New Identity

Manufacturing has been at the center of our work for the past decade. For us, that has always meant the networks of people, companies, services, resources, and infrastructure that anchor the business of making things, and our goal has been to build those networks as a source of wealth and economic mobility for workers, small business owners, and their communities.

Traditional manufacturing is often built around centralized facilities, high volume output, and growth as the primary measure of success. Those models can generate wealth, but wealth on its own has not been enough to protect people and places from inequality, disruption, or instability, especially as market volatility, supply chain breakdowns, and other disruptions become more frequent.

In response, in September 2025 we sunset Urban Manufacturing Alliance to become Mechanism. Over this next decade, we are moving from serving the manufacturing sector as an intermediary to working with communities as a guide and convener, building production ecosystems rooted in relationships, governance, and flows of value that shape how production happens, who participates, and who benefits.

We believe production should serve people and place, not the other way around. That means building systems that honor the interdependence of people, place, and planet, so that production can sustain life now and for generations to come.