I first saw a row of robots when I took my technical writing class to a Milwaukee manufacturer. The metal employees were spraying red paint on snow plows. The tour guide explained that using robots meant humans didn’t have to worry about unhealthy fumes; the company didn’t have to worry about paid vacations. Wow, we marveled.
On Feb. 15, 2012, President Obama came to Master Lock in Milwaukee and touted the return of manufacturing. He reported the plant was "for the first time in 15 years, operating at full capacity."
Not said? Full capacity meant roughly one-third the number of employees. Our prized Harley-Davidson has been making news in 2013 based on revamping its York, Pa., facility. It produces more motorcycles with robots, but hundreds of people lost jobs. The stock is flying high. Harley has plans for Wisconsin facilities.
I am solidly behind any manufacturing company turning to robots; what choice do they have? I wince every time someone, usually a politician, waves the flag and shouts we’re bringing manufacturing back to the U.S. The only labor force cheaper than a country with a billion people is a country that uses robots. Those metal workers stay on task 24/7/365. The price break encouraging American manufacturers to ship thousands of miles away is no longer a break. So, yes, indeed we’ll bring manufacturing home - but not the jobs. Someone needs to be honest about this.
Harley CEO Keith Wandell said (and I believe him): "None of us get up in the morning with the intention of ruining anybody’s life," but losing a job is tantamount. Think of any job you consider safe from robots. I’d urge you to think again. About the only one I can conjure is the hair stylist. No robot is cutting my hair even if robots are doing heart and cataract surgery. (Kevin M., you’re welcome for that plug.)
To me, this is THE issue, THE question for our time. The robots are coming in massive numbers. How can we get ahead of them and figure out what we’re going to do with people? Heartburn is what I experienced reading in The New York Times that an industrial engineer had concluded the one robot safe job was folding clothes for shipment at Amazon. Really! That’s the only one? I get dreadfully depressed over this issue thinking even that occupation will be obsolete because no one will be able to afford to buy from Amazon. They won’t have a job. Don’t get all smart and say someone will need to make the robots. Not so. Robots can make robots.
With all the talk about entrepreneurial economies swirling around these days, I’m hoping some great minds of our region begin a dialogue about invasion of the robots. We need philosophers and arts types in this discussion. We need sympathetic CEOs who wish they could keep people. We need some smart engineers and inventors I know (and those I don’t) to start working on something besides Apps and video games, for heaven’s sake. Go solve a REAL problem, why doncha.
This is big. It will be like discovering gravity or the cure for the common cold. Don’t you want to be that person?
