YOU SAY YOU WANT TO ENGAGE MANUFACTURERS. SO WHY DON’T THEY COME?

Every few months, someone tells us: “We want to include manufacturers, but they never show up.” Here is our honest answer. Engagement is not an invitation. It is a structure. And if that structure is broken, people will not come.

The industry often frames manufacturer engagement as a mystery. We invited them. We offered a seat at the table. But no one came.

What is rarely asked is why that table feels uninviting in the first place.

Too often, manufacturers are asked to join a process that has already been defined. The problem has already been framed. The solutions are halfway built. The decision-making structure is set. Input becomes a formality, not a real opportunity to shape what happens.

The issue is not disinterest. It is disempowerment.

Imagine being asked to validate a strategy you had no hand in creating. To give your time and insight without clarity on how decisions are made. To participate in a system that could ultimately use your presence as proof of inclusion, even if your ideas were not reflected.

This is not a hypothetical. It happens all the time.

At FPC, we believe engagement is earned. Not through invitations or incentives, but through shared purpose, clarity, and consent. It starts with asking different questions. Not “How do we get manufacturers to show up?” but “What are we asking them to be part of?”

Manufacturers do not need another invitation.

They need structures that reflect their realities, respect their agency, and give them a meaningful role in shaping what comes next.

That is what we are building.