Manufacturing in the Us

Taynan Ramos

QSO-300-Q2776

Operations Management 14EW2

Research Paper: The State of Manufacturing in the US

Professor James Libell

11/ 02/ 2014

The State of Manufacturing in the US

The gain in productivity, through the use of advanced manufacturing technologies and the creative development of unusual production processes ensured the United States an effective manufacturing cost decrease. It's been a long time since the United States realized that the only way for the country to become and stay competitive in the world market is to accept that the best policy is to free market and perceive that its customs barriers can be the US worst enemy. During years in which the American market underwent a deterioration of their local production, this belief continued to prevail. After a serious recession during the year 2009, the United States resurfaced as a country where manufacture is one of the most productive among the industrialized countries. Many factories out of the States are in search of places where the cost of production was lower, initially in Mexico and then in countries such as China and Taiwan. But in recent years, with labor costs in these countries increasing and, more important, with costs and inefficiencies out of the local infrastructure of those countries starting to accumulate operating expenses increased, the differential of the workforce has become irrelevant.

Another important factor in competitiveness is the need to be close to consumer markets, especially if we're talking about consumer durables. The great asset of the manufacturing companies in the US is that they can choose the technology, the equipment, the process seems more appropriate to them and implement them at minimal cost, with taxes or minimum rates regardless of where the equipment is produced. National companies that have invested in research and development, which allied themselves to research centers of universities and private companies are growing and...