Squeaky clean manufacturing and the third industrial revolution

An interesting article from The Economist about the dawn of (new) manufacturing, see my previous post - specifically referring to the trade fair Euromold and the emergence of 3D printers and additive manufacturing in particular. The article points towards a Third Industrial Revolution, as outlined in a previous Economist article.

For me, there are two subtle, but important, points underpinning the theme of the article:

• with new technology being developed in additive manufacturing, virtually anyone with the technology can be a manufacturer (see previous post)
• it will be more important than ever for this (new) manufacturing industry to be located in proximity to market of consumption  (see previous post)

Tell me I'm wrong...

Click here to read the full article.

The Factory of The Future

Is the factory of the future about automation and less jobs or about creating hi-tech jobs? See Zvi Feuer's article from Manufacturing Executive on this topic. Here is an excerpt:

"I have a different view of the factory of the future, and although it certainly includes robots and other forms of automation, I don’t see it as eliminating jobs. In fact, I predict the opposite. Factories of the future will actually create jobs. According to Thomas Friedman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The New York Times, a 1% improvement in productivity can result in as many as 750,000 new jobs in the U.S."

Click here to read the full article.