A group of five U.S. senators recently introduced the Building a Stronger America Act, which includes bipartisan manufacturing legislation intended to strengthen the economy and boost competitiveness within the sector.

"'Made in America' remains the gold standard around the world," said Arkansas Democratic Senator Mark Pryor in a statement.

Pryor championed the legislation alongside two of his fellow party members - Mark Warner of Virginia and Sherrod Brown of Ohio - and two Republicans, Maine's Olympia Snowe and Missouri's Roy Blunt.

"We need a smarter strategy to help U.S. manufacturers compete and market American goods abroad," Pryor added.

As Warner explained in a recent statement, the package would give states "a modest additional incentive" for repatriating jobs that were sent overseas. In response to initiatives like the Strengthening Employment Clusters to Organize Regional Success (SECTORS) Act, which aims to encourage growth, improve training and streamline advancement paths, manufacturers may see their domestic workforces grow in number, which will likely result in them having to outsource a smaller percentage of their operations.

How does manufacturing technology come into play?

At times when operations ramp up for whatever reason, manufacturing technology is a critical element in helping to ensure the expansion is successful. By leveraging manufacturing management software, organizations can closely oversee elements such as assembly management, purchasing, accounting, inventory, shipping and integration of sales.

Part of manufacturing management is the need to ensure the standards for U.S. imports are as high as those that govern goods manufactured domestically. With this in mind, a subsection of the Made in America package aims to ensure manufacturing compliance standards for foreign exporters are sufficiently high. The group of bills includes the Enforcing Orders and Reducing Customs Evasion Act, sponsored by Blunt and Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden, and the Global Investment in American Jobs Act, a bipartisan piece of legislation championed by Massachusetts Democrat John Kerry and Tennessee Republican Bob Corker.

Last year, Brown - one of the five-strong group that introduced the Building a Stronger America Act - co-sponsored a related piece of legislation to kickstart the country's manufacturing industry through federal transportation and infrastructure investments. The Invest in America Jobs Act of 2011 was the companion to a bill introduced in the House by Congressman Nick Rahall.

Click here for more about the Made in America package.