Advanced Manufacturing –
The recently released National Security Strategy notes manufacturing is both an economic and national security imperative. Manufacturing is a key contributor to U.S. prosperity, impacting jobs, research and development, and new weapons systems.
The state of U.S. manufacturing is at once both impressive and troubling. U.S. manufacturers remain on the cutting-edge of technology, but the last fifteen years have been devastating to the health of the sector and its workforce. This is a significant national security challenge.
To remain a leading global power, U.S. policy must redirect the macroeconomic trends that have made other manufacturing destinations more attractive than the United States. To lead the world’s next industrial revolution, the United States needs to create a welcoming environment for advanced manufacturing, one that includes a collection of technologies like digitization, artificial intelligence, automation, big data analytics, and additive manufacturing.
The race is on to capture the value associated with the deployment of these technologies. Compared to competitor nations, including allies, the U.S. commitment to manufacturing has not been as robust. Senior leaders should consider the implications of new advanced manufacturing technologies on the national economy and national defense. Technologies involved in advanced manufacturing will impact the ability to mobilize both people and equipment. Sustainment and logistics could, for example, be more expeditionary and customized for the warfighter, while maintenance to major platforms could be performed while deployed.
Several challenges stand in the way of the sector’s widespread success. Included are inadequate federal research and development funding; gaps in cybersecurity and intellectual property rights protections; a lack of long-term investment to support capital improvements; a skills gap and need to retrain workers for the jobs of the future; the ineffective role of government to date; and shortcomings of the Department of Defense’s acquisition process.
The government clearly has a role in supporting the sector’s competitiveness. Government should not direct industry, as other countries do with more regularity, but instead use policy to incentivize private industry to invest its own resources in technology development and deployment. This report describes a strategy to rebuild, revitalize, and improve U.S. manufacturing for the great power competition of the 21st century. First, the United States must create an attractive environment for domestic and global manufacturers. Second, it must develop and broadly deploy new advanced manufacturing technologies to increase the existing industrial base’s productivity and retain a competitive advantage for U.S. manufacturers. Third, the United States must encourage innovative firms to enter the market, bringing with them disruptive technologies and additional capacity. Finally, it must prepare its greatest resource — the people of the United States — for the jobs of the future.
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