Automating America In 2014
Susan Nangle, Axis Inc.
In 2013, there were wide reports across the US of economic growth in manufacturing, logistics and transportation and in the Metro NY/NJ area Axis, Inc. saw consistent growth in sales of automation products to these industries. On January 3, 2014, Investor's Business Daily reported, "U.S. manufacturing activity continued to advance at a robust pace in December, according to ISM's key factory gauge, with subindexes signaling even better growth possible in the new year." This positive news is exactly what's needed to help drive confidence for facility updates and expansion.
"Manufacturing is nearly at cruising speed, and doing well," said Russell Price, senior economist with Ameriprise Financial. Even better, several fundamentals indicate the sector will continue to hum along, Price said. And where earlier expansion in manufacturing was mostly due to a pickup in sales of autos, this phase comes thanks to "much more diverse contributions from more areas of the economy," Price said, including a strengthening Europe, which receives the largest share of American exports.
North Carolina Commerce Secretary, Sharon Decker writes, "Today’s manufacturing is no longer about the monotonous assembly line. It’s about automation, technology, creativity and teamwork." And locally, Melanie L. Willoughby, Senior Vice President of the New Jersey Business & Industry Association (NJBIA) tells us that manufacturing continues to support a solid percentage of the New Jersey’s annual GDP – and one expert thinks the nation’s recent renaissance in manufacturing will only add to that. Willoughby states, "manufacturing is alive and well here. There aren’t a lot of people who are aware of how robust manufacturing is in New Jersey.” The Garden State is home to more than 17,000 manufacturers; at least 90 percent have fewer than 50 employees.
Robotics has been seen by many as helping to lead the resurgence of manufacturing in America. And in 2013, the US released a new US collaborative robot standard and saw widespread interest in this emerging technology. Announced in October, Universal Robots, manufacturer of industrial collaborative robot arms, won Robotics Business Review’s "Game Changer Award". National Sales manager for Universal Robots, attributes a significant part of his company’s success in North America to the UR robots’ ability to make small and medium sized business competitive. “Our robots address the heart of the ‘reshoring’ debate by optimizing production in companies that would have otherwise lost orders to overseas competitors,” he says. “We’ve succeeded in creating a robot for a market segment that never thought they’d be able to employ a robot due to cost and complexity.”
David Johnson writes for Business Insider, "To borrow the language of economists, manufacturing operations are increasingly finding it beneficial to substitute capital for labor. The increasing importance of industrial robots (highlighted by Amazon’s acquisition of industrial robot company Kiva Systems), is driving a trend toward fewer but more highly skilled manufacturing jobs. All things being equal, the more manufacturing relies on precision, design and technical skills, and a robust, highly skilled workforce, rather than low-cost labor, the more competitive it will be in advanced economies. Luckily for the U.S., that is exactly what is happening."
Of course, pace of manufacturing growth and volume of GDP are determined by many factors. But, it seems that there is currently great optimism for industrial prosperity. While we can never precisely predict outcomes for the year ahead, there are too many indicators pointing to continued growth to believe that manufacturing in America will see anything but progress in 2014.
References:
1. Investors Business Daily, 1/3/2013, Robust Manufacturing at Year-end Bodes Well for 2014, http://news.investors.com/print/economy/010214-684860-manufacturing-activity-strong-good-signs-for-2014-economy.aspx
2. Industry Today, 10/29/2013, Garden State enjoying Manufacturing Resurgence, http://industrytoday.com/article_view.asp?ArticleID=we675
3. Business Insider, 10/23/2012 Three Trends Are Driving The Resurgence In US Manufacturing,
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-new-look-of-manufacturing-2012-8#ixzz2pZfMRIBO