By Antonis Theodorou
January, 1999

Emerging trends — some of which already have begun to manifest — will profoundly affect the nature of manufacturing and product design in the coming years. In a nutshell, companies in developed nations will have to figure out how to design their way out of the labor pinch (the increasing shortage of local skilled labor).

Manufacturing is no longer the basis of the economies of developed nations. Developed countries are evolving into sophisticated research, design, and development laboratories. Indeed, they are becoming the business and manufacturing consultants to the rest of the world.

At the same time, skilled labor is becoming more and more available in developing countries. Companies in developed countries increasingly are relocating their manufacturing operations abroad. Eventually, traditional engineering also will migrate off-shore.

Only basic R&D and new product/process development will remain based in the US. Protecting intellectual property therefore will become more important than ever.

All of these trends will change the structure and operations of major corporations. These companies will develop large legal departments to protect, monitor, and enforce their intellectual property rights around the world. They also will maintain in the US large accounting, financing, marketing, and environmental engineering functions, in order to monitor their worldwide production activities.

These trends will force new requirements on the development of new products. In the big picture:

• All types of systems will have to be more sophisticated, pre-engineered, and pre-manufactured. This will allow people with few or no skills or tools to do the work.

• The demand for "do-it-yourself" products will increase.

• End users will be willing to pay higher prices for components that offer greater manufactured value in terms of time savings and lower skill requirements.

• Patent protection will expand, with wider focus on systems and methods instead of products. This could lead to more difficult patent protection, as well as promote the practice of cross-licensing.

• Product architectures will have to be more modular, fail-proof, and flexible. They will have to allow quick re-configuration and customization, without engineering involvement.

• Products will have to be designed to require the lowest labor skills for fabrication and assembly.

• Products also will have to be designed to require no tools for quick assembly or dismantling.

• Combinations of artificial materials will be used to improve the basic properties of products, as well as to conserve natural resources.

• No major machining requirements for fabrication — just cut to length, etc.

• No finishing requirements. (Pre-finished parts save time and the environment.)

• Maintenance-free materials — adding colorant to the material will be preferable to surface finishes

Companies that wish to survive the labor pinch will have to adapt their strategies, structure, products, and processes to meet new challenges. The ones that learn — and move — the fastest will be the winners. Taking advantage of innovative, forward-thinking technologies invented with these trends in mind can be a key tool for success.

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