "we don't make anything anymore."

Bottom Line: When we celebrate the genius of Steve Jobs and the success of Apple Computers, we should remember  that we are also celebrating the success of American manufacturing.  Simply put, Steve Jobs and Apple prove that American manufacturing is not dying, but is very much alive and well.