Reviving manufacturing

After years of neglect, manufacturing has become a hot topic in policy making circles. Today's Washington Post notes how the jobs debate has attention (New Democratic strategy for creating jobs focuses on a boost in manufacturing). As the story notes, last week the House passed a couple of bills aimed at raising the level of debate. One of those bills was H.R.4692 - the National Manufacturing Strategy Act of 2010. (For testimony on the strategy act see the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing.)

The bill calls for the creation of a manufacturing strategy to "promote growth, sustainability, and competitiveness; create well-paying, decent jobs; enable innovation and investment; and support national security." While that is a good set of goals, the manufacturing strategy needs to go beyond that simple statement. We need to embrace the fact that manufacturing is being transformed.

In that regard, the bill falls short. For example, the bill mandates a Quadrennial Study by the National Academy of Sciences. That study is almost exclusively past and present oriented. It is more an evaluation study than a look ahead. Yes, it does call for the study to conduct "(a)n assessment of the trends and short- and long-term forecasts of
manufacturing." But a forecast is not a vision. And the assessment is really part of the evaluation process, since the next paragraph calls for a "review of the trends and short- and long-term forecasts of manufacturing relied upon in previous National Manufacturing Strategies as compared with actual events and trends."

Reviving manufacturing will take more than a return to the ex-ante status quo of a decade ago. It will take a clear strategy of transformation. The National Manufacturing Strategy is a good first step. But the idea of transformation needs to be baked-in to the process from the very beginning. Only that will ensure we get a road map for the future rather than a nostalgic look back.