US Regaining Manufacturing Might With Robots and 3D Printing

For years, the U.S. has been hemorrhaging manufacturing jobs to China because of the vastly cheaper labor pool. But now, several different technologies have ripened to the point where U.S. companies are bringing some operations back home. 3D printing, robotics, AI, and nanotechnology are all expected to dramatically change the manufacturing landscape over the next several years. From the article: "The factory assembly that the Chinese are performing is child’s play for the next generation of robots—which will soon become cheaper than human labor. Indeed, one of China’s largest manufacturers, Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology Group, announced last August that it plans to install one million robots within three years to do the work that its workers in China presently do. It found Chinese labor to be too expensive and demanding. The world’s most advanced car, the Tesla Roadster, is also being manufactured in Silicon Valley, which is one of the most expensive places in the country. Tesla can afford this because it is using robots to do the assembly. ... 3D printers can already create physical mechanical devices, medical implants, jewelry, and even clothing. The cheapest 3D printers, which print rudimentary objects, currently sell for between $500 and $1000. Soon, we will have printers for this price that can print toys and household goods. By the end of this decade, we will see 3D printers doing the small-scale production of previously labor-intensive crafts and goods. It is entirely conceivable that in the next decade we start 3D-printing buildings and electronics."

Comments

Goodbye jobs

[RichMan]

Say goodbye to a whole lot more mid-level jobs. This is the path we are going down, labor is expensive.

But what is the cost of a large unemployed population ?

Re:Goodbye jobs

[crazyjj]

But what is the cost of a large unemployed population ?

Historically, this has led to political instability and social unrest.

Re:Goodbye jobs

[crazyjj]

People will be freed up for creative jobs, jobs that involve human intelligence which can't be done by machines.

And what are the non-creative idiots going to do for a living? Working in the environments that most of us /.ers work in, it's easy to forget that they're still the majority, you know.

Re:Goodbye jobs

[alen]

100 years ago 90% of the people in the US were employed on farms. today its 4%. why isn't 90% of the USA unemployed?

new jobs open up and are created

Re:Goodbye jobs

[DM9290]

With any luck it will also lead to automatic education systems that will allow all those people learn new skills to better deal with the new world.

Gosh.. I sure hope we get lucky! Because if we don't get lucky we're looking forward to the collapse of the economy and major violent civil unrest.

No doubt it will be hard, and impossible for some, but such are any major shifts in economy and production.

You are envisioning the economy is going to shift to something that robots can not do but people can? shift to what? Poetry? Erotic massage? Surrogate motherhood for the ultra wealthy? Sperm donation? Organ sales?

All the signs point to the economy shifting towards ever more automation, and ever more accumulation of wealth into the hands of fewer and fewer owners, and there are no signs or reason to suspect this trend is ever going to stop until there is absolutely nothing that anyone can do that a robot can't do better, at which point on what side of the fence are you going to be on when surgical robots show up to harvest your organs at age 18 to pay back all the money you've been borrowing to survive through your childhood but can not possibly repay?

Re:Goodbye jobs

[shutdown -p now]

This dogma over the last two decades or so has led us right to the edge of record-setting long unemployment and poverty.

That's because we refuse to let go of the ancient idea that only those who work should be well-off, and those who don't deserve to be poor, and consequently consider unemployment as a temporary state that should necessarily involve hardship. This is not necessary in a society which can be sustained with only a few people working solely as much as they want for their own self-fulfillment.

What if there are no paying jobs that can't be done by machines?

Then there are no paying jobs, and we ditch the current economic system (which, to remind, is ultimately just a way of distributing generated wealth) and move on to the next one.

The irony of "creating jobs"

[ACluk90]

What an irony when politicians are talking about creating jobs. Economy is not about creating jobs, but about eliminating the need to work and rising the quality of life. This is the way to the future.

Re:The irony of "creating jobs"

[na1led]

People who don't work, are not happy.

Re:And how does this benefit the working class?

[MozeeToby]

By increasing manufacturing efficiency, lowering prices for everyone (including products that aren't produced with automation by increasing the available labor pool for other industries). If you care about giving people jobs more than you care about making products efficiently, why not just have everyone build a giant brick pyramid in the middle of Nebraska. Oh, and make sure they do it by hand, wouldn't want any pesky earth moving equipment costing people their jobs.

4 day work week?

[Piata]

All this automation is great and everything but when does it actually translate into a benefit for humanity in general?

I'm so glad some business can now churn out more crap to purchase at cheaper prices. When are we going to focus on shortening the work week or making housing more affordable? What about investing more time in expanding humanity's presence in the solar system? Or reducing our environmental foot print?

Yay? All of the pollution and none of the jobs

[wisnoskij]

So you are telling me that we are getting back our manufacturing plants, but are not going to see any more jobs or other benefits, just the negatives?