248: Reindustrialization and Building in the Midwest with Chris Nolte, Co-Founder of Bloom

The reindustrialization movement is fully underway, and cities like Detroit are leading the charge. But how do we accelerate the timescale it takes to get America back to the ‘golden days’ of manufacturing?

The key, as you’ll hear in this episode, isn’t to keep looking back at the past. It’s to use the tools and resources we have today with a healthy dose of industry collaboration.

Joining this episode is Chris Nolte, Co-Founder of Bloom, an operations-as-a-service platform created in Detroit to help companies build, ship, and service products through a vetted network of service partners. You’ll hear a bit about Chris’ unique story as an Iraq war veteran who originally started in the business of selling electric bikes. But he noticed, as we all saw during COVID, that global supply chains are more delicate than we imagined. And that’s why reshoring and reindustrialization in the US is gaining more traction.

Chris shares his thoughts on how the US can accelerate manufacturing by saying “yes” more often, taking advantage of new technology, and collaborating across industries. You’ll also hear about how Detroit’s industrial background is making a comeback and even drawing in talent from the coasts to bolster American manufacturing.

In this episode, find out:

• A little history lesson of Detroit and how reindustrialization has revitalized the area
• How COVID changed the public’s perception of global supply chains and the need for a stronger industry in the US
• Why Chris co-founded Bloom to help fill in some of the gaps needed for US manufacturers to thrive
• Chris’ take on how “custom at scale” can become more feasible in the US
• How Chris went from serving in the military to starting an e-bike company before starting Bloom
• What’s holding back the US from becoming a manufacturing powerhouse like it was in the past
• What the US can learn from China’s approach to manufacturing and why the US needs to say “yes” more
• The culture change that’s needed and why the next generation of workers is key to making that happen
• Why we need to be open-minded and stop looking back at the past if we want to accelerate reindustrialization
• The secrets behind Detroit’s resurgence in manufacturing and why the Midwest needs to shout out about its successes 

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Tweetable Quotes:

• “It's amazing that we're doing electric vehicles and solar panels and all these sorts of things, but if we're not making that stuff here, we're really missing the boat. We're missing so much of an opportunity.”
• “Don't get caught up in the past because the ingredients are very different today.”
• “Try to be open-minded because it's a very different world today and what we couldn't do yesterday, we potentially can do today and tomorrow because we have different resources.”

Links & mentions:

• Bloom, an operations-as-a-service platform for hard tech innovators
• Newlab Detroit, a hub with state-of-the-art prototyping equipment, work spaces, and specially pitted pilot sites
• Episode 237 with Dr. John Liu of MIT, Manufacturing Happy Hour episode on how higher education is shaping the future of manufacturing
• Future in the Making, Chris’ YouTube channel
• Reindustrialize, a conference produced by Designing America that took place in July 2025 

Make sure to visit http://manufacturinghappyhour.com for detailed show notes and a full list of resources mentioned in this episode. Stay Innovative, Stay Thirsty.