The web is littered with news stories ‘attacking’ the state of the US manufacturing industry, while the positives rarely receive coverage.
Rather than jumping on the ‘doom and gloom’ bandwagon, let’s inject a positive insight into what makes manufacturing in the US great. ‘The way back to manufacturing ‘greatness’ is to champion the industry.’
Yes, there is a reality that jobs have been lost across the US manufacturing industry and recent reports point to the idea that the state of manufacturing has not been this bad since the financial crisis. However, rambling on about these so-called ‘problems’ isn’t going to solve them.
The manufacturing sector in America is being tarnished and some of those responsible are manufacturers. It’s easy to get caught up in the negativity, but demeaning the manufacturing sector only serves to exacerbate and expose all the things that are wrong with the industry.
That’s an advertisement to the world that one of the planet’s leading manufacturing powers is struggling, which undoubtedly harms the sector more than it helps.
What’s worse is that those drawing attention to the failings of manufacturing are quite possibly doing very little to find solutions. However, America is a country with a rich, proud manufacturing heritage and pedigree, responsible for some of the world’s greatest innovations.
It’s that heritage that can help to redefine the future of the modern manufacturing industry. Throughout history, the manufacturing sector has faced numerous challenges, but those challenges have been overcome, serving as a reminder that manufacturing in the US holds some authority. It’s time to exercise that authority.
US manufacturers are renowned for solving problems with innovative solutions, made with quality and care. If history is anything to go by, the industry can be positive that what’s been achieved before can be achieved again, making the US the world leader in manufacturing once more.
A positive for US manufacturing
There's plenty for US manufacturing to be positive about.
One of the key positives for manufacturing in the US is that jobs previously outsourced to other nations are returning to American soil. A recent report from The Reshoring Initiative shows that the US appears to have stemmed the tide of losing jobs here at home.
Over the last 10 years, the US has gone from losing about 220,000 manufacturing jobs per year to breakeven and during the last two years unemployment rates across the sector have steadily dropped.
Given that many ‘experts’ in the field of manufacturing have identified technological innovation as the weakness in US manufacturing’s armor, the reshoring of jobs brings with it an opportunity to recruit fresh talent, which can lead to new ideas for innovation.
The relocation of manufacturing jobs to the US represents an opportunity to recruit fresh talent.
Those ideas manifest themselves through the introduction of new ways to improve manufacturing productivity, mostly via the use of technology. The Internet of Things (IoT) and digital manufacturing are just two of the relatively new concepts to hit the manufacturing floor as US manufacturers look to boost output.
Not only are these concepts resulting in higher productivity and reduced costs, they’re creating jobs, contrary to reports suggesting that technology is destroying the manufacturing labor force.
These are key positives for manufacturing in the US as a strong labor force, combined with technological advances, will make the country more competitive alongside other manufacturing powerhouses such as the UK, Germany and China.
Manufacturing floor redefined
The manufacturing floor in the US is being redefined by a whole new technological infrastructure, resulting in data-driven, computerized environments that are taking manufacturing in the US to new heights.
Manufacturers are now inspiring other manufacturers to produce innovations capable of sustaining the new, computerized manufacturing floor. Developments in computer enclosure technology is just one example of a product that’s evolved to help protect a new breed of AI applications powered by computerized control systems.
Developments in computer enclosure technology give US manufacturers a way to protect technological investments.
As more and more manufacturing floors in the US begin to deploy computers as part of their processes, environmental enclosures enable them to sustain productivity and protect technological investments.
Whereas deploying computerized systems on the manufacturing floors of yesteryear used to be risky, new developments in enclosure systems provide a long-term solution that has virtually eradicated the risk of using computerized systems in an industrial environment.
Above the apparent dark clouds gathering around American manufacturing, the sun shines. The manufacturing industry in the US has plenty to be excited about, with new look manufacturing floors creating new jobs that are leading the charge towards re-establishing America’s place as the top dog for manufacturing.
Let’s champion what the manufacturing sector is doing right, rather than giving focus to its failings. Right now, the sector needs an injection of positivity. So, rather than us licking our wounds, bemoaning the negatives, let’s get back to what we do best – manufacturing.
