I just read where the government is ready to issue a national manufacturing policy, to promote industrial activity in all parts of the country. Encouraging the manufacturing sector, it’s been said, is necessary to increase its share in the GDP and attract investment. Also stressed is the need for skills development, to take advantage of the global shortage of trained workforce.
Looking more into the development of a manufacturing policy, I read how such a policy will encourage businesses to “develop their products and manufacturing processes, while improving their skills, in order to remain competitive in new markets. At the same time, they must also find new opportunities resulting from technological developments and globalization. Encouraging adaptability and structural change to sustain manufacturing competitiveness is essential, especially in the light of increasingly strong competition from emerging economies.”
Important declarations, both, but neither, unfortunately, have anything to do with the United States. Rather, the first paragraph came from an announcement made by the Indian government several months ago. Yes, India now has a manufacturing policy aimed at “attracting overseas investment and promoting industrial activity in all parts of the country,” according to an article in The Economic Times.
The second well-crafted statement? That one comes from the European Industrial Policy, developed by the European Commission nearly 5 years ago.
So where the heck is the U.S. manufacturing policy that has been discussed, hashed out and talked about over and over for more than a year now. The hubbub started when we proudly announced our government’s new senior counselor for manufacturing policy—yes, the Manufacturing Czar. That boasted-about government position was supposed to “steer U.S. manufacturing policy.”
Personally, all I see from Washington is a little meat and no bones, the latest dish arriving a few days ago when President Obama visited my fair city of Cleveland. That visit prompted Ohio junior U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown to write an op-ed piece for the Cleveland Plain Dealer (August 17, 2010). Says Brown:
“Our status as an economic superpower…is at risk of slipping away unless we develop a coherent manufacturing strategy. Such a strategy must promote innovation, supply chains, skills and fair trade.”
Is it me, or is this the same line we’ve been getting from our politicians for months and months now, our elected leaders who preach that they’ve got manufacturing’s back? Seems to me that we’ve allowed our country’s manufacturing sector—the one-time global manufacturing leaders–to be left fiddling while Rome burns.
Can we please have a moratorium on these op-ed pieces loaded with rhetoric until there’s truly something to talk about—an American Manufacturing Policy!
By the way, if you want to know what Senator Brown wrote in the Plain Dealer piece, just take a look at his editorial published on Manufacturing.net—from July 17, 2009. Yes, the same information just repurposed more than 12 months later.
The lights are on, the cameras are rolling. Can we please have some action?
MetalForming magazine editor Brad Kuvin has covered the metalforming and fabricating industry since 1984. His interviews with engineers and managers at manufacturing sites aim to transfer technology to the magazine's readers and website visitors, helping them improve productivity, quality and safety.Share: 
