Proximity to consumers gives cities a strategic advantage for industries that add weight (e.g., water in beverages) late in production. This minimizes shipping costs for heavy final products, attracting companies like Ocean Spray to Allentown.
Allentown's "form-based" zoning code regulates buildings' physical form and aesthetics rather than their internal use. This modern approach allows greater flexibility, making it possible to integrate light manufacturing into neighborhoods without disrupting their character.
Allentown's mayor argues that moving factories to isolated parks made manufacturing work "invisible" to children. This lack of daily exposure contributed to a decline in youth interest in these careers. Reintegrating industry into communities can restore visibility and appeal.
Long before the modern chip industry, Allentown was a key site for mass-producing transistors, the precursors to semiconductors. This history provides the region with a "muscle memory" and foundational talent pool relevant to today's push for reshoring advanced manufacturing.
Before the post-COVID reshoring push, the 2010s saw a significant but now largely forgotten "maker" movement centered on 3D printing and artisanal manufacturing. This earlier enthusiasm laid some cultural and practical groundwork for the current industrial policy focus.
Urban areas are better suited for smaller-footprint component manufacturing rather than massive final assembly plants. This strategy aligns with cities' available real estate and helps de-risk national supply chains by diversifying the sources of essential parts.
Allentown first secured a small road safety grant, forcing the city to build data analysis and partnership skills. This new internal capacity was directly transferable and essential for successfully applying for a much larger $20 million federal economic development grant.
Allentown's historic industrial buildings were designed for "gravity flow manufacturing." Raw materials were loaded on the top floor, and as the product gained weight during assembly, it moved down subsequent floors for finishing and shipping, a clever use of vertical space and physics.