I grew up in a family printing business. Printing is a manufacturing industry just like anything else, with equipment of various sorts at every step of the production chain. Even in the 80s, when the business was going strong,
most of the equipment we used was from Germany or Japan.
Sure there were a few odds and ends made in America, things like X-Acto knives, or wax melting machines or something. Paper, ink, and a few other chemicals used for various parts of the production processed were usually sourced from the U.S. or Canada IIR.
But the presses, big cutting and binding machines? Every single one was from overseas: Heidelberg, Hamada, Ryobi, others. It was simply impossible to get machines of the quality and precision from the U.S. This often meant multi-week downtimes for aging machines that needed parts replaced or repaired, waiting for a single roller or a latch or something while it was shipped from the home country.
As things moved more and more digital, the front-end equipment likewise became more and more foreign made.
In my lifetime, the U.S. never owned the entire vertical supply and manufacturing chain in that industry. I'm not sure if it ever did.
Sure there were a few odds and ends made in America, things like X-Acto knives, or wax melting machines or something. Paper, ink, and a few other chemicals used for various parts of the production processed were usually sourced from the U.S. or Canada IIR.
But the presses, big cutting and binding machines? Every single one was from overseas: Heidelberg, Hamada, Ryobi, others. It was simply impossible to get machines of the quality and precision from the U.S. This often meant multi-week downtimes for aging machines that needed parts replaced or repaired, waiting for a single roller or a latch or something while it was shipped from the home country.
As things moved more and more digital, the front-end equipment likewise became more and more foreign made.
In my lifetime, the U.S. never owned the entire vertical supply and manufacturing chain in that industry. I'm not sure if it ever did.