In the typical production supply chain for consumer products, of which apparel production is a good example, the higher-value, pre-manufacturing activities like designing, engineering, and branding, and post-manufacturing activities like marketing, warehousing, transporting, and retailing happen in the United States, while the mostly lower-end manufacturing and assembly activities take place abroad.

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Wendel is the post-industrial incarnation of a manufacturing group that, like Saint-Gobain, is more than 300 years old.

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Others, such as Terry Nichols Clark, of the University of Chicago, stress the pleasures of the city as a reason to live there: entertainment, they say, can replace manufacturing in the post-industrial city, providing both jobs and fun.

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Once known as Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing, 3M makes products as varied as Post-it Notes, stethoscopes, touch-screen displays and security devices.

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She noted that manufacturing and retail, two sectors that showed strong post-2009 recoveries, have seen their sales growth slow down so far this year.

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