The New Blueprint for American Manufacturing

The economic upside of bringing manufacturing back to U.S. soil is undeniable. Manufacturing drives growth like no other sector — a successful revitalization of domestic manufacturing could boost U.S. GDP by $275 billion to $460 billion, and create up to 1.5 million new jobs. But the path to reshoring isn’t without obstacles. Skilled American workers are in increasingly short supply — by 2030, the U.S. is expected to have 2.1 million unfilled manufacturing jobs, even without major manufacturing expansion — and significantly more expensive than in countries like China and Mexico, where manufacturing wages are two to eight times lower. Meanwhile, as dependence on foreign manufacturing has grown, domestic capacity has declined: Since 1997, the number of manufacturing firms and plants in the U.S. has fallen by roughly 25 percent, and entire supply chains have shifted overseas. Yet, there is now growing determination among the private and public sector to finally overcome those challenges and revitalize U.S. manufacturing, as ongoing geopolitical tensions continue to highlight the risk of relying on our adversaries for the raw materials and labor to build the products we depend on every day. The Rise of Advanced Manufacturing Technologies Today, a new generation of digital manufacturing technologies is turning the tide. Nimble, leading-edge startups are developing novel technology to enable the U.S. to competitively produce goods at scale. Full stack, software-driven automation and robotics systems are narrowing labor gaps and boosting productivity. AI and computer vision are driving further efficiency by spotting microscopic defects in products and equipment that would otherwise go unnoticed, as well as identifying potential hazards to workplace safety. Startups are even reimagining workforce development, creating novel training models to meet the growing demand for skilled trades. VulcanForms, a digital manufacturing startup headquartered in Massachusetts, is at the center of this transformation. The company’s breakthrough platform combines additive manufacturing with precision machining, inspection, and finishing to turn raw materials into fully functional metal parts at industrial scale. This enables companies across aerospace, medical, and other critical industries to move from concept to finished product faster, while reducing reliance on foreign supply chains. Meet Kevin Kassekert: A CEO Leading U.S. Manufacturing’s Revival As CEO of VulcanForms, Kevin Kassekert is no stranger to the transformation of American manufacturing. Throughout his career, Kassekert has played key roles at two trailblazing companies that successfully built and scaled advanced manufacturing operations in the U.S. – Tesla and Redwood Materials. “I believe in the U.S.’ ability to produce complex products here at a competitive cost because I’ve been at companies that have done it,” he says. “This isn’t a return to the factories of the past. Today’s manufacturing is digital, automated, highly efficient, and located closer to the customer,” he says.

“The Factory Is the Product” Founded out of MIT research, VulcanForms has developed the world’s most powerful additive manufacturing system for metal — nearly 100 times the power of conventional platforms. A choreographed matrix of laser beams guided by sophisticated software fuses up to 20,000 layers of metal powder, each as thin as a human hair, into high-performance parts ranging from jet engine parts to wind turbine components. The company’s vertically integrated manufacturing ecosystem combines both additive and traditional subtractive manufacturing (which involves carving away material from solid metal blocks) to turn raw materials into finished, high-performance metal parts. This unified approach is significantly more efficient and up to 90% more sustainable than relying on additive or subtractive methods alone. To ensure more efficient material use without compromising part quality, VulcanForms reclaims unused powder from its additive manufacturing process and sends metal shavings from its machining operations through industrial recycling channels. The entire process is driven by a software-enabled design and production system that ensures consistency, traceability, and scale. Appointed as CEO in 2024, Kassekert brings extensive operational and manufacturing experience to the role. After beginning his career in semiconductor and solar panel manufacturing, Kassekert joined Tesla in 2012, just as the company was redefining what U.S.-based manufacturing could look like. After realizing that relying on a sprawling network of offshore suppliers wasn’t conducive to building an entirely novel (and significantly better) electric vehicle, Tesla took the unusual step of doing end-to-end production in-house at its Fremont, California, facility. The company committed early to automation and began manufacturing many components itself — from high-voltage cables to displays and fuses — allowing Tesla to move from prototype to production with unprecedented speed. As Tesla’s director of infrastructure development, Kassekert was given the ambitious task of locating and building the company’s first battery production facility — the now-famous Gigafactory. The goal was to supply enough batteries for the Model 3, which was to be Tesla’s first mass-market EV, at an annual production volume of 500,000 vehicles. Meeting that goal meant securing 35 gigawatt hours of lithium-ion batteries annually — more than the entire global supply at the time. “We had to essentially double the world’s capacity,” Kassekert says. He followed Tesla’s vertically integrated model to make it happen. Instead of building overseas, the company chose a site near Reno, Nevada (a three-hour drive from Tesla’s Fremont factory) to construct a 5.5-million-square-foot facility. There, Tesla partnered with Panasonic to co-locate battery cell production and assembly under one roof, enabling faster iterations, tighter quality control, and substantial cost savings — creating vertical integration by proximity. Advanced automation, coupled with close coordination between engineering and manufacturing teams, allowed the Gigafactory to operate with unprecedented speed and efficiency. “If Panasonic had built those 35 gigawatt hours in Osaka, Japan, all the raw materials would have had to be shipped there, then the batteries packaged and shipped back across the ocean, adding weeks and additional non-value added work to the overall production cost,” Kassekert says. With the entire ecosystem in one location, Tesla’s engineers could troubleshoot and improve systems in real time. The strategy paid off. Over time, Tesla drove battery production costs low enough to make the Model 3 feasible at scale. “We turned a mountain in Nevada into the world’s largest battery factory,” Kassekert says. “A lot of people thought it couldn’t be done in the U.S., much less in northern Nevada.” His biggest takeaway from the experience is that “the factory is the product.” By treating manufacturing innovation not as an afterthought but as a core strategy, companies can achieve what once seemed impossible. In 2020, Kassekert brought that philosophy to Redwood Materials, the battery recycling company founded by Tesla Co-Founder J.B. Straubel. As Chief Operating Officer, Kassekert oversaw construction of Redwood’s first factory, located not far from the Gigafactory, in Reno. Applying Tesla-like principles of efficiency and vertical integration, Redwood built a co-located system where valuable materials like lithium, nickel, and cobalt from old batteries and electronics were extracted alongside the production of new battery components. In his four years at Redwood, Kassekert helped the company expand from 12 to more than 1,000 employees, and become the first U.S. supplier in many years to produce lithium and nickel at commercial scale. When integrated with the company’s in-house machining, heat treatment, and surface finishing capabilities, VulcanForms’ end-to-end solution allows manufacturers to design and build nearly any precision part on-demand and domestically, cutting down reliance on international suppliers and streamlining complex supply chains. This model also brings unmatched speed. When one customer struggled to find a supplier for a complex heat exchanger, VulcanForms processed the design, 3D printed the part, completed post-production, and shipped it — all within 14 days. Components made by VulcanForms power similarly critical applications across defense, aerospace, semiconductors, consumer electronics, healthcare, and automotive sectors, including orthopedic implants, and titanium-based jet engine parts, and advanced alloys to build the thermal solutions used in advanced computing.

Drawing on his experience scaling operations at Redwood Materials and leading infrastructure and global HR at Tesla, Kassekert envisions expanding VulcanForms into a cornerstone of America’s advanced manufacturing revival. “Our goal is to build the TSMC of advanced metal manufacturing,” he says, referring to the Taiwanese semiconductor giant known for its world-class contract production. That vision could include a network of distributed micro-factories — small, flexible, and highly automated production hubs located near end customers. By decentralizing production, this model reduces logistics complexity, shortens delivery timelines, and reduces costs. “Instead of metal chips flying everywhere to end up with a product that’s probably 10% of the metal you started with, you’re taking powder and building close to the exact shape you want,” says Kassekert. “Any material not used can get put back into production.” The result: Up to 90% savings in material costs and a 50% reduction in energy use. Reinventing the Future The timing for an American manufacturing comeback is urgent. Recent geopolitical tensions and escalations in trade disputes make it even more apparent that reducing dependency on foreign manufacturing is a strategic necessity. Although large-scale investments in industrial infrastructure often rise or fall with broader economic conditions and investor confidence, Kassekert is optimistic. For the first time in decades, the trend of declining manufacturing facilities in the U.S. is showing signs of a reversal. Since January 2022, spending on new manufacturing construction has more than doubled. “Everything I’ve done for more than two decades has shown me that the U.S. has the ability to compete globally,” says Kassekert. “We have both the people and the leading-edge technology to allow for it.” For more on how VulcanForms is redefining American manufacturingFollow Eclipse on LinkedIn or sign up for Eclipse’s Newsletter for the latest on building the New Economy