What’s Really Holding Back Manufacturing in California? My Readers Had Thoughts.

When I asked whether manufacturing could make a comeback in California, I expected opinions. What I didn’t expect was how many of you would write back—with passion, perspective, and firsthand experience.
 
Several longtime brokers, business owners, and property operators reached out with stories spanning decades—many with a shared theme: California doesn’t make it easy to build or keep things here.
 
One former industrial broker recalled relocating factories throughout downtown Los Angeles in the 1980s. Then came the state’s cap-and-trade policy. Practically overnight, his relocation business dried up. Later, when he purchased a company that tested gas meters for regulatory compliance, he experienced the same policy from the other side—as a required vendor. “I saw the devastation of that rule from both careers,” he said.
 
Another reader, an industrial property owner and operator, offered this blunt assessment: “If I were younger, California wouldn’t be high on my list to start a manufacturing plant.” He lost his first building to a Caltrans eminent domain action, spending five years in court to get fair value. After relocating, his new site was downzoned for residential use, leaving him with a conditional use permit and uncertain future.
 
And then there were the comments about outsourcing—not just of jobs, but of environmental impact. One reader pointed out that many of the regulations we impose on manufacturers in California are simply sidestepped when products are made overseas. Industries like plating, painting, and circuit board production face strict scrutiny here—but far less abroad. “We all buy the China goods,” he said, “but we should at least admit we’re contributing to global environmental problems.”
 
It’s not all frustration, though. What stood out to me wasn’t just what these readers had endured—but how much they still cared. They aren’t bitter. They’re tired. Tired of unpredictable zoning, endless permitting delays, and policies that seem to penalize job creators.
 
In my previous column, I outlined five priorities for reviving manufacturing in California: regulatory reform, land use stability, energy reliability, workforce development, and targeted incentives. Based on your feedback, I’d add one more: listen to the people on the ground.
 
The decisions we make in city halls and state agencies ripple outward—sometimes for decades. Want to grow clean tech? Preserve industrial zoning. Want local jobs? Support the employers who are already here. Want sustainable supply chains? Don’t offshore our pollution.
 
California doesn’t need to be the cheapest place to manufacture. But it does need to be competitive, reliable, and forward-looking.
 
Manufacturing won’t return on sentiment alone. It requires trust, coordination, and smart policy. We still have the talent, the infrastructure, and the entrepreneurial spirit. What we need now is the will.
 
Let’s not lose the manufacturers we still have while we wait for the next reshoring trend to arrive. Let’s make California a place where building things is still possible—and worth it.

Allen C. Buchanan, SIOR, is a principal with Lee & Associates Commercial Real Estate Services in Orange. He can be reached at abuchanan@lee-associates.com or 714.564.7104. His website is allencbuchanan.blogspot.com.