Tariffs, Labor Shortages, and Economic Uncertainty Re-ignite Interest in Automating Manufacturing

The Covid-19 pandemic is widely regarded as a watershed moment for automation. As most of the startup world struggled to secure funding amid global shutdowns, interest in robotics only increased. Industries suddenly faced a decision between automating workflows or grounding to a halt until the world reopened. Venture capital quickly followed. 

2025 could prove similarly decisive for robotics and automation, albeit for entirely different reasons.  Unpredictability around tariffs and global trade, coupled with the lingering strain on the global supply chain, is forcing many U.S. companies to reconsider both how and where their manufacturing is done. 

In a recent conversation with Axios reporter Joann Muller, A3 President Jeff Burnstein discussed the echoes of Cold War era manufacturing and automation challenges reflected in the current moment. Burnstein joined the Association for Advancing Automation more than 40 years ago, at the height of these debates.

“We’ve been told companies can automate, you can emigrate, or evaporate,” he told Muller. “This is a phrase that somebody came up with in the industry — and they were right, because we wanted companies to automate.”

Views of automation were highly polarized in the early-80s – perhaps even more so than today. To some, robotics were the key to securing – and increasing — the United States’ 30% share of global manufacturing. For others, they represented a direct threat to the American worker. Certainly the U.S. was well-positioned as a robotics powerhouse, courtesy of the automotive industry.

“[Automation] was going to be the next thing,” Burnstein explained. “That’s the revolution, [but] the companies didn’t know how to apply [robotics]. They didn’t know what to do. [One of the big three automakers]  ended up canceling a whole bunch of orders.”

“Maybe the technology wasn’t ready,” he adds. “Maybe we had to develop proven solutions first. Maybe it got overhyped.” Certainly, automation’s versatility and capability couldn’t hold a candle to today’s AI-powered systems. 

Instead of automating, many domestic manufacturers opted to emigrate, opting to outsource much of the work.

“General Electric, IBM, Westinghouse — all these companies were selling robots, and then it all went away,” Burnstein notes. “What many companies chose to do was to chase low-cost labor in Asia.”

America’s role in global manufacturing took a massive hit as a result. So, too, did many of its major urban centers. Nowhere is more evident than the Motor City, which recently played host to A3’s Automate conference. 

“It wasn’t just the manufacturing jobs that went away,” Burnstein explains. “Look what happened to Detroit when I grew up. It was the fifth largest city in the country. It wasn’t just those jobs. It was the neighborhoods around them . It was the companies in bars and restaurants and dry cleaners that depended on factories. That all went away, too.”

While the pandemic accelerated the automation of industries like agriculture, food service, and healthcare, automotive’s share of the manufacturing robotics industry  dipped from around 75% to 50%, per Bernstein. 

Increasing difficulty navigating the global supply chain has reignited conversations around the role automation will play in manufacture’s future. This time, however, much of the talk revolves around decentralization through reshoring efforts.

“[Reshoring] is possible,” Burnstein adds, “but it’s only possible if these are highly automated plants.” 
Talk of increased automation has, predictably, resurfaced the jobs conversation in turn. But A3’s president strongly pushes back on the notion that these robotics systems will replace human jobs.

“I think there’ll be more jobs as a result,” says Burnstein. “But I also think they’ll be different jobs and they’ll be better, safer, higher paying jobs. Jobs that people may really want to do as opposed to the dull, dirty and dangerous jobs that people don’t want to do .”

Futureproofing a company requires more than just automation, however. As the nature of jobs adapt, corporations will need to focus on training existing and future workers to operate in newly established roles. A3 is working to help employees adapt to the increasing presence of robotics and automation in the workplace.