West Michigan

What does manufacturing actually look like in America? I went to West Michigan to find out. In five factories over a few days, I saw it span aerospace, marine, industrial, consumer, and recycling.

Watch on YouTube

A single-engine Cessna parked on wet tarmac, a man walking past its wing
Three people filming beside a CNC machine, one holding a boom microphone overhead
Blue sorting machinery inside a recycling plant, beside a mound of loose recyclables
A camera rig and lights trained on a man seated on a stool for an interview inside a factory
The green hull of a yacht suspended overhead in a boatbuilding hall, workers below
Three men in hard hats and hi-vis vests talking outside a metal building
A large American flag hung above a workbench and red tool chests in a shop
Hands on the controls in a small aircraft cockpit, farmland through the window
Hands holding a pickleball paddle with a dark carbon-fibre face