industry of the future


Turin, Italy-based Comau SpA (www.comau.com) demonstrated its latest body assembly technology in automotive manufacturing production with Ford Motor Co. at the North American International Auto Show in January. The two companies showed off a small sample assembly line with Comau robots on display right next to the latest cars and trucks.


Advanced Manufacturing Fuels Industry of the Future


By Sarah A. Webster labor competition. T 4


In fact, “the US manufacturing sector could capture $70 billion to $115 billion in annual exports by the end of the decade from other nations as a result of significant cost advantages over West- ern Europe and Japan,” as well as reclaiming so-called “reshored” jobs from China, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG; Boston, MA) wrote in a 2013 report, “Behind the American Export Surge.”


Volume IX | www.machinesitalia.org


he resurgence of manufacturing in North America, led by the United States, is continuing in full force, aided by a surge in low-cost energy and advanced manufactur- ing technology that is leveling the playing field in global


Already, US-exported goods grew by $33.2 billion in 2013 as


compared to 2012, according to the US Department of Commerce. Increases occurred in industrial supplies and materials ($7.1 billion); consumer goods ($6.8 billion); capital goods ($6.7 billion); automotive vehicles, parts, and engines ($6.0 billion); other goods ($3.4 billion); and foods, feeds, and beverages ($3.2 billion). That manufacturing revival has led to more than 600,000 new


jobs between February 2010 and January 2014, but BCG says as many as five million new manufacturing jobs could be created by the end of the decade if current trends continue, as expected. The growth in US manufacturing isn’t all reshored work from


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