Tomorrow in the U.S. we'll be celebrating our country's independence from England. Every country has their national holiday to celebrate itself. July 4th is when we eat too much and blow stuff up.
Hey, we're Americans. It's what we do.
But this year is different. There are many chickens coming home to roost that aren't just affecting my country directly - our world is seeing fundamental change, and it's awfully troubling these days to play the tape through to its end.
It's pretty clear to me that most everything that ails our world these days boils down to energy - where it comes from, who uses it, and its byproducts are challenging us all economically, politically and morally.
Sure, economies get screwed around and nature always comes around to remind us that she's in charge. But to me, our most serious challenge that we can do something about is energy and how it's used.
In the most recent Time magazine (U.S. version), in an article titled "10 Things You Can Like About $4 Gas," the number 1 thing to like is "Globalized Jobs Return Home".
The world suddenly seems big again. A family of four can't fly cross-country for much less than $2,000. The cost of shipping a standard 40-ft. (12 m) container of couches from Shanghai to New Jersey has tripled since 2000. Trucking carrots from Mexico to Georgia makes less and less economic sense.
In more industries, such as steel, lawn-mower batteries and upscale furniture, doing business in the U.S. is starting to look slightly more feasible.
All true, and it's a trend you'll see gaining steam in the coming months and years. But I fear that manufacturing in general - and the U.S. specifically - will fall back into a familiar reaction to this. Whenever a threat has turned out to be less deadly than was first believed - the threat to the U.S. manufacturing base from other manufacturing sources (Japan), the threat of outsourcing (1980's) - manufacturers heaved a sigh of relief and got complacent again until the next threat came along (China). Then everyone acted surprised, like it never happened before.
Maybe that's human nature. But in the case of energy, we have an opportunity now to do something bold even if the pain of outsourcing begins to ease from work pulling back to less expensive locations, logistically speaking. We all need to come together toward an initiative to wean ourselves now from traditional, less renewable, fossil fuels and high carbon footprints. We need to adopt alternative energy sources, and we all know it. But we can't.
Cause we don't have the huevos.
This morning, I came across an op-ed piece in the latest Industry Week that represents my thoughts, and I'm pretty sure it will resonate strongly with you. In "More Than Just Earth-Friendly, Going "Green" a Route To Jobs and Prosperity, John Madigan points to a logical solution and how to get there:
Manufacturing ... actually creates both wealth and jobs. Developing "green" manufacturing technology also offers opportunities to become a net exporter of environmentally friendly products and processes. "Green" manufacturing, and the technology to support it, can create the required $20-per-hour jobs to sustain a strong middle class while helping to solve air, energy, water, and food crises.
Create a government-sponsored program, similar to the "Apollo Program," to create jobs based on solving environmental needs. Such a program, focused on self-sustaining and renewable solar, wind, water turbine, clean hydrogen energy and desalination of the ocean's water, could jump-start a revival of U.S. manufacturing.
- Incent companies, by tax policy, which make environmentally friendly and sustainable end products here.
- Create prizes to reward innovation for environmental friendly products manufactured here.
- Utilize existing tax supported agencies such as NIST manufacturing centers to: Define and teach best practices to manufacturers through shared network of knowledge resources; Benchmark on the successes -- Toyota, Wiremold, Danaher Corp. and employ proven lean executives on oversight boards; Challenge "economy of scale" thinking and standard cost accounting for more market-based accounting systems; Focus on small businesses or start-up companies and nurture "incubator green manufacturing zones";
I do not agree with some of Mr. Madigan's points in the article (his take on productivity, for example) but I wholeheartedly agree with it in spirit.
We need a bold initiative, similar to the U.S. Apollo or Russia's Luna programs, that will stimulate our collective creativity and find real solutions while creating wealth.
According to NASA, there have been over 1500 "spinoff" technologies from the Apollo lunar program to benefit business, health and wealth. We need that now, but on a global scale. The problem is too large, too complex and affects too many of us politically to tackle it in a vacuum.
I hope that we can find the resolve to address this as one people - for all of us, including manufacturing.
Happy Independence Day to all of you, no matter where you are.
