In early December of last year, CNBC held a panel discussion on the future of manufacturing at Carnegie Mellon University. Now, this was not the first such meeting to discuss this important subject nor will it be the last, but I was struck by how even a stellar group of business and industry leaders couldn’t arrive at a clear consensus about what to do to strengthen U.S. manufacturing today and in the years ahead.
The discussion, moderated by Maria Bartiromo of CNBC and billed as “Meeting of the Minds: Rebuilding America,” included Daniel R. DiMicco, chairman and CEO of Nucor Corp.; John Engler, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers; Bill Ford, executive chairman of Ford Motor Co.; Leo W. Gerard, international president of the United Steelworkers International; Jeff Immelt, chairman and CEO of General Electric; and Hilda L. Solis, U.S. Secretary of Labor.
As you might imagine, the choice of Pittsburgh for the venue, not only the home of Carnegie Mellon, but also the heartland of the U.S. steel industry where so many jobs have been lost over the years, guaranteed that much of the discussion would focus on how to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States. But, like many other issues facing manufacturing these days, the jobs issue isn’t a simple one.
“Ten percent unemployment is unacceptable, but this has been coming for decades,” Immelt said. “We can’t go to a service economy in one generation. We’ve done a terrible job of keeping manufacturing jobs over the years. If we run the same old playbook, this ain’t going to get fixed.”