• World
    • Africa
    • Asia Pacific
    • Central & South Asia
    • Europe
    • Latin America & Caribbean
    • Middle East & North Africa
    • North America
  • Coronavirus
  • Politics
    • US Politics
    • Joe Biden
    • Extremism
    • Europe
    • European Union
    • India
    • Arab World
  • Economics
    • Finance
    • Eurozone
    • International Trade
  • Business
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Startups
    • Technology
  • Culture
    • Entertainment
    • Music
    • Film
    • Books
    • Travel
  • Environment
    • Climate Change
    • Smart Cities
    • Green Economy
  • Global Change
    • Education
    • Refugee Crisis
    • International Aid
  • International Security
    • ISIS
    • War on Terror
    • North Korea
    • Nuclear Weapons
  • Science
    • Health
  • 360 °
  • The Interview
  • In-Depth
  • Insight
  • Quick Read
  • Video
  • Podcasts
  • Interactive
Fair Observer Logo Fair Observer Logo
  • Sign Up
  • Support FO°
  • Login
  • LOGIN

    • Lost your password?
    Forget Password?

    New to Fair Observer? Register Now

    Contributor Member
Fair Observer Logo

41

forty one

The Future of Factory Workers

Wade Roush - August 27, 2017

Manufacturing jobs aren’t coming back. That’s been the constant refrain of CEOs, economists and journalists reacting to the loss of old-fashioned assembly line jobs in the United States. (About 6 million such jobs have disappeared since 2000.)

The assertion typically surfaces as a rebuke to the idea that federal or state governments can stop manufacturers from using overseas labor, or force them to reopen old plants in the US or build new ones that provide just as many jobs. Thanks to the twin forces of globalization and automation — or so this form of economic realism goes — it will always be cheaper to make things using robots or low-wage workers in other countries, and that’s that.

But what if this view is incomplete? What if it doesn’t account for a cultural and technological revolution sweeping the United States — one that promises to redefine manufacturing, make it drastically more accessible, and create a ladder to new kinds of jobs for unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled workers alike? That’s the possibility this episode of Soonish explores.

Academics and policy experts have long called for an “advanced manufacturing” revolution in the US that would improve industrial performance by applying new technologies, especially software and robots, to outmoded processes. But jobs aren’t usually part of that discussion. In fact, the default strategy for improving factory productivity — which is usually measured in terms of output per worker — is simply to lower the denominator in the equation by using machines to replace even more workers.

But after reading a lot about this area and talking to experts, I’ve begun to believe that there’s an alternative future where factories, instead of getting bigger and more automated, get smaller and more worker-centric.

Several things are happening at once to make that future more likely:

1) The tools for designing and prototyping new products, from advanced CAD software to 3D printers, are now within the reach of non-experts.

2) More people have access to the design and production tools mentioned above and are learning how to use them, thanks to the rebirth of the old-fashioned workshop in the form of the modern “maker space.”

3) Manufacturers are figuring out to take designs from makers and create smaller batches of products economically, allowing greater customization and faster turnaround.

4) And in the wake of the 2008 economic crisis and Occupy Wall Street, scholars and policy analysts are paying more attention to the causes of economic inequality, and studying how ideas from advanced manufacturing can be used to create and preserve jobs rather than destroying them.

All of that, put together, means the factories of the future might be in our basements and garages. In the era of “mass customization,” even a large factory might only have dozens of employees, not thousands — but if their customized and/or artisanal products can command premium prices, there might be enough of these specialized factories to make up the difference. And that might provide an economic ladder for skilled laborers who, 20 or 30 years ago, would have had assembly line jobs.

Those are all pretty abstract propositions, but in this episode I tried to make them very concrete. I visited TechShop, a maker space where craftspeople are using high-tech tools to come up with new products (see my full interview with TechShop CEO Dan Woods). I talked with a business strategist at the Xerox-owned Palo Alto Research Center, where programmers are inventing design software that can help those craftspeople get their ideas to market faster. I toured a startup in an old Massachusetts mill town where one young entrepreneur is creating a path to skilled high-tech employment for manual garment workers. And I met Bill Taylor, an 88-year-old mechanical genius in Belmont, MA, who has an elaborate workshop in his basement and decades of perspective on the changing manufacturing scene in the US.

*[This podcast was originally featured by Soonish.]

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy.

Photo Credit: Pressmaster / Shutterstock.com

More Episodes

The Hot Mic: Trump Trumped, Looming Recession and India-China Clash

Atul Singh & Christopher Roper Schell, January 11, 2023

As US and China Clash, Taiwan Moves Closer to the Brink of Disaster

Atul Singh & Glenn Carle, August 15, 2022

Serbian City Novi Sad: European Through Culture

Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe, August 13, 2022

Joe Biden’s Saudi Arabia Visit to Meet Mohammad bin Salman

Arab Digest, August 12, 2022

Must Listen

Fair Observer

Russian President Vladimir Putin, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the Russia-Ukraine War

Arab Digest, August 6, 2022
Fair Observer

India & Japan: Implications of Ukraine on Asia (Episode 2)

Fair Observer, August 3, 2022
Fair Observer

Putin Takes the Middle East and North Africa to the Precipice of Disaster

Arab Digest, July 29, 2022
Fair Observer

Italy, Tunisia and Algeria Form a Mediterranean Energy Treble

Arab Digest, July 22, 2022
Fair Observer

Realpolitik: Implications of Ukraine on Asia (Episode 1)

Fair Observer, July 21, 2022
Fair Observer

Media in the 2022 Kenyan Elections

Fair Observer, July 21, 2022
Fair Observer

Egypt’s Dictator Sisi is Ringmaster of a Near-Bankrupt Circus

Arab Digest, July 15, 2022
Fair Observer

Reinventing the Sheikhdom: how MBZ has shaped the UAE

Arab Digest, July 10, 2022
Fair Observer, 461 Harbor Blvd, Belmont, CA 94002, USA
Subscribe

Subscribe

Register for $9.99 per month and become a member today.

Subscribe

Publish

Join our community of more than 2,500 contributors to publish your perspective, share your narrative and shape the global discourse.

Subscribe

Donate

We bring you perspectives from around the world. Help us to inform and educate. Your donation is tax-deductible.

Explore

  • About
  • Republish
  • Authors
  • Privacy Policy
  • FO Store
  • Terms of Use
  • FAQs
  • Contact

Regions

  • Africa
  • Latin America & Caribbean
  • Asia Pacific
  • Middle East & North Africa
  • Central & South Asia
  • North America
  • Europe

Topics

  • Politics
  • Environment
  • Economics
  • Global Change
  • Business
  • International Security
  • Culture
  • Science

Sections

  • 360°
  • Video
  • The Interview
  • Podcasts
  • In-Depth
  • Interactive
  • Insight
  • My Voice
  • Quick Read

Daily Dispatch

Designed, Developed and Maintained by Netleon Technologies
© Fair Observer All rights reserved
Fair Observer Education Logo Fair Observer Leadership Academy Logo

    Fill below form to share your concern with us

    *Indicates required field

    BOOKMARK

    Want to save this post?

    Register as a member to support independent journalism and enjoy subscriber benefits.

    BECOME A MEMBER

    NEWSLETTER

    Make Sense of the World

    Unique Insights from 2,500+ Contributors in 90+ Countries

    NEWSLETTER

    Make Sense of the World

    Unique Insights from 2,500+ Contributors in 90+ Countries

    We Need Your Consent
    We use cookies to give you the best possible experience. Learn more about how we use cookies or edit your cookie preferences. Privacy Policy. My Options I Accept
    Privacy & Cookies Policy

    Edit Cookie Preferences

    The Fair Observer website uses digital cookies so it can collect statistics on how many visitors come to the site, what content is viewed and for how long, and the general location of the computer network of the visitor. These statistics are collected and processed using the Google Analytics service. Fair Observer uses these aggregate statistics from website visits to help improve the content of the website and to provide regular reports to our current and future donors and funding organizations. The type of digital cookie information collected during your visit and any derived data cannot be used or combined with other information to personally identify you. Fair Observer does not use personal data collected from its website for advertising purposes or to market to you.

    As a convenience to you, Fair Observer provides buttons that link to popular social media sites, called social sharing buttons, to help you share Fair Observer content and your comments and opinions about it on these social media sites. These social sharing buttons are provided by and are part of these social media sites. They may collect and use personal data as described in their respective policies. Fair Observer does not receive personal data from your use of these social sharing buttons. It is not necessary that you use these buttons to read Fair Observer content or to share on social media.

     
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    These cookies essential for the website to function.
    Social Media
    These cookies are used to enable sharing or following of content that you find interesting on our website. These settings apply to third-party social networking and other websites.
    Performance & Functionality
    These cookies are used to enhance the performance and functionality of our website. They provide statistics on how our website is used and help us improve by measuring errors. Certain functionalities on our website may become unavailable without these cookies.
    Analytics
    SAVE & ACCEPT