There’s One Key Reason To Buy American In 2017

Jul 24 2017, 1:36 AM4 min read

With the Trump administration’s “Made in America” campaign in full swing, attention has turned to the Pentagon’s global supply chain. The reasons to Buy American might be a little more compelling than you expected….

In 1933 Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the 1933 Buy American Act which required the Pentagon to purchase US-manufactured products for anything over a $3,500 threshold. The military supply chain looked very different to today’s, over 80 years later.

The law required that the U.S. military’s entire supply chain be sourced domestically, from the textiles that go into uniforms to the raw materials that are used to create tanks and other weaponry. Roosevelt’s intention was clear: firstly, the law was a patriotic one, with the ‘buy American’ message resonating as strongly in the 1930s as it does among voters today. More importantly, the Act was designed to ensure a strong manufacturing base, critical to the country’s recovery from the Great Depression.

Roosevelt said in 1940: “Guns, planes, ships and many other things have to be built in the factories and the arsenals of America. They have to be produced by workers and managers and engineers with the aid of machines which, in turn, have to be built by hundreds of thousands of workers throughout the land.”

Is Buy American realistic in 2017?

While the 1933 law is ostensibly still in effect, the military supply chain draws heavily on foreign materials and components. In 2013, for example, nearly $20 billion (6.4 per cent of all U.S. military spending) went to overseas entities. This is achieved through the use of exemptions or waivers, which guarantee flexibility and security of supply.

After the White House published a “Buy American” executive order in April, the Office of Management and Budget provided new guidance to federal agencies on enforcing the existing laws, limiting exemptions and maximising the procurement of U.S. products. The Pentagon’s acquisitions office has reportedly instructed its contractors to put in place a training program on how to comply with the 1933 law.

However, there are also a number of materials that simply can’t be found or manufactured domestically, such as the rare earth element needed for flame-resistant rayon fibres used in uniforms (sourced solely from Austria), night vision goggles (91 per cent of which are from China), or lithium ion batteries, semiconductors, microchips and even missile propellant.

Is cybersecurity a reason to Buy American?

Two of the reasons for the 1933 Buy American Act – building patriotism and manufacturing jobs – still remain valid and are a key focus on Trump’s administration, but in today’s world of hi-tech military hardware, there’s a third, critical factor – cybersecurity.

Commentators are alarmed by the presence of Chinese-made microchips in America’s most advanced fighter jets, while components from other foreign entities can be found in American communication satellites, unmanned drones, bomb disposal robots and other gear. Futurist and author Peter Singer, predicted that these microchips could be used to “blow American fighter jets from the sky” if the two countries were ever to go to war.

While very little can be done about the rare-earth materials and metals found only outside of the U.S., it remains to be seen whether the Made in America push will lead to supply chains for vital components including microchips and semiconductors re-shored to the U.S.

In other news this week…

Supply Chain Management software market booming

Analyst firm Gartner has announced that the supply chain management (SCM) software market will reach $13 billion by the end of this year, up 11% from 2016.
Gartner has also predicted the market will exceed $19 billion by 2021.
Growth is being driven by a demand for agility, as vendors move to cloud-first or could-only deployment models, while end-users are becoming more comfortable about cloud security and recognise the benefits of software-as-a-service solutions.