Made In Utah

“I think one upside is that our people feel more secure,” Ericksen says. “They know that as we succeed, they succeed as well.”

“Certainly, our team has really jumped in,” Bowers adds. “They know that they are competing not just in Utah or the U.S., but globally. We’ve helped our employees realize that as we continue to improve and produce here, it’s better for everyone.”

Ericksen does have one concern: the need for a larger, technically trained workforce for the automated processes many companies use.

“We don’t have enough technical people in the state to support what we’re building here—people who are technicians in injection molding and extruding,” he says. “We end up training a lot of people, but Utah has many high-tech medical companies who need people with those same skills. And so we’re in competition for workers with those skills. I’d like to see more money used towards technical training.”

If the trend of bringing manu-facturing back home to Utah continues, it’s a need education officials should happily address.