Seconds after David Hall punches in a code, the electronic gate to his waterfront residence swings open. It's a large compound but not the kind you'd expect from a tech entrepreneur who is as responsible as anyone for ushering in the self-driving-car revolution.

Few family businesses last three generations, let alone four. Jamie Schweid, the fourth-generation CEO of Schweid & Sons, a Carlstadt, N.J., purveyor of hamburger meat, is one of the outliers.

The common wisdom says that basic manufacturing has left the United States. Ashley Thompson, CEO of 50 Strong, a Lima, Ohio-based plastics manufacturer is trying to prove that common wisdom wrong.

For decades, New York Fashion Week was a business-to-business, invitation-only event for industry insiders.

In January 2013, Kim Jordan, the cofounder and CEO of New Belgium Brewing, called an all-hands meeting and stunned employees by announcing that the company had been sold.

Anya Fernald has long been fascinated by food production.

April Richardson, president of D.C. Sweet Potato Cake, drove more than 17 hours from her home base in Hyattsville, Md., with her sister singing karaoke songs along the way, to pitch her sweet potato cakes at Wal-Mart's recent open call event for American manufacturers in Bentonville, Ark.