After recently returning to the world of process improvement consulting, I began to ponder where U.S. manufacturing stands with regard to worldwide competitiveness after so many decades of highs and lows. Globally, we have U.S. manufacturing to thank for leading the way out of the great recession, albeit ever so slowly. But as the months warmed up this spring and summer, U.S. manufacturing has cooled.

Quality in U.S. manufacturing has improved tremendously since the late 1970s and 1980s, and we should be proud of our comeback from a dark era during which we questioned whether U.S. workers could ever manufacture high-quality, low-cost products again. We’ve done well to catch up in many industries, but what can we do now to compete with and surpass other countries’ manufacturing prowess, especially when our wages and taxes are so much higher than other developed and developing countries?

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