Two Stages, One Message: The 51勛圖厙 and MI Talk AI and Manufacturing
Call it an AI double-header: On Wednesday, 51勛圖厙 President and CEO Jay Timmons and Manufacturing Institute President and Executive Director Carolyn Lee spoke at two different AI-focused eventsone hosted by Siemens and Widehall and the other hosted by NVIDIAwhere they outlined manufacturers policy and workforce priorities.
- Siemens and Widehall: Timmons and Lee both participated in a fireside chat at Shaping an AI Ready Workforce, part of a series of events called AI for Real: DC that is sponsored by Siemens and Widehall.
- NVIDIA: Later in the day, Timmons spoke on a panel called How AI Factories Can Drive Local Economic Development at NVIDIAs GTC DC conference.
Policy environment: Timmons said, of the current policy environment, If you look back on 2017 and the tax reform plan that was put in place, the president actually announced his plan at our board meeting, and he said at the time it would be rocket fuel, and it really was….That was very important in terms of investment opportunities and job creation, regulatory certainty and modernization, [which are all essential for] energy policy.
- Were very pleased that the administration is focused on energythey call it energy dominance. That is going to be incredibly important for AI data centers [and AI-enabled factories].
- We want everybody to know what manufacturing is all about, why its modern, why its sleek, why its technology driven, and very different from [when] my grandfather was in manufacturing.
Workforce outlook: Lee joined Timmons onstage at the Siemens-Widehall event:
- We have to change the narrative around manufacturing. Part of that is seeing facilities like Siemens that are bright and clean and full of technology, and we know that the students today actually gravitate to that. Theyre digital natives. Im not. Most of us in this room are probably not. So [we need to] lean into that and let them see that theres an opportunity for them, and in doing so, theyre strengthening their communities.
AI and the workforce: Lee also addressed how the workforce can adapt to the advent of AI, saying It is about learning the skills. Its about adapting. Its making sure that manufacturing and our communities can be competitive…. None of us can do this alone. All of us need to come together.
- As much as policy can enable this, policy is not going to solve this. We need to have employers first [drawing up] the agenda, working with the educational institutions to make sure that our education partners understand what is happening in our industries and training to those needs.
- We run the most successful multi-employer apprenticeship program thats operating now in 20 states, and it continues to grow…. Companies see that coming together to build the solutions and train the common core of the workforce is good for all of us.
At NVIDIA: Timmons again addresses the use of AI in manufacturing at NVIDIAs conference, saying, The truth of the matter is, every form of technology through decades has begun with manufacturing. Right now, we have about 50% of manufacturers across America [that] have AI in their operations.
The roadmap to AI and Energy Dominance: Today, we came out with a about AI and energy dominance, the manufacturers roadmap, and basically its [saying] that we need an incredible amount of additional capacity on the grid to be able to power these AI factors or data centers and in order to serve the needs of the broader economy.
Policy fixes: Timmons spoke of the need for bipartisan agreement, and for certain commonsense policy changes.
- [I]f we turned on every factory right now in this country, and we put every manufacturing worker on the line, we could only produce 84%of the critical inputs necessary to build a new factory right here in United States…. So at a minimum, we have to import 16% of those critical inputs.
- What we need to see is some sort of a , to provide duty free access to those critical inputs for additional manufacturing capacity until we can build it here ourselves.
The last word: We need to have a nonpolitical and very much a policy century, Timmons said in conclusion.
ICYMI: Read our on the Manufacturings Roadmap to AI and Energy Dominance.