China is going to embrace automation with or without the rest of the world following. What could be a massive opportunity to bring manufacturing to countries other than China will most likely be blown by political meddling in attempt to prevent job displacement. This political interference will lead to the same or greater loss of jobs as now the high paying jobs working on automation will be doing it in countries that choose to embrace it. Instead of manufacturing following the path of cheapest global labor it will simply follow the path of least political resistance to automation efforts. The correct answer is to fully embrace automation and attempt to democratize it though standards based platforms that reduce the barrier to entry for new competing companies.
China is going to embrace automation with or without the rest of the world following. What could be a massive opportunity to bring manufacturing to countries other than China will most likely be blown by political meddling in attempt to prevent job displacement. This political interference will lead to the same or greater loss of jobs as now the high paying jobs working on automation will be doing it in countries that choose to embrace it. Instead of manufacturing following the path of cheapest global labor it will simply follow the path of least political resistance to automation efforts. The correct answer is to fully embrace automation and attempt to democratize it though standards based platforms that reduce the barrier to entry for new competing companies.