Made in USA News, Oct. 27–28, 2026: Bracco Picks North Carolina, Michigan's Defense Push, and Flat Factories in the Richmond Fed Survey

The biggest Made in USA story of the last day comes from a small North Carolina city. On Tuesday, Bracco, a Milan-based diagnostic imaging company, chose Sanford for its first U.S. manufacturing plant: $230 million and 200 jobs. Also in this roundup: Helix Electric broke ground on a fabrication campus in rural Alabama, two Michigan companies opened defense sites, and the Richmond Fed found factories in the Mid-Atlantic and Carolinas treading water in October. Every figure below comes from the linked release or report, with its date.

Why did Bracco choose Sanford, North Carolina?

North Carolina Department of Commerce and The News & Observer, October 27, 2026. Governor Josh Stein announced that Bracco will invest $230 million to open its first U.S. location in the Lee County city of Sanford. The sterile plant will make injectable contrast media, the drugs that make blood vessels and organs show up clearly on scans. Bracco, founded in 1927, has headquarters in Milan and production sites in Europe, Asia and Canada. The state's release says building in the U.S. will mean shorter delivery times and lower transportation costs for American hospitals.

What the deal includes, according to the two sources:

• Jobs: 200 positions in manufacturing, engineering, technical roles, quality, warehousing and administration. The News & Observer reported they will be created between 2028 and 2031 at a minimum average wage of $103,164.
• Payroll: a potential annual payroll impact of more than $20.6 million for the region.
• Incentive: a Job Development Investment Grant worth up to $2,859,300 over 12 years, paid only after the state verifies each year that Bracco met its job and investment targets.
• Economic impact: the state estimates the project will grow North Carolina's economy by $1.78 billion over the grant's 12-year term.

For shoppers, North Carolina's long-standing food makers are easier to find: Mt. Olive still packs pickles in Mount Olive, and Texas Pete hot sauce comes from Winston-Salem. Browse all products made in North Carolina.

What is Helix Electric building in Alabama?

Office of Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, October 27, 2026. California-based electrical contractor Helix Electric broke ground on a $45.3 million facility in Jackson County, in northeast Alabama, that will create 160 jobs. The Advanced Fabrication Campus in Hollywood, Alabama, will manufacture prefabricated electrical components and large modular electrical assemblies used in construction and industrial projects. According to the Alabama Department of Commerce, its products will include:

• underground duct banks and duct bank risers
• hangers and electrical devices
• modular electrical skids

The company said the rural site puts it closer to its existing teams and East Coast customers. Jackson County is one of Alabama's designated Target Counties, which the state uses to steer investment to rural areas. CEO Boris Shekhter said the company is "making a long-term commitment to the people, the families and the future of this region."

Building electrical assemblies in a factory and shipping them to job sites turns construction work into manufacturing work, and this project puts that work in a rural county. Alabama makers in our directory include Conecuh smoked sausage from Evergreen and Wickles pickles. See products made in Alabama.

What happened at Saab's Grayling plant?

9&10 News, October 27, 2026. Saab Inc. held a soft opening on Tuesday for its munitions plant in Grayling, Michigan, with Governor Gretchen Whitmer and U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman touring the site. CEO Erik Smith said the buildings are finished and the work has shifted to installing equipment and getting suppliers to deliver.

• Investment: more than $115 million. Smith said most of the money spent so far has gone to Michigan and Northern Michigan supply chains.
• Products: final assembly, integration and testing of 84 mm shoulder-fired weapons and precision strike systems for the U.S. Department of Defense.
• Timing: Smith expects production lines to be running in May next year, with an official opening in the spring.
• Jobs: more than 40 Michiganders already work in Grayling, and Saab "will add at least 30 more as we ramp up to full production," Smith said.
• Room to grow: phase one uses 65 acres of a 445-acre site.

What is JVIS Defense & Aerospace?

Breaking Defense and the office of U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain, October 27, 2026. JVIS, a Michigan supplier of automotive components, opened JVIS Defense & Aerospace and a new Tech Center in Auburn Hills. McClain's office said the expansion is expected to create more than 1,000 jobs in Michigan. Breaking Defense reported that:

• the new company will run as a standalone business, separate from the automotive side;
• its first contract, worth $13.2 million, is with the U.S. Army's Ground Vehicle Systems Center for the "Silent Watch" auxiliary power unit, which turns diesel into electric power so vehicles can run systems quietly without idling generators;
• the launch follows Michigan's new five-year strategy from its Office of Defense and Aerospace Innovation, which aims to move the state's auto industry into defense work.

Michigan's consumer makers are a reminder of how deep that industrial base runs. Stormy Kromer still sews caps in Ironwood, Better Made fries chips in Detroit, and Uncle Goose makes wooden blocks in Grand Rapids. See our ranked list of the best products made in Michigan.

Are factories in the Mid-Atlantic and Carolinas growing?

Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, October 27, 2026. Not really. The Richmond Fed's composite manufacturing index stayed at -2 in October, the same as in September. The survey covers Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington, D.C. and most of West Virginia, and each index is the share of firms reporting an increase minus the share reporting a decrease.

SeptemberOctober

Each index is the share of responding firms reporting an increase minus the share reporting a decrease. About 120–130 firms respond.

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, October 27, 2026

View the data

Index	September 2026	October 2026
Composite index	-2	-2
Shipments	-5	0
New orders	-6	-8
Employment	7	3
Backlog of orders	-10	-21
Capacity utilization	-7	-7
Local business conditions	-6	-8
Wages	17	20

• Shipments improved from -5 to 0.
• New orders slipped from -6 to -8, and the backlog of orders fell sharply, from -10 to -21.
• Employment stayed positive but slowed, from 7 to 3. The wages index rose from 17 to 20.
• Prices: firms reported prices paid rising at an average 7.12% over the past 12 months (7.08% in September). Prices received rose 5.27% (4.19% in September). Firms expect both to slow over the next year.
• Outlook: the expectations indexes for shipments and new orders stayed positive, but the future local business conditions index fell from 10 to 7.

The mix looks a lot like the Dallas Fed survey from Texas that we covered in yesterday's roundup: demand is soft, and input costs are still climbing faster than selling prices. For the long-run picture, see which states have the most manufacturing jobs and our chart of the factory construction boom.

What does this mean for shoppers?

None of today's projects will put a new product on a store shelf soon. Bracco's jobs arrive from 2028, Saab's lines start next spring, and Helix's skids end up inside buildings, not shopping carts. What they show is where new factory work is heading: medical supplies, grid and construction equipment, and defense. The survey data is a reminder that existing factories are also feeling cost pressure.

For everyday buying, the most useful tools are still the label and the maker's own claims. Our guide to shopping American-made on Amazon walks through the checks, and our best-of lists rank verified products by category and by state, such as pantry staples and sauces.