Robots help American businesses fight China

The US manufacturing industry is reviving thanks to advanced automation technology, allowing companies to compete on price with Chinese businesses.

Although the trend of new technology application has only made the number of jobs increase modestly, many US manufacturers believe that technology will create many jobs that require high skills for workers who are being replaced by robots.

In a move that could be the beginning of a new trend in the US manufacturing industry, Mr. Sunit Saxena, executive director of Altierre Digital Retail, recently switched manufacturing from China to the US.

'Like other companies, we started making production in China because of cheap labor costs. However, after a period of operation here, labor costs began to increase , "Mr. Saxena said.

The company Altierre Digital Retail - based in the city of San Jose, California - specializes in the manufacture of digital display panels and signage for retail stores. Users can update data on the screen and signs from a computer.

Robots join production at a factory in the US. (Photo: twincities.com)

Currently, Altierre employs from 50 to 60 people, less than when operating in China, and the salary paid to workers is 10 USD / hour.

Mr. Saxena said that by applying new electronic test stations, the company's productivity has doubled. Increasing productivity helped him compete on price with Chinese companies. Altierre plans to increase automation. This policy is not synonymous with replacing all workers, but only to turn labor into a negligible part of total production costs.

'Currently, we can improve production capacity, so we can get more business opportunities, more capable of processing products, reducing the number of employees per unit area. . This fact proves that we have a more efficient production method than the company operating in the Far East region , 'Saxena said.

Earthbound Farm - one of the largest organic food producers in the US - is also applying technology to increase productivity. In recent times, the company has deployed automation robots to harvest products. Each robot works equivalent to four workers. However, the company's vice president, Will Daniels, confirmed that no one here lost his job.

'Instead of using robots to replace workers, we are actually offering them a higher skill set. People who are working on packaging lines of products and robots that robots participate in, are actually operating machines , "said Daniel.

So far, automated technology has been applied in almost every stage that requires repeated operation. However, technology developers like Troy Straszheim are building robots with new capabilities.

"We are continuing to manufacture the brain and eyes for those robots," said Straszheim.

By using camcorders and sensors, Straszhein is developing robots that can identify and select specific shapes. These robots can be used in docks and shipyards.

For the first time in 10 years, technological innovations are helping the US manufacturing industry grow. Many industrial manufacturers believe that, as companies expand their operations in the US, automation will create a lot of high-skilled jobs and salaries commensurate with employees.