Specialization
There are many areas where U.S. manufacturers and finishers can specialize as a way of “hedging” against global competition. We will look at four...
SPACE
Manufacturing related to the space program is an anomaly in many ways, not least of which is the fact that it remains craft industry in an age of mass production. It is also heavily invested with national pride and is tied to national security. For all of these reasons, finishing work associated with the space program will remain in the United States.
MILITARY
Defense has long generated finishing work in the U.S. Many finishing innovations were the result of defense contracts and made their way into civilian work in short order. As with space-program work, national security concerns have tended to keep this work in the U.S. There is a push, however, to break down the constituents of a given military job to the point that they can “safely” be offshored. This trend is exacerbated by the fact that many of the large corporations seeking defense contracts are already on the forefront of the offshoring trend. Military work is a questionable area of specialization long term.
NANOTECHNOLOGY
Nanotechnology, or a field of applied science and technology whose unifying theme is the control of matter on the atomic and molecular scale, normally 1 to 100 nanometers, and the fabrication of devices with critical dimensions that lie within that size range1, offers some opportunities for specialization. The extent of these opportunities, however, remains to be seen. Nanotechnology has gotten a lot of press, even in Plating and Surface Finishing, but it is a tiny niche (no pun intended). Nevertheless, there are abundant possibilities here so it's worth keeping our eyes on this one. Recent Developments: Like the other possibilities for specialization, this one is the subject of fierce competition. According to this article, the Chinese government has recognized nanotech as a promising field and is investing in it heavily.
HIGH PRECISION WORK
The U.S. has long been able to turn out very high precision work. Platers are no exception to this, able to meet the exacting specifications of the industries listed above. Europe has the ability to match U.S. quality, but is hampered by the same cost issues as the U.S. China and other developing nations have not yet been consistently successful in matching our high-precision work, so this has offered a "safe" area in which to specialize. We cannot expect to maintain an edge in this for long, however. Despite the bad press China gets for quality issues, its ability to turn out work to the narrowest tolerances is advancing almost daily. If the quality of their counterfeits is any indication (there are cases where Chinese counterfeits of U.S. designed technology items have more value than the original), we are very close to losing this competitive advantage.
Specialization offers a kind of competitive advantage in the short term, but what about long-term? How are we going to compete tomorrow?
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