Earlier today, President Trump signed executive orders to advance construction of the controversial Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipelines, a project that was blocked by Barack Obama.
While environmentalists oppose the project, manufacturing and construction companies responded optimistically to the pipeline plans.
"I think the president is doing exactly what he said he was going to do, and that is putting Americans back to work," David Seaton, CEO of Fluor, a Texas-based engineering and manufacturing company, told CNBC's "Closing Bell" on Tuesday. "I think from a manufacturing perspective, when you break these projects down, whatever the value is, about 30 percent is going to be manufactured. And it's great that it's going to be manufactured in the United States."
That 30 percent ratio includes materials for the pipelines, manufactured products and machines. While Seaton looks forward to more U.S. workers going back to work, the CEO acknowledged that dealing with technology may need to be included in the skill set.
"I think in terms of capability, I would argue one point, and that is we don't do anything the way we did the old ways," Seaton said. "There's new technologies and there's new capabilities. But there certainly is the capability existing in the United States to produce pipe material and other things that would be used in this pipeline. So I think it's just a matter of retooling the system for the capacities that's going to be required to actually put that pipe in the ground."
However, despite possibly having to close the technology learning curve, Seaton remains optimistic for the future of manufacturing and providing jobs for U.S. workers.
"I think the good part is we got a little bit of lead time in order to provide that training and those opportunities for people," Seaton said. "I'm just excited that the United States is putting together policies that are going to put these people back to work. I think there's going to be a little bit of a shortage as we begin the process of building a lot of this infrastructure in the United States. But I've got great confidence in the workforce in the United States to rise to the occasion."