Utah is built for builders. Short lines. Tight crews. Real accountability. On the Governor’s Office “Business Elevated” podcast, we got into why that matters and why I’m stubborn about manufacturing here—on purpose. If the feedback loop lives in the same time zone as the sawdust, you move faster and you ship better. If a jig drifts at 10 a.m., I want it fixed by lunch, not “next quarter.” That’s not a slogan. That’s how you scale without burning the trust you worked years to earn.

We opened with roots. I grew up here, learned to work here, and built my first wins and losses here—construction, sheds, the big-box lessons, then back to the firehouse when the economy face-planted. I’m not anti-global anything. I’m pro-proximity. Pro teams who can walk the floor, hear the cut list get called, and make the change while the wood is still warm. That’s hard to beat. It’s why we build in the U.S.—on purpose.

We talked about doors—but really we talked about space. Murphy Door isn’t a movie trick. It’s anything you can build into a doorway that makes a room work harder. Pantry doors that actually carry weight. Bookcase doors that hang true. Utility doors that stay square and quiet. Beauty + utility. If it doesn’t earn its keep, it doesn’t ship. That line keeps us honest when a shiny idea tries to sneak past the checklist.

Policy came up. I’m not a politician. I’m an operator. Tariffs, incentives, training grants—those are tools. Use them to buy time and build capability, not to get lazy. Utah’s edge is simple: the base is strong, the workforce is willing, and we still shake hands like it means something. If we add smart automation to that—cells that do repeatable work, data that shows drift before customers feel it—we can be faster and more flexible than any container ship.

Where it’s going: a network of smaller, automated sites near demand. Three-day manufacturing lead times. Seven-day to your door. Same playbook in multiple regions so we can flex when one site is slammed and still keep lead times honest. You shouldn’t have to pick from four colors sitting on a shelf 6,000 miles away. You should pick your size, your finish, your hardware—built near you, delivered fast, and installed clean.

Here’s the play we kept circling back to: keep the feedback loop short, and spend your wins on capability, not vanity. If the line gets faster, buy the tool that removes the next bottleneck. If quality drifts, fix the jig and the training, then write it down so the next crew wins by default. No committees. Just commits. That’s Utah for me. Not chest-thumping. Just work.

I’m grateful the state gave us the mic. But the point isn’t airtime. It’s output. We’ll keep building in Utah, keep hiring in Utah, and keep proving that proximity beats theory. Calm beats chaos. Earn your momentum. Day after day.

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Source: Utah Governor’s Office “Business Elevated,” “Jeremy Barker — Behind the Hidden Door,” Apr 11, 2025.