A publicist I know well sent me this news from the Association for Advancing Automation (A3). I studied politics academically during a dark period of my early life. I rate this sentiment as excellent. I rate its political expediency at nearly zero. Open letters will not a president of any stripe influence.
Perhaps all Americans who read my thoughts might send something like this to your Congresspeople wherever you live. There may be some influence on industrial policy. The problem is that they each have their own agendas, and many clash with these sentiments. (I once witnessed a meeting of Congressperson Jim Jordan with constituents hurt by the tariff policy. No one left that meeting happy. Oh, well…)
We know from Trump’s first term manufacturing industry received mixed blessings from Washington’s policies. I expect more of the same. But we’re a democracy. Give it a shot.
To: President-Elect Donald Trump
From: Association for Advancing Automation (A3)
We congratulate you on your election as the 47th President of the United States of America. As an association dedicated to leadership in automation, we very much appreciate your emphasis on strengthening American manufacturing.
We call on you as the president-elect to keep the U.S. competitive in automation and robotics and to sustain our people in well-paid employment opportunities. The U.S. lags behind many countries in automation, contributing to the loss of 46,000 manufacturing jobs in October alone. While much emphasis has been placed on American leadership in AI, the fact is we are falling behind our adversaries and competitors in the real, physical world applications of AI, such as robotics. Without leadership in the physical manifestation of AI – robotics – the US will not only lose the robotics race, but also the AI race.
To reclaim US leadership in automation and robotics, we believe our country needs a national strategy, one that not only supports automation technology innovation but clearly addresses the serious supply chain problem of providing a sufficient workforce of technicians and engineers for the robotics and automation industries.
We call on the U.S. government to partner with the robotics and automation industry to share how these technologies are used to bring back jobs to the U.S. and to increase worker productivity and safety. We also need the government to boost workforce training, robotics education and career inspiration.
Robotics and other forms of automation will ultimately enable countries to be more competitive economically and in national security and hire more people in specialized capacities. We urge you to recognize the benefits automation brings to the U.S. workforce, manufacturing and overall prosperity.
We look forward to working together, as industry and government, to help our businesses and citizens succeed in today’s competitive and increasingly automated workforce.
Sincerely,
Jeff Burnstein
President
Association for Advancing Automation
