 Make It Better
By Glynn Fletcher
Paradoxically, today’s challenging economic conditions may provide a unique opportunity for America. A fundamental examination of how this nation earns its living is long overdue. The credit crunch could provide the impetus we need to answer a question that has defeated policymakers for more than 50 years: how can manufacturing be encouraged to create wealth as part of a competitive, high value American economy.
American manufacturers are already some of the most productive in the world. Continuous pressure on the manufacturing sector in recent years has weeded out the weak. The vast majority of those that that remain are efficient producers of reasonably priced, high quality goods. It is therefore heartbreaking to watch so many good companies struggle as a result of the malpractice of avaricious people on Wall Street. For too long this country’s brightest and best have been engaged in financial engineering rather than real engineering. Just imagine if instead of designing complex financial instruments to make money out of money, these “geniuses” were working on our team designing cars, phones, computers, teaching tools, Internet programs and medical equipment that could improve the lives and productivity of millions. Wow!
As a matter of priority we should stop treating manufacturing as a relic of the industrial revolution. High value added manufacturing brings huge benefits. It penetrates the economy of the entire country, not just a few blocks of lower Manhattan. It pays well but avoids bewildering distortions of income. It drives and enables a broad range of skills and stimulates the growth of services. In short it creates wealth.
America is a country of promise and renewal; it has aspiration and ambition deep in its DNA. All the way back to the Pilgrim Fathers, extraordinary people from ordinary backgrounds have risked everything to make a better life for themselves and their families. These characteristics are inherent in the American people; it is what makes America great. Modern America has a flexible workforce that is both well educated and committed, people who are willing to work longer hours for fewer benefits than their European counterparts. Just try and find a tradesperson in Germany who will consistently work 50 hours a week and accept 3 weeks annual vacation. Es ist unmöglich.
Given this, American manufacturing still has the right stuff to thrive. It has the most creative, diverse, and innovative culture — in a world where the ability to imagine and generate new ideas with speed and to implement them through global collaboration is the most important competitive advantage.
So in 2009 we need to leverage the existing industrial capability and science base. We need to set the right priorities so we can develop within a generation a more broadly based economy, with greater resilience making things that the rest of the world wants. In doing so, we will see a high-value-added manufacturing sector with deep product knowledge in turn enabling growing services, and a renewed demand for science-based subjects in schools and universities.
It is entirely feasible that a new direction can be set in 2009 and that today’s economic difficulties will create the right conditions to influence this fundamental shift in attitude and policy.It won’t be easy. It will require tenacious commitment and continued ingenuity. But together, we can restore this country’s manufacturing industry to what it once was, to what it deserves to be – the cornerstone of innovation and progress for the global economy. At GF AgieCharmilles, we are committed to this goal. Please join us in 2009 as we work together to make it better.
www.make-it-better.us
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