Advanced Manufacturing
Recent Features
Contributed Content
Ohio’s 15-Year Bet on Speed and Infrastructure
With surging demand, business-friendly legislation and billions in investment, Ohio is building the energy infrastructure that factories, data centers and advanced manufacturers need to grow.
In Focus: The Cleared Personnel Challenge
In defense-related site selection, access to workers who already hold security clearances can narrow the location search before incentives or real estate enter the discussion.
Connecticut’s submarine boom tests its workforce pipeline
Eastern Connecticut has built an unusually coordinated system for moving people into manufacturing careers. Now the scale of submarine production is testing whether the region’s suppliers, schools and infrastructure can keep pace.
Space and Defense Are Becoming One Industrial Ecosystem
As launch, satellite and defense engineering increasingly draw on the same technology, talent and supply chains, communities built around one industry may already have what the other is looking for.
Building an Airport Network Before the Aircraft Arrive
Monterey Bay’s coordinated airport strategy could offer a blueprint for the next generation of aviation infrastructure.
Last Word: Data Centers and the Infrastructure of the Intelligence Revolution
Meta’s Louisiana project illustrates both the legitimate concerns surrounding large-scale data centers and the potentially transformative rewards for communities prepared to accommodate them.
Reading the Signals Most Companies Miss During Site Selection
The competitive intelligence that shapes location decisions is often available to your consulting team but rarely makes it to the client. Understanding what's being held back, and why, changes how you manage the relationship.
Semiconductor Demand Is Infinite. The Talent Isn’t.
AMD is racing to build the chips powering the AI era. First, it has to build the engineers to design them.
The 20-Year Test: Will This Site Still Work in 2045?
Why long-term resilience—across climate, supply chains, and technology—is now part of the site selection decision.
Workforce Still Matters—But It's No Longer the First Filter
Why labor hasn't disappeared from site selection—but is now competing with power, land, and execution risk.
Why America's Largest Companies Are Investing in Skilled Trades
The biggest workforce challenge facing AI, advanced manufacturing and infrastructure projects isn't operating new facilities—it's finding enough skilled workers to build them.
The Aluminum Smelter That Could Reshape the U.S. Industrial Map
How Oklahoma landed the first new U.S. aluminum smelter in 45 years and why the investment structure matters most.
Training for an Economy That Isn’t Fully Here Yet
Northland Workforce Training Center is opening two facilities this July that bet the region’s future on a gap most people haven’t noticed.
In Focus: Rethinking Water in Data Center Site Selection
Why the real constraint isn’t always supply—and why the risk is still real.
21st Annual Shovel Awards: The Projects of the Year
The investments that stood apart for their scale, strategic significance, and economic impact — from advanced manufacturing and life sciences to headquarters expansions and AI-powered data centers.
Why Some Utilities Are Now Looking at Flexible Loads
Some utilities are experimenting with flexible-load strategies that could help data centers and manufacturers access capacity faster without waiting years for new generation.
First Person: UCB's $2 Billion Bet on Gwinnett County
For Philippe Mantelet, a $2 billion biologics facility represents more than a capital investment. In this interview, he outlines how UCB approaches site selection — balancing speed, infrastructure, talent, and long-term certainty — to make decisions that hold up well beyond the initial buildout.
Buildings Are Becoming Part of the Competitive Stack
AI is changing how facilities are operated, maintained, and optimized—turning buildings from fixed assets into active participants in business performance.
Rethinking Environmental Review
Why Streamlined Environmental Review Is Now a Strategic Imperative.
What Korean Manufacturers Underestimate About Building in America
U.S. expansion decisions are increasingly won—or lost—before site selection begins. For Korean manufacturers, aligning capital strategy with infrastructure realities has become the defining challenge in executing successful investments.
The Infrastructure Bet: Three Stories About Where American Industry Is Being Rebuilt
Episode 13 of The Site & Facility Planning Podcast explores Oklahoma’s $4B aluminum smelter bet, active infrastructure for grid constraints, and workforce training for clean energy facilities.
Defense Spending Surge Is Reshaping U.S. Industrial Investment
A massive shift is underway in U.S. industrial investment — and it’s being driven by defense.
Contributed Content
How Ohio Is Powering America’s Next Industrial Wave
With surging demand, business-friendly legislation and billions in investment, Ohio is building the energy infrastructure that factories, data centers and advanced manufacturers need to grow.
Contributed Content
In Montgomery County, Maryland, Companies are Shaping the Next Generation of Discoveries
Home to one of the nation’s largest biopharma clusters, Montgomery County is positioning itself for the next era of life sciences innovation.
Contributed Content
Kansas: A Faster Path from Aerospace Concept to Commercialization
From advanced air mobility to defense manufacturing, Kansas offers aerospace companies a tightly integrated environment built for execution.
The AI Arms Race Comes to Your Backyard
The race to build AI infrastructure is no longer just a technology story — it’s a geopolitical one.
AI Isn’t Killing Jobs—It’s Reshaping Hiring
AI isn’t eliminating jobs—at least not yet. But it is quietly reshaping how companies hire, and where those jobs show up.
How AI Is Reshaping the Way Communities Compete for Investment
Why earned media—not websites—is becoming the front door to site selection.
2026 Outlook: Biomanufacturing Isn’t Slowing — It’s Getting More Selective
What looks like a slowdown in biomanufacturing is better understood as a filter. Demand remains, but companies are moving more carefully — aligning new projects with production needs, regulatory realities, infrastructure capacity, and long-term.
JLL, InfraPartners Bet Prefab Can Cut AI Data Center Timelines by Up to 22 Months
A new build model overlaps site work and fabrication to accelerate AI infrastructure delivery.
Contributed Content
Potential Energy: Why Power Availability is Driving Site Selection
In today’s economic development landscape, power availability is no longer an item on a checklist — it's often the entire list.
Advanced Manufacturing Isn’t a Buzzword—It’s a Different Location Strategy
Why companies expanding today must rethink labor, sites, and operational resilience.
Industries of the Future Aren’t Speculative Anymore
How federal capital, private investment, and place are quietly reshaping U.S. manufacturing.
The Geography of Packaging: Why Location Strategy Matters More Than Ever
Smarter expansion begins with smarter location decisions — especially as automation, sustainability, and supply chain risk redefine the packaging industry.
In Focus: Korea’s Blueprint for Sustainable U.S. Expansion
Why advanced manufacturers are treating site selection as a long-term business strategy, not a transaction.
The New Industrial Revolution in Biotech
Domestic drug production is becoming a matter of national security, not just market strategy.
