Editorial

Citation

Bennett, D. (2011), "Editorial", Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Vol. 22 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/jmtm.2011.06822eaa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Volume 22, Issue 5

Since I left school and joined a company making automotive parts 45 years ago, there have been more predictions about the death of manufacturing than I care to remember. In fact, it brings to mind the quotation of Mark Twain, when learning of his own obituary in the New York Journal, that “the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated”. As a reaction to these predictions, we might well ask; how can manufacturing be dying when the world’s population is exploding and more people are buying cars, refrigerators, computers, washing machines and all the paraphernalia to provide and service our everyday needs?

Those who predict manufacturing’s demise will probably argue that they mean it is dying in the traditional industrialised economies and moving to the emerging economies, citing as support for this trend the rise of manufacturing in Asian countries such as Korea and Latin American countries such as Brazil. In fact, we cannot disagree with this simple assessment since the clearest evidence of the shift from the industrialised to the developing economies can be found with the case of China as it has become the “workshop to the world”. Meanwhile, the assumption has been that the economies of traditional industrialised countries will become dependent on the production of services to compensate for the loss of output and hence to maintain and grow the gross domestic product of these countries.

However, the paradox is evident when looking more closely at what is actually happening to companies and industries. Indeed, many old established manufacturing names have disappeared, but look at the UK’s FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 list of companies with the greatest capitalisation. It is still littered with manufacturing companies, although not the ones involved with the older “sunset” industries such as steelmaking, heavy engineering and shipbuilding. Instead, they are companies involved with biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, aerospace, precision engineering and food processing, etc. And more are joining the FTSE 350 while non-manufacturing companies are leaving. Moreover, even when “manufacturing” moves offshore to developing countries many of the associated high-value activities such as design, production engineering, research and development remain rooted in the company’s “country of origin” providing skilled jobs and generating considerable wealth.

Pessimists will say that these associated activities will eventually move offshore as well, but again this is probably too simplistic an assessment. Technology is racing forward and products are now being made closer to the consumer using customised techniques such as 3-D printing, while at the same time the price of oil is increasing the transportation cost of goods coming from the other side of the world. Therefore, I think any reports of the death of manufacturing will continue to be greatly exaggerated in the next 45 years.

David Bennett