6 highlights
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Among the many uncomfortable truths revealed by the coronavirus pandemic is, apparently, this: America can’t build anymore. Faced with an unprecedented emergency, U.S. factories have struggled to make even relatively simple products such as swabs, masks and protective gear.
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While millions of manufacturing jobs have been lost over the past two decades as low-end production has shifted to Asia, real output in U.S. manufacturing hovers around all-time highs. American manufacturers dominate high-tech sectors such as wide-body aircraft and semiconductors.
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Technology is essentially three things: tools (such pots, pans and stoves); explicit instructions (such as patents and recipes); and process knowledge, which can also be described as tacit knowledge or technical experience. The first two are easy to observe and measure; the third is most important. You can give someone a well-equipped kitchen and highly detailed recipes. But, if he has never cooked before, he may not be able to prepare even a simple dish
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While Silicon Valley’s star still shines, Detroit’s has long faded. The production networks that once sustained so much process knowledge have disappeared along with the car factories.
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America should start viewing workers not purely as costs to be slashed, but as practitioners keeping alive knowledge essential to the production process.
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For too long, tax laws have encouraged offshoring; it’s time for political leaders to remove the excuse for manufacturers not to bring production back home.