Can These Manufacturing Programs Change American Business?
Posted July 30, 2013 & filed under Uncategorized
Over the last few years, Mexico has not only grown into the manufacturing titan of the Western Hemisphere but it has set the stage to supplant Chinese manufacturing as the most efficient and inexpensive option coming out of the developing world. Bloomberg Businessweek predicts that the wages of Mexico’s highly productive workforce will be 30 percent lower than China by 2015. Even the upsurge in the U.S. natural gas industry is expected to deliver more glad tidings to Mexican manufacturers than their American counterparts. So, how can American manufacturers expect to regain a competitive edge? Hopefully, through recent government manufacturing programs.
As of July 24th, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has made available $4 million in grants to U.S. nonprofit organizations and higher education institutions with the intent of fueling research on pre-competitive initiatives that can revitalize the American culture of manufacturing innovation. The grant looks to close the growing fissure separating R&D activities and their application within actual U.S. production lines. Awards of $250,000 and $500,000 will be distributed after the October 21st, 2013 deadline and any results will begin to ripple back to the industry months, if not years, down the chronological road.
Then, the follow up question is can this government program enact any meaningful change in the manufacturing industry?
We can get a sense of how efficient this project might become as we watch the Rust Belt evolve into the burgeoning “Tech Belt.” As of last year, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMII) was established as a public-private collaboration with the intent of bridging the gap between research and fluid implementation of 3D printing technology on both a large and small scale nationwide.
Government agencies like DARPA and companies like Siemens are already contributing funds to introduce lifecycle software to college age students and 3D printers 1,000 elementary and high school programs throughout Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. The Brookings-Rockefeller list of “Innovations to Watch” already recognizes the great promise of this program but only time will tell if either initiative can close the gap between American manufacturing and the distant, rapidly progressing wave of the Mexican competition.
by James Walsh
