By Matt Brown, Managing Editor.
In the late ’90s, Jack White brought garage rock out of Michigan. Now, White is bringing machine jobs back home.
The Detroit native looks to bring “real-life manufacturing jobs back to Detroit,” in announcing that he will be opening a vinyl record pressing plant in his hometown.
With no opening date announced, White’s venture Third Man Pressing hopes to address the “bottlenecking in the record pressing industry right now – so much glorious demand, so few presses,” says co-founder Ben Blackwell.
The company has purchased eight presses from German startup Newbilt. Third Man is, “anxious to get them up and running,” which they expect to happen mid-2016.
The real question still remains: is this going to bring real-life manufacturing jobs back to Detroit?
Harvey Schneider, manager of skill trades, says, “the figure I’ve always been told… is that for every one manufacturing job you create seven support jobs.”
For example, “a company who does welding has to work with Airgas to get supplies, and United Steel. Then there is trucking, and janitorial supplies… all directed under one manufacturing job.”
With these seven support jobs, there is still a chance that parts and labor will be outsourced. However, Schneider says, “most [companies] would prefer to support local. They like that it is nearby and direct, so when they need something they can get it right away.”
Third Man is working with Detroit company Shinola, who, according to their website, is “creating a community that will thrive through excellence of craft and pride of work.” Schneider gave a Tri-City example of this practice, citing the CEO of Saginaw’s Fullerton Tools, Patrick Curry, highlighting local companies that support his organization’s expansion.
Delta offers programs in manufacturing, machine repair and CNC (computer numerical control) among other vocations.
“There is a demand in this area for machinists,” says Schneider. “A lot of companies will hire CNC students to do larger production runs. These companies have orders for 10,000 widgets.”
Record pressing isn’t only a trade, but an artform. Each manufacturer has to be precise in order to preserve the accuracy of the artist’s work. Schneider insists, “there are many fields that just cannot replace what humans do, and obviously this is one of those.”