Could this be the reason why there are fewer clients calling?

I agree fully with the title!  The foundation of the economy is natural resources.  On top of that, transforming those is very important as it creates jobs and a middle class.  There was no middle class prior to industrialization.

Some countries like the UK decided to let go manufacturing and promote higher level services, like finance and commerce.  Altough it was exciting for a while, it doesn't create anything and they are now in trouble.  They have reverted their policies.

Germany never gave up manufacturing and they are well positionned now.  They also have some lazy and drunk workers but manage anyway.  One factor helping them is the fact that they are enviromentally conscious.  They don't like buying from China because the know they polluted to manufacture, and that pollution was also caused by shipping the goods.  One way to replicate that in North America is to ensure that there are costs associated to this.  This will level the field somewhat and help promote buying locally.

The other factor is automation.  Germany uses a lot of advanced manufacturing techniques.  China figured that out and Foxconn is currently the most important robot buyer in the world.

From what I've seen in the semiconductor industry, we are way behind in term of manufacturing expertise too and I don't expect we will ever catch-up. Let's just make sure we will continue to be important players in order to share the wealth.  To do that, think about buying locally and ask you politicians to account for off-shore environmental costs.

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Yan