CLEVELAND — In just three months, the landscape at Jergens Inc. has changed. The factory floor is now filled with equipment and employees, some of whom have been relocated from the company’s California operations.
“All of this was in California in April. It’s all now here,” said Jack Schron, president of Jergens Inc., about new equipment.
The Cleveland-based manufacturer has shifted operations back to Northeast Ohio, moving away from sourcing parts abroad to producing entirely in the United States.
“These are the most precise electric screwdrivers in the world. They are being made right here in Cleveland, Ohio,” Schron said. “They are not being made any place else in the world.”
The company has not only invested in new machinery but also in people. Several workers from the California plant are now based in Cleveland, contributing to what Schron calls a manufacturing resurgence.
“I think manufacturing is alive and well and coming back strong,” he said.
In April, former President Donald Trump announced a new tariff policy aimed at bolstering domestic production and bringing jobs back to the U.S. Since then, major corporations like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Apple, and Chobani have pledged to increase their U.S.-based operations.
Ethan Karp, COO of MAGNET, an organization that supports regional manufacturers, said the momentum is real, even amid continued uncertainty around tariffs.
“A lot of our companies are doing extremely well,” Karp said. “We’re working with so many companies right now helping them put in the technology and helping them recruit the people that they need… it’s more than I’ve ever seen in the last decade doing this work.”
For Schron, the growth is both professional and personal.
“In this room we’re sitting in we have 84 years of manufacturing history. And it had peaks and valleys. But right now I believe we are in the process of coming right back up to the peak,” he said.
He believes the renewed national conversation around manufacturing is helping re-energize industries that have long been a cornerstone of Northeast Ohio’s economy.
News 5 covered some of the initial concerns as the uncertainty of tariffs first lingered.
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