A detailed, two-year study funded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology came out in June 2017 as the book "Making in America." The book outlines how U.S. manufacturing can remain competitive against Germany and China in the global economy. The book also outlines four technology trends that can make or break the coming years of America's manufacturing sector.
1. Additive Manufacturing
Additive manufacturing, or 3-D printers, help drive down the cost of startups. The key is that smaller companies have to find a niche to serve when it comes to producing short runs of items for very specific customers. Rather than needing hundreds of thousands of dollars for venture capital and business loans to create massive production lines, U.S. manufacturing can grow with a fraction of that cost. All that's needed is a computer, a 3-D printer, raw materials and a much smaller work space.
3-D printing does several things for U.S. manufacturing. It creates custom products in a short amount of time, thereby reducing time to market. It also lets companies grow on their own terms before expanding their offerings. Once manufacturing startups get a foothold in their test markets, then they can carefully expand their operations.
2. Robotics
Automation replaced human workers as soon as the first factory came about hundreds of years ago. As of 2017, robotics represents the next wave of innovation in U.S. manufacturing because smart, human-like machines are becoming more and more viable for companies to use. Highly adaptive robots, such as Baxter the robot from Rethink Robotics, work alongside humans doing tasks that humans do. The beauty of these robots is that they can adapt to working on different production lines and complete a variety of mundane tasks, saving companies money on human labor.
3. Energy
Shale gas, combined with more efficient manufacturing techniques, makes energy consumption for manufacturers less expensive. Shale gas comes from purely domestic sources, so it's not affected by global geopolitical forces. Advanced manufacturing methods use less energy, so the already-cheap shale gas goes a lot further for companies that need a lot of gas to operate.
4. Time to Market
Time to market is important and may keep more U.S. manufacturing jobs in the United States. When the other three trends combine to make processes less expensive, the time from invention to production and then delivery becomes a deciding factor when firms don't need to wait for shipments from overseas to get products in the hands of customers.
Key to Success
The key to success with these four technology trends is having a supportive environment to grow these types of manufacturers. That means providing job training for people to work on advanced machines, fostering collaboration among small companies and looking at the long-term view of the overall industry when it comes to financing.
Not all of these trends are easy to think about. Shale gas has steep environmental consequences, while workers that always fear automation may obviate their jobs. Workers and firms in the U.S. manufacturing sector must look at these trends in a responsible way to keep America strong on a global scale.
Photo courtesy of Governor Tom Wolf at Flickr.com
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