Blog post on Robots, Arc Welding, Costs and Competitiveness

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This is from one of our sister sites: IndustryWeekThe full blog post is athttp://forums.industryweek.com/showthread.php?t=22011Robots Save and Create Mfg Jobs The conventional wisdom holds that robots ultimately cost the jobs of the human beings they replace, and lead to an overall decline in manufacturing employment. In a globalized economy, however, using robots might be one of the best ways for U.S. manufacturing jobs to live, thrive, and survive. Because of lower costs from abroad, there is a continuous push to find ways to save American factories and all the benefits they provide the U.S. economy.One case that provides evidence how this can be done involves the cost of manual arc welding- a mainstay of manufacturing. In one recent study conducted, the cost to manually arc weld a small part in the U.S. is about 84 cents, including labor and material. The same part in China costs only 30 cents. So, with such a huge discrepancy, how can U.S. manufacturers compete?....Post continued here(Yes I'm making you click away to finish the article, I'm nasty that way)