Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap: Don't Count Manufacturing Out

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NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- In a special show taped on location at a Timken Steel (TKR) factory in Canton, Ohio, Jim Cramer reminded his "Mad Money" viewers that American manufacturing is alive and well and should be a part of every investor's portfolio.

Cramer said when many people think about technology, they think about stocks like Google (GOOG). But, in fact, technology is all around us and is playing a big part in turning American manufacturing into the low-cost leaders for many different goods, thanks, in part, to low-cost energy made possible by American natural gas. There's something comforting about steel and iron that just cannot be attained from a Web site, Cramer said.

That notion couldn't have been more true today, he noted, as Google announced a surprising earnings shortfall and did so via an accidental release of those earnings that caused the stock to be halted for three hours. Investors were fooled not one but twice by technology, said Cramer, which is why a show that's focusing on American might and muscle seems all the more relevant.

Executive Decision

In the "Executive Decision" segment, Cramer sat down with James Griffith, president and CEO of Timken Steel (TKR), the company that was kind enough to host "Mad Money" and provide Cramer with a firsthand account of American technology and manufacturing in action.

Griffith said he views Timken as a technology company, not a steel company. He said for nearly a hundred years the company just made bearings. But about a decade ago, it shifted from a product strategy to a market strategy, a move that resulted in an explosion of new products that now include bearings in NASA's latest Mars rover to the entire transmission assembly for Apache attack helicopters.

Griffith said Timken also builds the bearings that help the landing gear wheels on jet airplanes hit the ground and spin up from zero to 150 mph in a split second. In those cases, he added, failure is not an option.

When asked about China's reputation as a low-cost leader in manufacturing, Griffith said Timken sees China as an opportunity and has invested in that country, a move that allows it to now export $700 million worth of products annually. He said those exports have created 3,500 jobs in the U.S. as a result.

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