Todd Denicoff
Abstract: This article looks at automation’s success and potential, identifies why America hasn’t implemented automation to nearly the same degree as Japan, and considers cases for and against automation in America. Japan has taken advantage of high-technology robots; the use of high-technology automation in Japan’s factories has been encouraged since the 1960s to raise productivity. In the United States, high-technology automation has only recently begun to make inroads into factories, partly because of Japanese competition. Extremely high Japanese productivity creates significant potential to undersell American products throughout the world and in the American market itself. The problem in America is a basic lack of trust. Unlike Japan, the United States does not have a lifetime employment system. There is no consensus on the effect that automation will have America’s employment, but the author argues the United States must use automation if it is to remain a viable industrial power. The alternative would certainly have a devastating impact on the role the United States plays as leader of the free world.
