Technology & Innovation

Manufacturing in motion: Transforming for a new industrial era

February 12, 2018

North America

February 12, 2018

North America
Veronica Lara

Senior Editor, Americas

Veronica is a senior editor for The Economist Intelligence Unit's thought leadership division in New York. She specialises in market environment topics and trends that cut across industries, including the future of work, technological disruption, and economic competitiveness. In addition to these areas, she has led projects on advancements in manufacturing, historic energy demand trends, and socioeconomic topics such as organised labour, post-war impact investing and growth of cities.

Until July 2014 Veronica was the EIU's commerce and regulations analyst for 29 countries, mostly in the emerging markets. She has written for various EIU publications, on subjects such as financial inclusion, international trade, and policies aimed at attracting investment and promoting innovation.

Veronica holds master’s and bachelor’s degrees in international relations from New York University and the University of Pennsylvania, respectively. Before joining the EIU, she covered industries as diverse as defense, logistics and mining for a research advisory firm.

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Manufacturing has fueled the U.S. economy for over a century

Manufacturing has fueled the U.S. economy for over a century, creating an era of mass affluence and catapulting the country to global leadership positions in innovation and industrial R&D. Through these
developments, it has produced the foundation upon which the modern, tech-driven economy has been built.

Paradoxically, these achievements have helped portray manufacturing as a sector in decline rather than a vehicle of constant progress.Yet manufacturing is changing still as companies reinvigorate their operations and, on a larger scale, reinvent the sector for the digital age.

This transformation is often referred to as the Fourth Industrial Revolution (or Industry 4.0), and covers the convergence of digital technologies, data and a merging of physical and cyber systems across operations and supply chains.

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