Notably, China had seen this years ago, ramping up is automation production with a national robotics policy and the new Made in China 2025 initiative that Burnstein is calling on America to at least match, if not exceed.
America, particularly with the strength of resistance from workers' unions, must drop the stigma of reliance on automation in manufacturing, because outside of automaking, U.S. robotics use in manufacturing lags worldwide, according to IFR President Takayuki Ito.
"The United States has one of the most automated car industries in the world: The ratio of robots to factory workers ranks fifth, tied with Japan and Germany and ahead of China," Ito said. "This is a great achievement of modernization.