FILE PHOTO: The aluminium cab of all-new 2015 F-150 pick-up truck moves down the robot assembly line at the Ford Rouge Center in Dearborn, Michigan, November 11, 2014. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook/File Photo/File PhotoU.S. companies installed fewer robots in 2019 than they did the year before, the first cut back since 2015, as a downturn in manufacturing fueled by trade wars and weaker demand dampened appetite for the machines.
A major goal of President Donald Trump has been to drive manufacturers to bring work back to the United States, presumably aided by new automation and robotics that would allow domestic plants to compete with cheaper labor in China and other lower-cost countries. But that trend appears to have been overwhelmed by a larger slowdown in manufacturing.
No. 1 U.S. automaker General Motors Co , for example, recently announced it was investing US$2.2 billion to build electric trucks and autonomous electric vehicles at its Detroit-area plant in Hamtramck, Michigan.