China has 130 million migrant workers-the largest migration in human history. In Factory Girls, Leslie T. Chang, a former correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Beijing, tells the story of these workers primarily through the lives of two young women, whom she follows over the course of three years as they attempt to rise from the assembly lines of Dongguan, an industrial city in China's Pearl River Delta.As she tracks their lives, Chang paints...

"Through the survey of various industry and societal topics, [the book] crafts a unique vision for the industry. By journeying through where manufacturing has been and where it is presently, Trotman takes the reader to where it can go. From creating a more diverse workforce by recruiting younger generations to widening the door to include more women, Trotman's take on the future of manufacturing is not just idealistic, it's realistic. Made with the...

Shaking the very foundation of a men-only company, an accomplished business woman attempts to contemporize a manufacturing company.

"It's easy to name the companies that have dominated the stock market over the past ten years. Apple, Google, Amazon, Netflix, Facebook--these are all among the best-performing stocks over a decade or more. But here's a company that has performed just as well: HEICO. Or what about Trex? Ever heard of Casella? Or Laitram? These lesser known companies are all part of a sector known as industrial tech, and together they offer a surprisingly bright future...

China is now the biggest foreign player in Africa: largest trade partner, largest infrastructure financier, and fastest-growing source of foreign direct investment. Chinese entrepreneurs are flooding into Africa, investing in long-term assets, such as factories and heavy equipment. The fact that China sees Africa not for its poverty but for its potential wealth is a striking departure from the attitude of the West, in particular the United States....

For much of the 20th century, the Chicagoland area was a manufacturing mecca due to its central geographic location and ready access to rail and water transportation. The city and suburbs mass-produced a wide range of products, including appliances, bicycles, electronics, furniture, globes, pianos, pinball machines, radios, railroad cars, sporting goods, telephones, televisions, typewriters, tools, toys, tractors, and watches. This book traces the...

"We must cut carbon emissions to halt climate change. But they aren't just produced by driving a car or heating a home. Upfront carbon--all emissions involved in manufacturing an item--can dwarf operating emissions, which is why when you look at the world through the lens of upfront carbon, everything changes."--

Community development expert Ilana Preuss explains how local leaders can revitalize their downtowns or neighborhood main streets by bringing in and supporting small-scale manufacturing. Small-scale manufacturing businesses help create thriving places, with local business ownership opportunities and well-paying jobs that other business types can't fulfill.

Carmen Durán works the graveyard shift in one of Tijuana's 800 maquiladoras; she is one of six million women around the world who labor for poverty wages in the factories of transnational corporations. After making television components all night, Carmen comes home to a dirt-floor shack she built out of cast-off garage doors from the U.S., in a neighborhood with no sewage lines or electricity. She suffers from on-the-job kidney damage and lead poisoning...