Panel: American Factory – Documentary Screening and Discussion

Screening followed by discussion with Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar, American Factory directors; Meg Rithmire, HBS BGIE professor and China expert; and Kris Rondeau, director of AFSCME New England.

The film profiles the launch of the Fuyao Glass factory in Moraine, Ohio, sited in a former General Motors plant. To launch the factory, Fuyao brought in hundreds of experienced Chinese factory workers to Ohio to train their U.S. counterparts. The film provides the economic and social issues this sparked, including management challenges associated with labor dynamics, a unionization effort, and managing an operation with workers from two very different cultures.