Walmart today convened a broad group of individuals and organizations representing government, business and nongovernmental organizations from across the country to present a Policy Roadmap to Renew U.S. Manufacturing. The meeting included a bipartisan conversation about the current challenges and opportunities in the U.S. manufacturing sector as well as case studies of successful collaboration among key stakeholders.

“As we’ve worked over the last four years alongside our suppliers toward our goal to source an additional $250 billion in products that support American jobs, we’ve learned a great deal about the challenges our suppliers face in domestic manufacturing,” said Cindi Marsiglio, Walmart vice president for U.S. Sourcing and Manufacturing. “The good news is we’ve also learned how to overcome the challenges and, because of our experience, Walmart is uniquely positioned to help facilitate broad engagement in accelerating the expansion of U.S. manufacturing.”

According to analysis conducted by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), decreasing policy barriers to domestic manufacturing creates an opportunity to recapture approximately $300 billion in consumer goods that are currently imported, including furniture, cookware and sporting goods, potentially resulting in the creation of an estimated 1.5 million American jobs. The analysis, which laid the foundation for the policy roadmap, leveraged BCG’s expertise in economic policy and manufacturing along with Walmart’s sourcing data and included interviews with merchants, suppliers and other policy experts.

Walmart’s Policy Roadmap to Renew U.S. Manufacturing offers a comprehensive approach to tackling the major barriers that keep companies from manufacturing more consumer goods in the United States. The roadmap identifies the highest-impact policy barriers as workforce, coordination and financing, regulation, and tax and trade, and it proposes specific policies that have the potential to effectively accelerate and grow U.S. manufacturing.

Ivey supports effort

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey is on board.

“From day one, I have made it clear that I want to put the men and women of Alabama back to work,” Ivey said. “To do so requires business investment in our state. I appreciate companies like Walmart understanding the importance of investment right here in Alabama and in our people. We want businesses in Alabama not just to survive but to thrive, because when employers thrive so does our state; I look forward to seeing a thriving manufacturing sector return to Alabama.”

Walmart is putting forth some proposals that it says will put more American-made products in shopping carts. (Walmart)

The roadmap details 10 concrete policy actions that can be taken to address these barriers and goes a step further to suggest the appropriate entities, including federal, state and local governments, manufacturers and businesses, that must collaborate on those policy actions to effect meaningful change that will unlock greater growth and job creation in domestic manufacturing of consumer goods.

Last month, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon signaled the company’s intention to pursue policy proposals that help create a favorable climate for job creation in his remarks to more than 500 small- and medium-sized companies that attended Walmart’s fourth annual Open Call for U.S. products on June 28. “We are also committed to participating as a leader in the country when it comes to policy,” he said. “We believe that we should be one of the voices at the table and we want to help renew U.S. manufacturing and drive the creation of manufacturing jobs across the United States.”

According to data from its suppliers, approximately two-thirds of Walmart U.S. merchandise spending is for items that are made, assembled, sourced or grown in the U.S. In 2013, Walmart committed to sourcing an additional $250 billion over 10 years on products that support American jobs.

For more information on Walmart’s commitment to U.S. manufacturing, visit www.walmart.com/americanjobs.