In 2023, China surpassed Germany and Japan in robotic density, with 470 robots per 10,000 workers, in keeping with the Worldwide Federation of Robotics. | Supply: Adobe Inventory
The U.S. is falling behind in its efforts to reshore manufacturing, and one of many largest obstacles is hiding in plain sight: a scarcity of mechanical engineers. Whereas China graduates greater than 350,000 mechanical engineers every year, the U.S. produces fewer than 45,000. That’s not only a hole in numbers—it’s a structural drawback that might restrict our capability to scale industrial innovation. And that doesn’t even embrace different important fields of engineering like industrial, controls, and manufacturing, that are simply as crucial to the way forward for U.S. manufacturing.
I’ve labored in robotics and automation for greater than 20 years, throughout nationwide analysis labs, startups, and open-source initiatives. In each context, the equation has remained the identical: You want individuals and instruments, expert engineers to design and combine options, and automation that enables small groups to scale their influence.
If we’re severe about bringing manufacturing again to the U.S., we are able to’t deal with coverage alone. We want a nationwide technique that invests in each STEM schooling and sensible, scalable robotics automation.
Hole in engineers undermines reshoring from China
Mechanical engineers are foundational to manufacturing. They design the programs, troubleshoot the mixing, and join software program to bodily execution. However as schooling prices rise and public notion of producing stays outdated, fewer college students are pursuing engineering careers. And too few perceive the influence these roles have on international competitiveness.
In the meantime, different nations are taking a protracted view. China’s funding in engineering schooling spans universities, commerce colleges, and government-backed apprenticeships. That type of nationwide pipeline builds industrial capability that scales.
Within the U.S., we want an analogous technique. Meaning early STEM engagement, extra accessible engineering levels, and packages that spotlight what fashionable manufacturing really seems like—automated, exact, and more and more software-defined.
Robots received’t substitute individuals—they’ll assist us scale
Automation isn’t about changing jobs. It’s about enabling engineers and technicians to perform extra with much less. That is very true for small and midsize producers, which regularly lack the assets to construct massive groups or deploy cutting-edge programs on their very own.
All through my profession, I’ve seen how the best automation platform can multiply the output of a single engineer. However I’ve additionally seen how inaccessible these instruments may be. Smaller producers are sometimes unnoticed of the automation dialog—not as a result of the necessity isn’t there, however as a result of the price, complexity, and technical necessities are nonetheless too excessive.
That’s one of many causes I helped launch ROS-Industrial over a decade in the past—to make robotics extra open, modular, and scalable. However open-source solely goes to date with out schooling, coaching, and help. We want insurance policies that tackle all three.
Why now?
Regardless of years of reshoring rhetoric, commerce coverage alone hasn’t delivered a significant revival. Manufacturing facility output has remained uneven, provide chains are nonetheless weak, and lots of small and midsize producers lack the workforce and know-how to scale. In the meantime, international rivals have invested aggressively in automation, infrastructure, and technical schooling—constructing not simply capability, however resilience.
On the identical time, the U.S. has fallen behind in getting ready for the realities of a brand new labor economic system. Automation is not a future idea—it’s a present-day requirement. But adoption stays fragmented, and upskilling efforts haven’t saved tempo with trade wants.
If we don’t act now—whereas reshoring momentum is actual and bipartisan help exists—we threat lacking a slender window of alternative. Different nations comparable to China are already constructing the programs and workforce to dominate the subsequent period of business innovation. This isn’t nearly jobs. It’s about sustaining strategic capability, accelerating productiveness, and securing long-term financial resilience.
Put money into each individuals and instruments
The way forward for American manufacturing relies on two issues: individuals and the instruments that empower them. Meaning rethinking how we fund STEM schooling, increasing entry to engineering careers, and making automation sensible for the producers who want it most.
Reshoring received’t succeed if we deal with schooling, workforce improvement, and robotics as separate conversations. They’re deeply interconnected. We want mechanical engineers to design the programs, and we want automation to assist them scale. With out each, we’ll proceed to fall in need of our industrial targets.
Concerning the writer
Shaun Edwards is the co-founder and chief know-how officer of Plus One Robotics, a venture-backed startup deploying robotics in logistics and e-commerce. He shapes the corporate’s technical imaginative and prescient, product roadmap, and software program structure.
Beforehand, Edwards was a principal engineer at Southwest Analysis Institute (SWRI), the place he led analysis and improvement and deployed automation throughout industries like aerospace, meals, and logistics. Shaun additionally based the ROS-Industrial open-source challenge, now a worldwide initiative supported by main robotics corporations. He holds an M.S. in mechanical engineering from Case Western Reserve College.
