Despite a trade imbalance with foreign competition where currency manipulation, in-country favoritism and lower wages have some effect on the economy of a given country—automation and the use of robotics helps boost productivity. This is the contention of Harry Moser, founder of the Reshoring Initiative, who talks about China’s investment in automation being a major factor in its ability to outproduce the U.S. Moser says:
“Automation can help make up for the lack of people. China is spending three to four times on automation than we are—especially in CNC machine tools. According to data from the Association for Manufacturing Technology, the U.S. consumed $8 billion in machine tools—and China is in the plus-$30 million range. And the consumption of robotics in China is multiples higher than us—in a country where the wage rates are only 20 percent of our rates. They are increasing robotics and paying workers $4 an hour—and we are not competing at the same level and paying $20 an hour [an average]. The effect is that it helps increase their productivity faster and it covers up some of that increase in the wage rate. It keeps them more competitive. It allows them to not have to raise their prices on goods and ameliorates wage rates.”
Read our full interview with Moser here:
https://www.mscdirect.com/betterMRO/metalworking/state-reshoring-us-manu...
Are you or your facility planning on investing in automation?