In 2023, China surpassed Germany and Japan in robotic density, with 470 robots per 10,000 staff, in accordance 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 greatest obstacles is hiding in plain sight: a scarcity of mechanical engineers. Whereas China graduates greater than 350,000 mechanical engineers annually, the U.S. produces fewer than 45,000. That’s not only a hole in numbers—it’s a structural drawback that would restrict our means to scale industrial innovation. And that doesn’t even embody different important fields of engineering like industrial, controls, and manufacturing, that are simply as important 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 permits small groups to scale their influence.
If we’re critical about bringing manufacturing again to the U.S., we will’t concentrate on coverage alone. We want a nationwide technique that invests in each STEM training and sensible, scalable robotics automation.
Hole in engineers undermines reshoring from China
Mechanical engineers are foundational to manufacturing. They design the methods, troubleshoot the combination, and join software program to bodily execution. However as training prices rise and public notion of producing stays outdated, fewer college students are pursuing engineering careers.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 an extended view. China’s funding in engineering training spans universities, commerce faculties, and government-backed apprenticeships. That form of nationwide pipeline builds industrial capability that scales.
Within the U.S., we want an analogous technique. Which means early STEM engagement, extra accessible engineering levels, and applications that spotlight what fashionable manufacturing really appears to be like like—automated, exact, and more and more software-defined.
Robots received’t exchange 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 methods on their very own.
All through my profession, I’ve seen how the suitable automation platform can multiply the output of a single engineer. However I’ve additionally seen how inaccessible these instruments will be. Smaller producers are sometimes disregarded of the automation dialog—not as a result of the necessity isn’t there, however as a result of the fee, 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 this point with out training, coaching, and assist. 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 unit output has remained uneven, provide chains are nonetheless susceptible, and plenty 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 training—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 financial 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 assist exists—we danger lacking a slim window of alternative. Different nations resembling China are already constructing the methods and workforce to dominate the subsequent period of commercial innovation. This isn’t nearly jobs. It’s about sustaining strategic capability, accelerating productiveness, and securing long-term financial resilience.
Spend money on each individuals and instruments
The way forward for American manufacturing relies on two issues: individuals and the instruments that empower them. Which means rethinking how we fund STEM training, increasing entry to engineering careers, and making automation sensible for the producers who want it most.
Reshoring received’t succeed if we deal with training, workforce improvement, and robotics as separate conversations. They’re deeply interconnected. We want mechanical engineers to design the methods, and we want automation to assist them scale. With out each, we’ll proceed to fall wanting our industrial objectives.
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 world initiative supported by main robotics corporations. He holds an M.S. in mechanical engineering from Case Western Reserve College.
