Tag: consumer

How robots are changing Minnesota’s workforce

How robots are changing Minnesota's workforce

Baxter, a two-armed robot, has been with Atlas Manufacturing for more than a year, performing tasks that would otherwise require two human operators. On the main floor of Minneapolis-based Atlas Manufacturing, Baxter is hard at work: She places metal pieces on a giant machine in a process that bends and punches parts before picking up the pieces and carefully arranging them on a nearby counter.

It’s a repetitive task, and at times, agonizing. But Baxter doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, she’s able to do the work around the clock throughout the year — without requiring lunch breaks. Or sick […]

‘Technological Automation and the Soft Skill Revolution’ has no comments

'Technological Automation and the Soft Skill Revolution' has no comments

In 2014 technology research firm Gartner projected that one-third of global jobs will be replaced by robotics, software, or machine learning by 2025. While technological advancements have been shifting entire labor markets since the beginning of time, the rate at which Moore’s Law is increasingly blurring the lines between algorithmic computing and human decision making promises to make this era of automation far different than those that have come before.

As about half of all jobs in both the U.S. and OECD countries become automated over the next two decades, governments and firms across the world must adapt to a […]

Alice Lang: Automation and unemployment

Alice Lang: Automation and unemployment

Remember the "Terminator" movie series, which featured humans fighting intelligent machines that tried to take over the world? While this scenario may seem far-fetched, the increasing use of computers in the workplace has significantly reduced job opportunities.

I recently had the opportunity to tour a distribution center which opened this year in the Upstate. I was impressed by the cleanliness and orderly structure of the business, as well as the enormous number of products that it sends out each week.

However, there was one disturbing aspect that stood out from the tour: There were very few workers in the huge, 1.5 […]

Should Manufacturing Come Back to America?

Should Manufacturing Come Back to America?

In recent years and especially during the latest presidential election cycle, the issue of manufacturing in America has been raised repeatedly. Many, particularly those who have lost jobs in the manufacturing sector as a result of increasing globalization, believe that a strong industrial base is required for America’s economic growth and stability. Opponents of measures to bring manufacturing jobs back point to increased prices and pressure to automate as reasons that the American economy should move past its manufacturing-based phase.

Pros of Bringing Manufacturing Back

Proponents of policies that would force or heavily incentivize businesses to bring manufacturing jobs […]

Dancing With The Robots

The increased use of robotics and automation in the manufacturing and logistics sectors will, over the next decade, limit East-West trade growth and lead to a reduction of supply chain and air freight personnel involved in handling and distribution, according to Wolfgang Lehmacher, Head of Supply Chain and Transport Industries at the World Economic Forum.
Lehmacher told FlyingTypers that the technological means and maturity to create autonomous supply and value chains was now almost here, and the adoption of new technologies could be seen in everything from flying shuttles to driverless cars and rolling robots. Citing Foxconn’s efforts to […]

Reversing Automation

Reversing Automation

Yesterday I asked what parts of NAFTA people on Ricochet would want to see renegotiated or abrogated. After reading the responses, I’m still not sure whether people here think that free trade is good, but NAFTA disadvantages the United States — that it’s not a level playing field, in other words — or whether we’ve got real support here for mercantilism.

I’m open to the idea that Adam Smith was wrong and free trade doesn’t, in fact, benefit everyone. I’ve been arguing, though, that it’s not trade that’s killed manufacturing jobs. It’s automation.

What if both are true? Here’s an interesting […]

Trump can’t resuscitate the Rust Belt, and his voters may well know it

Trump can’t resuscitate the Rust Belt, and his voters may well know it

So much for the new economy. Donald Trump’s path to the White House ran through a handful of old economy states whose voters are presumably now counting on the Republican president-elect to bring back all those auto, steel and coal-mining jobs that once powered their region.

What are the odds of that?

During the campaign, Mr. Trump identified the North American free-trade agreement as the main source of the Rust Belt ills. This struck a chord with working-class voters in Michigan, a state that hadn’t voted Republican in a presidential election since 1988, and which strongly backed President Barack Obama (who […]

The United Nations claims automation will take 2/3rds of jobs in developing nations

The United Nations claims automation will take 2/3rds of jobs in developing nations

What a fitting time. Seeing as America just elected the least qualified party to handle the automation problem in America as well as a candidate promising the return of automatable jobs, we now know the sights and conflict are poised to wreck the fuck out of the developing world. They have it worse than many first world societies, where the concerns are one in three jobs are dissolved. All figures, assuming the worst of them pose true, are concerns for social conflict, insecurity, and instability.

Have some more darkly sobering news today . Some excerpts… Industrialization has historically been […]

Tech world, you are also to blame for the rise of Donald Trump

Tech world, you are also to blame for the rise of Donald Trump

NEW YORK, UNITED STATES – NOVEMBER 9: Supporters of President-elect Donald Trump of Republican Party, gather in front of the Midtown Hilton Hotel where Trump will make his victory speech as the results of the 2016 Presidential Election became clear in New York, NY, USA on November 9, 2016. Republican nominee Donald Trump won victory against Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton on US presidential election. Photo by Volkan Furuncu/Anadolu Agency/ Opinion: We are largely here because internet technology may have improved global communication, but it has decimated American jobs. Let this be a wake up call

Two months ago, […]

It’s the one thing Trump and Clinton agree on – and it’s probably a fantasy

It’s the one thing Trump and Clinton agree on – and it’s probably a fantasy

On Sept. 8, 2010, General Motors workers cheer as the first Chevrolet Cruze compact sedan off the assembly line, at the GM factory in Lordstown, Ohio. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta) If there’s one thing Americans agree on, it’s collective nostalgia for the days when workers actually made things — when American factory workers earned good wages helping to crank out cars, refrigerators, furniture and other goods for consumers in the U.S. and around the world. So it’s no surprise that politicians are also united in pledging to bring those manufacturing jobs back to America, as both Donald Trump and Hillary […]