Houston innovator tackles tire waste with hot new plant launching in 2025

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Vibhu Sharma, founder and CEO of InnoVent Renewables, saw a huge opportunity for cleaner tire waste. Photo via LinkedIn

Vibhu Sharma observed a huge sustainability problem within the automotive industry, and he was tired of no one doing anything about it.

"Globally, humans dispose 1 billion tires every year," Sharma says on the Houston Innovators Podcast. "It's a massive environmental and public health problem because these tires can take hundreds of years to break down, and what they start doing is leaking chemicals into the soil."

Today, 98 percent of all tires end up in landfills, Sharma says, and this waste contributes to a multitude of problems — from mosquito and pest infestation to chemical leaks and fire hazards. That's why he founded InnoVent Renewables, a Houston-based company that uses its proprietary continuous pyrolysis technology to convert waste tires into valuable fuels, steel, and chemicals.

While the process of pyrolysis — decomposing materials using high heat — isn't new, InnoVent's process has a potential to be uniquely impactful. As Sharma explains on the show, he's targeting areas with an existing supply of waste tires. The company's first plant — located in Monterrey, Mexico — is expected to go online early in the new year, an impressive accomplishment considering Sharma started his company just over a year ago and bootstrapped the business with only a friends and family round of funding.

"It's about 16 months or so from start to commercial operations, which is phenomenal when you consider what it takes to build and operate a chemical or petrochemical facility," Sharma says.

Currently, with the facility close to operations, Sharma is looking to secure customers for the plant's products — which includes diesel, steel, and carbon black — and he doesn't have to look too far out of the automotive industry for his potential customer base. Additionally, the plant should be net zero by day one, since Sharma says he will be using the output to fuel operations.

While the first facility is in Mexico, Sharma says they are already looking at potential secondary locations with Texas at the top of his list. Houston, where Sharma has worked for 26 years, has been a strategic headquarters for InnoVent.

"When it came to doing the research and development, we were able to work with experts in the Houston and Texas areas to test out our idea and validate it," Sharma says. "One thing that gets under appreciated about Houston is how well it's connected to the rest of the world. There are so many direct connections between Houston and Latin America, as well as Europe, Middle East, and Asia."

"I also find that the Houston ecosystem is very supportive of new companies and helping them grow," he adds.

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This article originally ran on InnovationMap.

Clockwise from top left: Sean Kelly of Amperon, Dianna Liu of ARIXTechnologies, Matthew Dawson of Elementium Materials, Vibhu Sharma of InnoVent Renewables, Cindy Taff of Sage Geosystems, and Emma Konet of TierraClimate. Photos courtesy

Houston's top energy transition founders explain their biggest challenges

overheard

From finding funding to navigating the pace of traditional oil and gas company tech adoption, energy transition companies face their fair share of challenges.

This year's Houston Innovation Awards finalists in the Energy Transition category explained what their biggest challenge has been and how they've overcome it. See what they said below, and make sure to secure your tickets to the Nov. 14 event to see which of these finalists win the award.

"The evolving nature of the energy industry presents opportunities to solve some of our industry's greatest challenges. At Amperon we help optimize grid reliability and stability with the power of AI demand forecasting."

— Sean Kelly, CEO of Amperon, an AI platform powering the smart grid of the future

"The biggest challenge in leading an energy transition-focused startup has been balancing the urgency for sustainable solutions with the slow pace of change in traditional industries like oil and gas. Many companies are cautious about adopting new technologies, especially when it comes to integrating sustainability initiatives. We overcame this by positioning our solutions not just as environmentally friendly, but as tools that improve safety, efficiency, and cost savings. By aligning our value proposition with their operational goals and demonstrating real, measurable benefits, we were able to gain traction and drive adoption in industries that are traditionally resistant to change."

— Dianna Liu, CEO of ARIXTechnologies, an integrated robotics and data analytics company that delivers inspection services through its robotics platforms

"Scaling up production of hard tech is a major challenge. Thankfully, we recruited top-notch talent with experience in technology scale-up and chemical processes. In addition, we've begun building partnerships with some of the world's largest chemical manufacturers in our space who are excited to be a part of our journey and could rapidly accelerate our go to market strategy. We have significant demand for our product as early as 2025, so partnering with these companies to scale-up will bring our technology to market years ahead of doing it alone."

— Matthew Dawson, CEO of Elementium Materials, a battery technology with liquid electrolyte solutions

"Our pyrolysis reactor is a proprietary design that was developed during Covid. We ran simulations to prove that it works, but it was not easy to test it in a pilot facility, let alone scaling it up. We managed ... to run our pilot plant studies, while working with them remotely. We proved that our reactor worked and produced high quality products. Later, we built our own pilot plant R&D facility to continue running tests and optimizing the process. Then, there was the challenge of scaling it up to commercial size. ... We put together a task force of four different companies to come together to design and build this complex reactor in record time."

— Vibhu Sharma, CEO of InnoVentRenewables, a startup with proprietary continuous pyrolysis technology that converts waste tires, plastics, and biomass into valuable fuels and chemicals

"Energy storage and geothermal power generation are capital-intensive infrastructure projects, requiring investors with a deep commitment and the patience in terms of years to allow the technology to be developed and proven in the field. One challenge is finding that niche of investors with the vision to join our journey. We have succeeded in raising our $30 million series A with these types of investors, whom we’re confident will continue the journey as we scale."

— Cindy Taff, CEO of SageGeosystems, an energy company focused on developing and deploying advanced geothermal technologies to provide reliable power and sustainable energy storage solutions regardless of geography

"The biggest challenge we've faced has been to bring together massive independent power producers on one side who are investing hundreds of millions of dollars into grid infrastructure with multi- national tech giants on the other that don't have experience working much with energy storage. As a startup with only four employees, gaining credibility with these players was critical. We overcame this hurdle by becoming the preeminent thought leader on storage emissions, through publishing white papers, discussing the issues on podcasts, and (more)."

— Emma Konet, CTO of TierraClimate, a software provider that helps grid-scale batteries reduce carbon emissions

Events not to miss, a new app launches for the energy industry, and more things to know this week. Photo via Getty Images

New energy networking app, events you can't miss, and more things to know in Houston this week

Hou knew?

Editor's note: It's a new week — start it strong with three quick things to know in Houston's energy transition ecosystem. Meet the new leaders of ERCOT, an app you probably should download, and events not to miss this week.

Energy networking: There's an app for that

This Houston-based media company launched a networking platform to help solve the energy crisis. Screenshots via apps.apple.com

The Digital Wildcatters have created a platform for individuals to get their questions answered by experts and a space for companies seeking qualified talent. Collide is structured to ignite the next generation of energy innovators, as Collin McLelland, co-founder and CEO of Digital Wildcatters, tells EnergyCapital.

“If you look at what we’ve done historically with Digital Wildcatters, we’ve built an extremely engaged community of energy professionals — it’s a next generation community, very young forward thinking professionals that are working towards solving the world’s energy crisis,” McLelland says.

The roll out of Collide has been intentionally gradual, McLelland says because they want to shape the user experience based on feedback from ongoing focus groups. Currently they have about 1,000 users and are examining how they can make the app valuable to them before providing the platform to a wider audience.

McLelland says there are two major issues within the energy sector that Collide hopes to address — a lack of knowledge about energy verticals and difficulty recruiting talent.

“What we really see with our platform is being able to bring people together where if you want to find a piece of information, you need to find a subject matter expert, or if you want to find your next job, it happens on the Collide platform,” McLelland says. Read the full story.

Upcoming must-attend events to put on your radar

Two events this month the energy transition community needs to know about. Photos by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University

September 14-15 — The Ninth Annual Digitalization in Oil & Gas Conference will focus on digitalization, decarbonization, and innovation within the energy industry across five tracks: IoT, blockchain, digital twins, edge computing, and connectivity for upstream, midstream, and downstream operators.
September 21 — The Rice Alliance Energy Tech Venture Forum is an opportunity to learn about the latest emerging technologies, meet investors to seek funding, see promising companies, and more.

People to know this week

A quick who's who roundup from last week's EnergyCapital coverage. Photo via Getty Images

Missed some of EnergyCapital's news from last week? Catch up on who to know here.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, announced a reorganization amongst its leadership. Effective September 1, four ERCOT leaders have new titles and positions: Woody Rickerson has been named to the newly created position of senior vice president and COO; Kristi Hobbs, who previously served as vice president of corporate strategy and public utility commission relations, will replace Rickerson as vice president of system planning and weatherization and will report directly to Rickerson; Betty Day, vice president of security and compliance and chief compliance officer, has assumed oversight of business continuity; and Rebecca Zerwas will serve as director of state policy and public utility commission relations, board liaison. Read the full story.
Launched in 2022, The Texas Southern University Division for Research & Innovation is spearheading the institutions efforts in attaining the highest-tier classification for research in higher education institutions. Michelle Penn-Marshall, who serves as vice president for the division, recently sat down with the Houston Energy Transition Initiative to talk about the university’s mission to become a leader in research and the long-term goals for engaging students in the energy sector and advancing the energy transition. Read the full story.
With over a billion cars currently on the road — each with four tires that will eventually end up discarded, one Houstonian is hoping to create the infrastructure to sustainably dispose of tire waste now and into the future. Vibhu Sharma founded InnoVent Renewables to establish production facilities that utilize a proprietary continuous pyrolysis technology that is able to convert waste tires, plastics, and biomass into fuels and chemicals. In a Q&A with EnergyCapital, Sharma explains his plans to sustainably impact the tire waste space and his vision for his company. Read the full story.

Vibhu Sharma founded InnoVent Renewables to make a sustainable impact on tire waste. Photo courtesy

Why this Houston energy innovator created a spin-off company to focus on tire waste

Q&A

With over a billion cars currently on the road — each with four tires that will eventually end up discarded, one Houstonian is hoping to create the infrastructure to sustainably dispose of tire waste now and into the future.

Announced earlier this month, Vibhu Sharma founded InnoVent Renewables to establish production facilities that utilize a proprietary continuous pyrolysis technology that is able to convert waste tires, plastics, and biomass into fuels and chemicals.

In a Q&A with EnergyCapital, Sharma explains his plans to sustainably impact the tire waste space and his vision for his company.

EnergyCapital: Why did you decide to expand the InnoVent brand to focus on renewable energy?

Vibhu Sharma: InnoVent Technology has been developing and implementing projects in renewable energy, chemicals, and oil and gas. Project examples include an EV battery chemical project for a $9 billion chemical company, municipal solid waste (MSW) to biogas, and of course pyrolysis of waste tires, plastics and biomass. Renewable energy is the calling of our time, and with our expertise in this area, we felt strongly that we must do more. With 1 billion waste tires disposed of every year, we wanted to focus on this vast opportunity, which led us to create a spin-off company called InnoVent Renewables, in order to specifically focus on innovative technologies such as pyrolysis of waste tires. We received overwhelming response from our investors and partners, and we're on our way to the first commercial production facility.

EC: Can you describe the process of converting the materials into fuel? How does it work?

VS: At a high level the process involves shredding of tires into small cubes, which are then fed into the main pyrolysis reactor. They're pre-heated enroute to the reactor, using the pyrolysis gas that's generated in the reactor. The reactor operates at a high temperature, and in the absence of oxygen, and decomposes the tires into various components. These are then separated using various techniques. The gases are treated to remove any sulfur, and then used to preheat the shredded tires. The pyrolysis oil (pyoil), which is one of the main products, is condensed out.

The pyoil is further processed to separate out higher value aromatics, and the remaining pyoil is equivalent to off-road diesel or fuel oil, and can be sold directly. The aromatic stream can be further processed or sold directly. It makes a great feed for petrochemical plants, or carbon black plants.

There are two solid products as well. These are recovered carbon black (rCB) and steel wire. Steel wire is separated from the rCB mix and can be sold directly. The rCB is further processed through a series of steps resulting in a high-quality powder which can be used to make tires, making it a completely circular product.

EC: Tell me about your expansion plan. Where are you hoping to grow the company and why in those particular regions?

VS: Our immediate plan is to build and start our commercial production facility in Monterrey, Mexico. Monterrey happens to be home to nearly 50 million waste tires. We are located very close to where the source is. We will set up our initial production train there, and leave room to expand to multiple parallel trains at the same site or nearby sites.

We have our own engineering and operations team in Monterrey, and we have access to modern infrastructure and resources, as this is a fast-growing city of 6 million people. In addition, we have close proximity to Texas for product distribution. Our next step will be to establish production facilities in Texas. We are based in Texas. Texas also has access to at least 50 million tires in landfills all across the state, and the state is taking significant measures to address this issue. We are already engaging with various entities here to plan our expansion site. Meanwhile we have been receiving high levels of interest from counties in Florida, California, as well as international sites in India and the Middle East to set up production facilities there. There are one billion waste tires disposed of every year, it's a huge opportunity. Some of these expansion decisions will depend on support from state governments, access to tires, cost of setting up the facility, etc.

EC: Do you plan on raising investment funding to reach these goals? If not, how will you be funded?

VS: We are fully funded for our first production site in Mexico. Based on our cash flow projections, we should be able to self-fund expansions at that site, and eventually add additional production trains. In order to accelerate our expansion at other sites, we intend to raise funds, with support from different states/counties in the USA where we decide to expand, and with support from investors. We are also open to strategic partners that can team up with us for the expansion both internationally and domestically.

EC: In the long term, what's the impact you hope to make?

VS: Each production train of 15,000 tons that recycles 1 million passenger tires per year, can reduce CO2 emissions by 80 million pounds per year. Over the next five years, our goal is to get that target to 150,000 tons of recycling, which is 800 million pounds of CO2 emission reduction. That's a good impact to have, and a great way to drive renewable energy forward.

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This conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Tired of slow tire decomposition? This Houston company has a solution. Photo via InnoVentRenewables.com

New Houston company launches to turn recycled materials into fuel

renewables

Every year, over a billion tires are disposed of globally, and, while in use, tires are used to reach maximum speed on the road, their decomposition times are inordinately slow.

Houston-based InnoVent Renewables has a solution. The company launched this week to drive renewable energy forward with its proprietary continuous pyrolysis technology that is able to convert waste tires, plastics, and biomass into fuels and chemicals.

“We are thrilled to formally launch InnoVent Renewables and plan to ramp-up operations into early 2024," InnoVent Renewables CEO Vibhu Sharma says in a news release. “Our investors, strategic advisors, and management team are all fully committed to our success as we address the global challenge of waste tires. We firmly believe our proven process, deployed at scale globally, will have a huge positive impact on our climate and fill a clear environment need.”

While InnoVent Renewables has only just launched, Sharma has worked in the space for years with his company InnoVent Technology, a technology and consulting company working with clients on turnkey process technology and asset management solutions within the process and manufacturing industries.

During InnoVent's unique material breakdown process, its pyrolysis technology recovers chemicals from the products, and produces high-quality fuels — in in a net-zero capacity. The company's products include renewable pyrolysis oil, or PyOil; aromatics; recovered carbon black, or rCB; and steel wire. PyOil, according to InnoVent's website, can be sold as fuel oil, off-road diesel, or used as a feedstock to crude blending.

"The InnoVent team conducted product quality analysis in conjunction with a world renowned research facility and results were further validated and scaled up in 2022, using comprehensive process simulation software and pre-engineering design work for scale-up," reads the InnoVent website.

Headquartered in Houston, the company has operations in Pune, India, and Monterrey, Mexico, with plans for aggressive growth across North America and Latin America. Specifically, InnoVent is planning to open a commercial production plant in Monterrey next year. Down the road, the company's team hopes to expand in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific.

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Geothermal exec on Houston expansion, commercialization and more

Q&A

Challenges in the energy transition often center around two questions: Where will organizations find the resources? And how will projects be financed?

XGS Energy's next-gen closed-loop geothermal well architecture addresses both issues head-on. The California-based company saw massive growth in the Houston market last year and recently completed a 100-meter field demonstration in central Texas, marking a major milestone for its technology's commercialization and potential for scale.

In an interview with EnergyCapital, Axel-Pierre Bois, XGS's Chief Technology Officer, shares what drew him to the geothermal space, why XGS is expanding in Houston and what the company's plans are for the year ahead.

How does XGS Energy's technology address the biggest challenges in geothermal energy?

XGS Energy is developing a geothermal system that decouples geothermal energy from its traditional dependence on water and geology to deliver affordable, clean energy anywhere there is hot rock.

Historically, geothermal resources have been hard to locate, as conventional systems require the overlap of hot rock, porous and permeable geology, and abundant water to produce energy, limiting their potential to a few select hot spots worldwide. Instead of relying on an underground fracture network that drives the geology and water requirements, the base component of XGS’s system is a single well, in which fluid is pumped to a hot rock resource and then returned to the surface through a tube-in-shell design, creating a sealed, closed loop. This allows XGS to produce geothermal energy anywhere where there is hot rock, unlocking terawatt-scale potential in the U.S. alone.

Geothermal systems have also struggled to secure project financing, as many systems have historically faced high levels of unplanned cost risk due to factors including water loss and production uncertainty. XGS’s sealed, closed-loop system ensures that it can provide reliable, predictable electricity throughout its lifespan. XGS also boosts the cost-competitiveness of its system through our major innovation, a proprietary thermally conductive materials system that is installed downhole around each well, increasing the heat transferred to the closed-loop system by 30-50%.

What has drawn you to a career in the geothermal energy space?

I have been in the subsurface industry for over 30 years, developing technical solutions for companies in the fields of geosciences, underground storage, upstream oil and gas, and geothermal heat harvesting to help improve their overall economic, ethical and environmental footprints. In 2009, I founded Curistec, a technology company providing research, engineering and technical services for geomechanics, wellbore integrity, well abandonment, cement design and cement and rock testing. A few years back, Curistec assisted with the Iceland Deep Drilling Project, helping to develop cement formulations for superhot geothermal well applications to enable drilling in high-temperature environments. As I looked toward the future, it became clear that next-generation geothermal technologies would transform the geothermal energy industry and open new markets worldwide. Curistec had been working closely with the XGS Energy team as technology partners for several years, so joining the team directly to help shape the technology development was an exciting opportunity to help develop and deploy a new system to unlock the full terawatt-scale potential of geothermal energy.

Tell us about the 100-meter field demonstration in central Texas completed in 2024 — what all did you and your team learn from the test?

Our 100-meter field demonstration in central Texas marked a significant step in our progress toward deploying geothermal energy in a commercial setting. With this field operation, we successfully demonstrated our ability to mix, pump and place our thermally conductive materials system at a commercial scale, using off-shelf tools and technologies. This was a significant milestone, taking us from theoretical models and laboratory tests to field-scale operations, proving that our novel geothermal system is operationally viable in real-world well conditions.

The completion of the Texas field demonstration advanced XGS into the new wave of geothermal innovators that are putting real steel in the ground. In 2024, we kicked off construction at our commercial-scale demonstration in California and are excited to share updates in the year ahead.

Last year, XGS Energy leased over 10,000 square feet of office space in Memorial City. How has Houston's business community and opportunities benefitted the company?

Houston, the epicenter of the oil and gas industry, has become a hub of energy innovation, offering attractive incentives for growing companies like XGS. The region’s workforce, which is home to some of the best subsurface engineers and operational talent in the energy sector, was a key factor for XGS when we were planning our operational roadmap. This expertise, paired with proximity to our partners in the field services industries, like cementing and drilling, is both apracticaland tactical advantage for XGS.

We’ve built a strong technical and operational team here at XGS, with experience from the oil and gas industry, utilities and power project developers. XGS is planning for continued growth in the Houston area, leveraging the region’s leading engineering and operational workforce and its intensifying interest in supporting the energy transition.

What are XGS Energy's goals for 2025?

In 2024, the XGS Energy team made significant progress toward our goal of providing clean, round-the-clock energy with our solid-state geothermal system. In 2025, XGS Energy will be focused on deploying its geothermal system at a commercial scale, starting with the completion of our full-scale prototype in California. XGS will also continue accelerating our commercial traction, expanding our already robust and highly differentiated geothermal resource evaluation toolkit, advancing our global project pipeline, and growing our team to strengthen our operational capability and capacity.

Environmentalists say Trump's energy order would subvert Endangered Species Act

In The News

Environmental groups concerned about loss of protections for vanishing animals see one of President Donald Trump’s early executive orders as a method of subverting the Endangered Species Act in the name of fossil fuel extraction and corporate interests.

Trump declared an energy emergency via executive order earlier this week amid a promise to “drill, baby, drill.” One section of the order states that the long-standing Endangered Species Act can’t be allowed to serve as an obstacle to energy development.

That language is a pathway to rolling back protections for everything from tiny birds like the golden-cheeked warbler to enormous marine mammals like the North Atlantic right whale, conservation groups said Wednesday. Some vowed to fight the order in court.

The Endangered Species Act has been a hurdle for the development of fossil fuels in the U.S. for decades, and weakening the act would accelerate the decline and potential extinction of numerous endangered species, including whales and sea turtles, said Gib Brogan, a campaign director with conservation group Oceana.

“This executive order, in a lot of ways, is a gift to the oil and gas industry and is being sold as a way to respond to the emergency declaration by President Trump,” Brogan said. “There is no emergency. The species continue to suffer. And this executive order will only accelerate the decline of endangered species in the United States.”

The Endangered Species Act has existed for more than 50 years and is widely credited by scientists and environmentalists with helping save iconic American species such as the bald eagle from extinction. A key section of the act directs federal agencies to work to conserve endangered and threatened species and use their authorities to protect them.

Trump's order declaring a national energy emergency took direct aim at the authority provided by the Endangered Species Act. It orders federal departments to treat energy production as an emergency, which could help expedite approval of energy projects that might otherwise be held up.

The order also convenes a committee to “identify obstacles to domestic energy infrastructure specifically deriving from implementation of the ESA or the Marine Mammal Protection Act,” another landmark conservation law. It states the committee could consider regulatory reforms, including “species listings,” as part of its work.

The Trump administration did not respond to a request for comment on the executive order. The order defines energy mostly as fossil fuels such as crude oil and and coal and does not include renewable energies such as wind power. It also states that energy production is an emergency because “an affordable and reliable domestic supply of energy is a fundamental requirement for the national and economic security of any nation.”

While environmentalists herald the Endangered Species Act as a landmark law, pro-development and free market interests have long criticized it for holding up the building of energy, infrastructure, housing and other projects. Some, including the influential Heartland Institute, applauded Trump's declaration of an energy emergency this week.

Conservatives have also decried the Endangered Species Act as inefficient. It took the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service years to follow the process of potentially delisting the golden-cheeked warbler, a small songbird that breeds only in the forests of central Texas, said Connor Mighell, an attorney with Texas Public Policy Foundation, a free market research institute.

Trump's executive order could help stop the Endangered Species Act from resulting in drawn-out permitting processes and lengthy litigation, said Brent Bennett, energy policy director for Texas Public Policy Foundation.

“We're hoping that can improve some of the permitting processes and remove some of these barriers,” Bennett said.

But the act is critical to maintaining species threatened with extinction, environmentalists said. They cite whales such as the North Atlantic right whale, which numbers less than 400 and is vulnerable to collisions with ships and entanglement in fishing gear, as an example of an animal that must be protected under the act. The Rice's whale, which numbers even fewer and is vulnerable to disruption from oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, is another prime example, environmentalists said.

The nation's symbol, the bald eagle, is a perfect example of the importance and effectiveness of the Endangered Species Act, said Andrew Bowman, president of the conservation group Defenders of Wildlife.

“President Trump’s election to office did not come with a mandate to deny Americans a clean and healthy environment or destroy decades of conservation successes that have ensured the survival and recovery of some of America’s most iconic species, including the bald eagle, which was newly named our country’s national bird and is only with us today thanks to the Endangered Species Act," Bowman said.

Texas ranks as No. 2 manufacturing hub in U.S., behind only California

by the numbers

Texas ranks among the country’s biggest hubs for manufacturing, according to a new study.

The study, conducted by Chinese manufacturing components supplier YIJIN Hardware, puts Texas at No. 2 among the states when it comes to manufacturing-hub status. California holds the top spot.

YIJIN crunched data from the U.S. Census Bureau, International Trade Administration, and National Association of Manufacturers to analyze manufacturing activity in each state. The study weighed factors such as number of manufacturing establishments, number of manufacturing employees, total value of manufacturing output, total manufacturing exports and manufacturing’s share of a state’s gross domestic product.

Here are Texas’ figures for those categories:

19,526 manufacturing establishments
847,470 manufacturing employees
Total manufacturing output of $292.6 billion
Total manufacturing exports of $291.9 billion
11.3 percent share of state GDP

According to Texas Economic Development & Tourism, the state’s largest manufacturing sectors include automotive, tech, petroleum, chemicals, and food and beverage.

“The Lone Star State is truly a manufacturing powerhouse,” the state agency says.

In an October speech, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott praised the state’s robust manufacturing industry.

“We are proud that Texas is home to a booming manufacturing sector,” he said. “Thanks to our strong manufacturing sector, ‘Made in Texas’ has never been a bigger brand.”

Houston is a cornerstone of Texas’ manufacturing industry. The region produces more than $75 billion worth of goods each year, according to the Greater Houston Partnership. That makes Houston the second-ranked U.S. metro area for manufacturing GDP. The more than 7,000 manufacturing establishments in the area employ over 223,000 people.

“As one of the most important industrial bases in the world, Houston has access to many global markets thanks to its central location within the U.S. and the Americas,” the partnership says.

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