The Titanium Economy

The future of the American economy is hiding in an unlikely place: a new, reinvented manufacturing sector.

It's easy to name the companies that have dominated the stock market over the past ten years. Apple, Google, Amazon, Netflix, Facebook--these are all among the best-performing stocks over a decade or more. But here's a company that has performed just as well: HEICO. Or what about Trex? Ever heard of Casella? Or Graco?

These lesser known companies are all part of a sector known as industrial tech, and together they offer a surprisingly bright future not just to investors but to workers as well as our broader communities. Their products include aerospace parts, color enamels, and recycled plastic lumber; things consumers don't necessarily buy but which we all rely on for the functioning of our economy. And it turns out it's a booming business.

In The Titanium Economy, McKinsey partners Asutosh Padhi, Gaurav Batra, and Nick Santhanam reveal this little-understood, under-appreciated and under-valued sector of the economy for what it really is: a reliable source of high-paying, domestic jobs and soaring stock prices, a bright spot in an economy that has too often been buffeted by external shocks. The shining stars in this sector leverage technology while investing in people and processes to drive competitiveness. With retail struggling and internet companies bedeviled by scandals, these companies provide a recipe for both stability and long-term profitable growth, while also strengthening the backbone of an economic supply chain that has been under siege for several years. This book sets right the perception that good American jobs have disappeared, and paints an attainable picture of better times to come for the industry, its constituents and our economy at large.