Forging a revolution in thought, application and process, the expansion policies set into place across the country have spurred a new environment in manufacturing – one which is set to renew what we know of industry, change the way we produce goods and spark innovations of intellect and function across many sectors as well as society as a whole. If there's any other definition necessary for a renaissance, we don't know of one.
Additive manufacturing - AKA 3D printing - is one of eight major technologies that will drive companies and business models in the future to either adapt or die, according to a Goldman Sachs report entitled The Search for Creative Destruction. However, 3D printing is still very much in its infancy, and fails to match the requirements of big businesses aiming to improve upon existing products and processes.
Walmart welcomed more than 500 manufacturers recently at its world headquarters, during the company's first Made in the USA open call. Suppliers met with senior company officials and merchants to pitch products for stores, clubs and online.
Since David Friedfeld took over ClearVision Optical from his father in 1985, he's seen most eyewear manufacturing move overseas. The 120-employee company, based in Hauppauge, N.Y., is bringing a small piece of it back. Last year, Friedfeld purchased an entry-level 3D printer for just under $3,000. He still does the bulk of his manufacturing abroad, but he can now print eyeglass prototypes in-house.
Over the past several decades, processes to design and build cars, airplanes and products used in various other industries have typically followed a linear, sequential path. This process typically started with product research, ideation and concept development, followed by design and development, prototype and validation, leading to production, launch, operation and, eventually, product retirement.
When the U.S. economy emerged from the recession in June 2009, productivity was rising at a fast clip. Companies had spent the downturn cutting jobs and were lean and efficient. Productivity—output per hour worked—jumped 5.5 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier as workers did more with less. But as the recovery has chugged on, productivity growth has stalled, averaging less than 1 percent a year since 2011. Workers were actually less efficient in the first quarter of 2014, producing fewer goods and services per hour than they had during the previous quarter.
The 3D printing market is expected to quadruple over the next decade to $12bn, moving from its main use today of creating prototypes to the most complex of production parts, according to Lux Research.
An estimated 208,000 new non-farm jobs were added to U.S. payrolls in April, according to D&B's May U.S Economic Health Tracker. This report provides a monthly, multidimensional perspective on the U.S. economy, including small business health, total job growth, and overall U.S. business health.
Manufacturing employment is falling almost everywhere, including in China. The phenomenon is driven by technology, and there's reason to think developing countries are going to follow a different path to wealth than the U.S. did—one that involves a lot more jobs in the services sector.