• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • About Us
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Parcel & Express
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Robotics
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Customer Relationship Management
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • Green Energy
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Management & Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Warehouse Automation
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Webinar Library
  • PODCASTS
  • WHITEPAPERS
  • VIDEOS
Home » U.S. Manufacturing Continues to Invest in Automation

U.S. Manufacturing Continues to Invest in Automation

June 24, 2016
Industry Week

The survey findings show that the high incidence of automation investment spans various company sizes and manufacturing subsectors:

• 83 percent of respondents indicated they engaged in automation investment in the past five years.

• More than three-quarters (76 percent) plan to engage in such investment during the next three years.

• 45 percent indicated their automation investment was part of a broader technology upgrading and 35 percent said it was a stand-alone investment. The remainder of respondents indicated they engaged in both.

“Automation implementation exhibits characteristics of both capital investment and innovation investment,” says Cliff Waldman, director of economic studies at the MAPI Foundation. “While deploying machinery into a production line has characteristics of capital equipment investment, it does not appear to be as short-term oriented as capital investment. Automation also does not appear to be an element of business expansion. Rather, it is more like process innovation whose principal goals are cost reduction and product quality improvement.”

Read Full Article

    RELATED CONTENT

    RELATED VIDEOS

    Business Strategy Alignment Global Supply Chain Management E-Commerce/Omni-Channel Food & Beverage Industrial Manufacturing
    KEYWORDS Business Strategy Alignment E-Commerce/Omni-Channel Food and Beverage Global Supply Chain Management Industrial Manufacturing Supply Chain Analysis & Consulting
    • Related Articles

      Growth in U.S. Manufacturing Continues to Be Anemic

      Overall U.S. Manufacturing Continues to Look Robust in 2015

      Process Industries Continue to Invest in Automation

    • Related Directories

      Tecsys, Inc.

    Industry Week

    Integrated View of Supply Chain Helps Build in Resiliency to Risk

    More from this author

    Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter!

    Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

    Featured Product

    Popular Stories

    • A LARGE AIRCRAFT BEARING THE LUFTHANSA LOG FLIES ABOVE FLUFFLY CLOUDS

      787-9 Dreamliner’s Nose Collapses on Runway

      Air Cargo
    • Close-up hands of unrecognizable man holding and using smartphone standing on city street.

      Five Supply Chain Security Risks Hiding Inside Your Mobile Apps

      Supply Chain Visibility
    • A CIRCUITBOARD INCLUDES A CAPSULE CONTAINING A MODEL OF THE DNA DOUBLE HELIX

      Podcast | A ‘Genetic’ Algorithm for Warehouse Network Inventory Strategy

      Artificial Intelligence
    • 031_how_ai_platforms_enable_supply_chain_resilience_and_orchestration_v1-(540p).png

      Watch: How AI Platforms Enable Supply Chain Resilience and Orchestration

      Artificial Intelligence
    • oung man walking and listening to music in VR environment of bright lines stretching out in enormous complexity

      The Quiet Rearchitecting of Manufacturing's Tech Stack

      Technology

    Digital Edition

    2026 esg cover main scb q2 2026 cover

    SupplyChainBrain 2026 ESG Guide: ESG — The Supply Chain’s Biggest Secret

    VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

    Case Studies

    • Recycled Tagging Fasteners: Small Changes Make a Big Impact

    • A GRAPHIC SHOWING MULTIPLE FORMS OF SHIPPING, WITH A HUMAN STANDING AT THE CENTER, TOUCHING A SYMBOLIC MAP OF THE WORLD

      Enhancing High-Value Electronics Shipment Security with Tive's Real-Time Tracking

    • A GRAPHIC OF INTERLACING HONEYCOMBED ELEMENTS REPRESENTING GLOBAL BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS

      Moving Robots Site-to-Site

    • JLL Finds Perfect Warehouse Location, Leading to $15M Grant for Startup

    • Robots Speed Fulfillment to Help Apparel Company Scale for Growth

    Visit Our Sponsors

    4flow Arkieva Blue Yonder
    Carton Cloud CoEnterprise Dassault
    Duravant E2Open General Logistics Systems
    Hy-Tek iGPS Korber
    Lyngsoe Procurability Quinyx
    SAP Sikick Systech
    S&P Global Mobility TADA TransImpact
    US Bank Werner Enterprises WSI
    • More From SCB
      • Featured Content
      • Video Library
      • Think Tank Blog
      • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
      • Whitepapers
      • On-Demand Webinars
      • Upcoming Webinars
    • Digital Offerings
      • Digital Issue
      • Subscribe
      • Manage Email Preferences
      • Newsletters
    • Resources
      • Events Calendar
      • 2026 Event Coverage
      • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
      • Supplier Directory
      • Case Study Showcase
      • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
      • 100 Great Partners Form
    • SCB Corporate
      • Advertise on SCB.COM
      • About Us
      • Privacy Policy
      • Contact Us
      • Data Sharing Opt-Out

    All content copyright ©2026 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

    Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing