The world is entering an industrial transformation unlike any we have seen before. We need more power infrastructure, more manufacturing capacity, stronger supply chains and new systems for energy, mobility and digital infrastructure.
Across the United States, Mexico and Canada (USMCA), companies and governments are putting capital into new manufacturing capacity, infrastructure, energy and supply chains. The ambition is clear: build more, build closer to home and make the region more resilient.
But there is a less visible challenge. We need to rebuild the industrial capabilities that allow those investments to deliver their full value.
Machines can be bought. Materials can be sourced. But the expertise to design with them, apply them efficiently and turn them into better products takes years to develop.
The next phase of the industrial transformation will therefore depend not only on what we build, but on how we build it.
The value of a material is what we do with it
Stainless steel offers a useful example of this broader challenge.
It is already fundamental to modern industry because it is strong, durable and resistant to corrosion. It is used in power infrastructure, transportation, manufacturing, construction, food production and countless other applications where reliability matters.
But simply having access to stainless steel is not enough. The real opportunity is understanding how its properties can improve the end product – and that requires innovation in how materials are designed, applied and integrated into products and processes.
We work with customers to understand the challenges behind an application – from product design and material selection to manufacturing and performance. This leads to innovative approaches and better opportunities for our customers – anything from recommending tighter grains to boost aesthetics and consistency, to changing stainless steel grades to ensure stability in geometrically complex applications.
The point is not simply to develop a new material. It is to solve a real customer problem by combining our expertise in stainless steel with the customer's knowledge of their application. Innovation happens when these capabilities come together.
As industries adopt new materials and technologies, these partnerships will become increasingly important. The ability to understand, integrate and apply new solutions will determine how quickly investment translates into better products, stronger businesses and real-world outcomes.
The industrial knowledge gap is becoming a strategic issue
There is another challenge that is less visible than a new factory or a new technology: who will operate them?
Across advanced economies, industrial workforces are aging. At the same time, manufacturing requires increasingly sophisticated skills. The people designing, operating and maintaining modern production systems need to understand materials, automation, engineering, data and increasingly complex processes.
The knowledge accumulated by experienced workers over decades cannot be replaced overnight. Nor should we assume that education systems will automatically produce the skills that modern manufacturing requires.
Industry has a role to play.
Companies need to work more closely with universities, community colleges, technical schools and other education providers to create pathways into modern industrial careers. The goal should not be to train people for one company's specific job. It should be to build transferable capabilities that strengthen entire industrial ecosystems.
This matters particularly in the USMCA region, where new investment is creating an opportunity to rebuild manufacturing capacity at the same time as the workforce needed to support it.
We should not only be building the next generation of factories. We should be building the next generation of industrial expertise alongside them.
Better materials can deliver better outcomes
This capability agenda also changes how we should think about resource efficiency and circularity.
The most sustainable material is not necessarily the one with the best story on paper. It is the one that delivers the right performance over its lifetime and can continue creating value afterwards.
Stainless steel illustrates this well. It is highly durable and can be recycled repeatedly without losing its fundamental properties. At Outokumpu, recycled steel makes up the vast majority of our raw material input.
That matters because recycling is not only about reducing waste. It is a way of keeping valuable materials in productive use, reducing dependence on virgin resources and making supply chains more resilient.
But circularity also depends on design and application. A product that lasts longer, uses material efficiently and is designed with its eventual recovery in mind can create significantly more value over its lifetime.
This is why I see circularity less as an end in itself and more as part of a better industrial model.
The goal is not simply to make better materials. It is to make better use of them – and keep their value in the economy for as long as possible.
North America can demonstrate a new industrial model
The USMCA region has many of the ingredients required for this next phase of industrial development.
The United States brings scale, technology and innovation, capital and a large manufacturing base. Canada has significant natural resources, energy and industrial capabilities. Mexico is deeply integrated into North American manufacturing and global supply chains.
These strengths are complementary.
Trusted regional supply chains that connect resources, materials, manufacturing, expertise and customers underpin industrial resilience. As countries around the world reconsider their supply chains, it will be critical for decisionmakers to focus on investing in stronger ecosystems that create more value locally and regionally and thereby are better equipped to withstand disruption.
And the lesson extends beyond the USMCA region.
Every region trying to expand manufacturing, strengthen infrastructure and make its economy more resource-efficient will face the same fundamental question: do we have the capability to turn investment and technology into better industrial outcomes?
Build capability alongside capacity
The industrial transformation ahead will be measured in factories, power systems, infrastructure and products. But behind all of them will be something less visible: people who know how to design, manufacture, apply and reuse materials effectively.
That is where North America will have an opportunity to lead.
We can build more manufacturing capacity while developing the skills and expertise needed to use advanced materials better. We can strengthen regional supply chains while keeping more value in circulation. We can improve industrial performance while using resources more intelligently.
This is not about choosing between competitiveness and better environmental outcomes. The opportunity is to achieve both by building an industrial system that creates more value from every material, every worker and every investment.
The next industrial era will not be defined only by the technologies we invent or the factories we build.
It will be defined by our ability to turn those investments into better outcomes – and to build the capabilities that make them possible.