Recent weeks have seen a surge in coverage by numerous news outlets, highlighting a wave of substantial investments aimed at building new manufacturing plants across the United States. The future of manufacturing in the US poses some interesting questions. In particular, will we indeed see an uptick in our manufacturing output, and more importantly, does this mean jobs in manufacturing will make a comeback? If they do, it’s worth asking whether these jobs offer attractive pay, especially when more Gen Zers question the value of a traditional university degree. Could a career in manufacturing be a compelling alternative for them?
I appreciate the article. Manufacturing doesn’t seem to be a big focus nowadays for many MBA programs. Many of the good business books on Lean (still applicable!) were written in the 80s and 90s , probably around the peak of US manufacturing employment highlighted in one of your charts.
That said, I always enjoyed the OIDD courses at Wharton that covered supply chain and manufacturing topics (class of ‘19 MBA). Addressing the challenges you describe in this piece won’t be easy, but having more Penn/Wharton grads who go into the manufacturing or industrial sector, and who are genuinely concerned with the well being of the people who do the front line work- that’s a good place to start!
I think they will come back, especially due to demographic shifts. This video/transcript from Peter Zeihan has some good points about "The Greatest Reindustrialization Process in US History": https://zeihan.com/the-greatest-reindustrialization-process-in-us-history/
Great read! thoughts on recent developments at Figure? https://x.com/figure_robot/status/1743985067989352827?s=46
I appreciate the article. Manufacturing doesn’t seem to be a big focus nowadays for many MBA programs. Many of the good business books on Lean (still applicable!) were written in the 80s and 90s , probably around the peak of US manufacturing employment highlighted in one of your charts.
That said, I always enjoyed the OIDD courses at Wharton that covered supply chain and manufacturing topics (class of ‘19 MBA). Addressing the challenges you describe in this piece won’t be easy, but having more Penn/Wharton grads who go into the manufacturing or industrial sector, and who are genuinely concerned with the well being of the people who do the front line work- that’s a good place to start!