California Apparel News

Get ready for big changes in manufacturing of all kinds. Factories will be automated. Robots will be a common sight in manufacturers’ factories—and many workers will be concerned about losing their jobs.

This scenario was one of the big issues in a June 26 panel called “The Future of Manufacturing,” organized by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, a nonprofit group focused on economic development and living-wage jobs.

The forum was held in a Cross Campus coworking space in El Segundo, Calif., and presented in conjunction with California State University, Dominguez Hills, which runs an Innovation Incubator for entrepreneurs, startups and existing businesses at its sprawling campus in Carson, Calif.

Event moderator Rik Reppe of PricewaterhouseCoopers told the audience that human workers will continue to play a significant role in future factories. “We still need the people. We just don’t need them doing the jobs that they are doing now,” Reppe said. Human workers have skills and knowledge about a company’s customers that a machine can’t replace, he said.

The event’s three panelists agreed that manufacturing will offer a lot of opportunity to human workers and to entrepreneurs. But one big issue to resolve is educating workers in high-tech skills, which might include developing skills in coding. “It’s not going to be about pulling levers anymore. It’s going to be a much more stimulating workplace,” said Fynnwin Prager, a CSUDH assistant professor of public administration.

It also will include working with entrepreneurs to transform their facilities into high-tech workplaces, said panelist Shekhar Chandrashekhar, the smart-manufacturing practice lead of the Torrance, Calif.–based California Manufacturing Technology Consulting, a group that advises companies on manufacturing practices.

“It’s not about blowing up the factory,” Chandrashekhar said. Entrepreneurs won’t be starting from scratch and building entirely new facilities. Rather, they will be adding new systems with their current operations.

Because companies won’t be entirely reinventing their factories, Chandrashekhar said there still will be a lot of work, opportunities for innovation and a rigorous examination of how a factory can serve its customers, its workers, its investors and its community better. “We are developing a roadmap,” Chandrashekhar said. “We need to be part of the solution. How do I make a culture change? How do I develop business strategies that will align with change?”

Another panelist, Dana Morgan, of DAQRI, a Los Angeles augmented-reality platform, forecast that changes on factory floors probably won’t seem like big changes. “You have to start small,” she said. She forecast that transforming factories will rely on the efforts of workers and management. “Change will be malleable and collaborative,” she said.

During a question-and-answer session, a few audience members asked the panel about blockchain systems and how they will relate to manufacturing. Blockchain is defined as a method of recording transactions every step of the way on a peer-to-peer network. It started off in the field of cryptocurrency, but other fields are adopting it.

Prager said that blockchain is being investigated and experimented with as a means whereby companies can mark the development of a project. He forecast that blockchain will nudge companies into becoming more transparent with their operations.

An audience member said that blockchain supporters hope that the system could be used to root out corruption. If blockchain is used in diamond operations, it could put a spotlight on whether precious stones are mined in an area of armed conflict and traded illicitly to finance warfare.

Before the panel ended, Reppe recommended that people be on the lookout for digital twinning. The nascent technology digitally maps a physical plant and then puts it on a computer platform. Entrepreneurs and workers can use the digital twin of their factory to analyze its efficiency and the condition of the plant.