Innovation and Technology

Aluminum is “an essential part of everything we do”—so we need to recycle more of it.

That’s the message from leading global aluminum and renewable energy company Hydro, based in Oslo, Norway, whose president and CEO, Eivind Kallevik, recently sat down with the NAM to discuss the importance of the metal to the U.S.

Ubiquitous and crucial: “Construction, automobiles, [energy and technology]—you’ll find an enormous amount of aluminum in all of that,” Kallevik told us. “Going forward, it will just become increasingly important.”

An energy imperative: The U.S. has an aging electrical grid—a matter on which the NAM has long issued a clarion call—and modernizing and expanding it to meet Americans’ energy appetite will require aluminum, and a lot of it.

• “There’s going to be a huge increase in demand for electricity, especially given [the growth in construction of] data centers,” said Kallevik.
• For vehicles to become more energy-efficient, they must be lighter, and “the best way of doing that is more aluminum.”

A workhorse: One of the metal’s best qualities is its ability to withstand nearly endless reuse, Kallevik said.

• “You can recycle it infinitely. If you sort it the right way, you will be able to take it back to exactly the same state it was in in the first place.”
• Hydro—which has operations in 17 states and employs thousands of people in the U.S.—has multiple aluminum recycling facilities throughout the country, including at sites in Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Louisiana, California and Texas.

Keep more at home: “The more [aluminum] you can keep onshore, the better it is” for manufacturing, the economy in general and national security, Kallevik continued, adding that aluminum is critical in many U.S. defense applications.

• “If the U.S. kept more scrap exports onshore, we would reduce dependence on third parties” for the metal, he said.

Policy and supply chains: Because building is a heavily energy-intensive process, “energy policy is going to be increasingly important” in the coming years, Kallevik went on.

• “To protect its industries, the U.S. needs to ensure a fair regulatory framework to ensure that everybody in a global context competes on a level playing field,” he told the NAM.
• And when it comes to shoring up domestic supplies of aluminum, “to be more self-sufficient, the short-term solution for the U.S. is recycling,” he said. “Use what’s on the ground today, and for tomorrow, build capacity.”

Komatsu is a household name in Japan, but it’s making big moves in the U.S., too.

An all-of-the-above strategy: The commercial equipment maker, whose product catalogue runs the gamut from bulldozers and log loaders to autonomous haulage systems for mines, has launched multiple new innovations in recent months.

• In March, it introduced two new wheel loader models with improved fuel efficiency, more engine power and faster speeds.
• Last fall, Komatsu announced the launch of its first commercialized truck in its Power Agnostic series, vehicles capable of running on multiple fuel types, including diesel, hydrogen fuel cells and batteries.

Expansions underway: The global manufacturing giant is also expanding. In late 2024, it announced the construction of new facilities in Mesa, Arizona, and Peoria, Illinois.

• The Mesa project, slated for completion in 2026, will triple the square footage of the company’s current operational footprint in the area. The new sales and service facility will support the company’s mining customers throughout the Southwestern U.S.
• The Peoria expansion, which will replace an existing structure built in the 1970s, “will provide a collaborative space for engineering, sales, manufacturing, management and other functions,” according to the company. It will incorporate solar panels, stormwater reclamation systems and other sustainable technologies.
• A Komatsu 980E-5SE mining truck—winner of the Makers Madness contest’s “2024 Coolest Thing Made in Illinois” award from NAM state partner the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association—will be installed permanently outside the new Peoria building, which is scheduled to be finished by the end of 2025. The truck is manufactured at the site.

All in on mining: It’s fair to say Komatsu has a special focus on mining. In September, following its acquisition of German mining equipment manufacturer GHH Group GmbH, it showcased an expanded lineup of underground mining machinery at the MINExpo tradeshow in Las Vegas.

• It also recently unveiled its Modular ecosystem, an “interoperable mine management platform” to give mining customers access to all connected operational data in one place.

In the works: At the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, Komatsu exhibited some exciting in-development projects, including the prototype of an electric underwater bulldozer and artwork for planned construction machinery capable of working on the moon.

• The bulldozer—currently a concept vehicle with no planned introduction data as of yet—is a driverless, remote-controlled, electric-powered vehicle. This will be the second iteration of an underwater, battery-operated bulldozer from Komatsu; the first, the D155W, rolled off conveyor belts in Japan in the 1970s.
• “We’ve found that a lot of those machines built a long time ago are still in use,” said Komatsu Chief Digital Officer Michael Gidaspow. “People need this product, so they are keeping them running. Japan has a lot of coastline and coastal infrastructure to maintain, so this kind of dozer is so important there.” The planned update utilizes the latest technology, including automated blade control and teleoperation. It is powered by batteries, whereas the original had a diesel engine, Gidaspow added.
• Komatsu’s lunar construction machinery work is part of the Artemis Program aimed at getting humans back on the moon. “Life on the moon will demand roads, housing and other infrastructure, and lunar construction machines will be indispensable for building all this,” according to the company. “Once we only dreamed of humans living on the moon. Today we are making it a growing possibility.”

Quantum computing firm D-Wave has achieved a singular breakthrough: it has simulated the “properties of magnetic materials,” opening up the opportunity to “invent” new materials without having to produce them physically in a lab, as D-Wave CEO Alan Baratz told Fast Company.

What it means: The achievement, first published in Science earlier this month, marks the first time a quantum computer has solved a useful, real-world problem that a classical computer couldn’t manage.

• In fact, “To simulate the property of magnetic materials on a classical computer—as the D-Wave team recently did using its quantum computer—would require nearly 1 million years and more energy than the entire world utilizes over the course of a year. D-Wave’s team did it in 20 minutes,” according to Fast Company.

Quantum vs. classical: “Rather than store information using bits represented by 0s or 1s as conventional digital computers do, quantum computers use quantum bits, or qubits, to encode information as 0s, 1s or both at the same time,” D-Wave explains on its site.

• “This superposition of states—along with the other quantum mechanical phenomena of entanglement and tunneling—enables quantum computers to manipulate enormous combinations of states at once.”
• D-Wave’s annealing quantum computer uses these capabilities to solve problems by finding the “lowest energy state” in an enormous range of possible solutions.
• “To imagine this, think of a traveler looking for the best solution by finding the lowest valley in the energy landscape that represents the problem,” as D-Wave puts it.

The possibilities are vast: Being able to simulate materials without creating and testing them in the lab offers significant opportunities for the manufacturing industry and could save companies huge amounts of time and resources. D-Wave foresees that these simulated materials could have applications in everything from “pacemakers to cellphones,” as it told Fast Company.

• “There’s no shortage of potential applications,” said D-Wave Chief Scientist Mohammad Amin.

Further innovation: Another impact of quantum computing is its potential to revolutionize blockchain technology, D-Wave told us.

• “Manufacturers are increasingly adopting blockchain technology to enhance supply chain transparency, track product origins, improve inventory management, and streamline operations. This adoption has led to increased efficiency and reduced costs,” said D-Wave Global Government Relations and Public Affairs Leader Allison Schwartz.
• “Annealing quantum computing offers a potential solution by providing a faster and more environmentally friendly alternative to manufacturers’ current mining operations using classical computers.”

Global energy management and digital transformation giant Schneider Electric will invest more than $700 million in U.S. operations over the next two years, the company announced yesterday (The Dallas Morning News, subscription).

What’s going on: “Schneider said it intends to leverage the investment to ‘support the country’s focus on bolstering the nation’s energy infrastructure to power AI growth, boost domestic manufacturing and strengthen energy security.’”

• The investment—the largest planned single capital expenditure in Schneider Electric’s 135-plus-year history—will be used to expand manufacturing facilities across the U.S. and to boost “smart factory transformation” across Texas, Massachusetts, Missouri and Tennessee, among other states.
• The company is the latest in a string of large manufacturers to announce sizeable domestic investments. Last week, biopharmaceutical firm Johnson & Johnson said it would spend more than $55 billion in the U.S. over the next four years.
• The announcement comes less than a year after the opening of Schneider Electric’s 105,000-square-foot facility in Red Oak, Texas, to support the data center boom in the Dallas–Fort Worth area.

Where else funds will go: The money will also be used to expand a campus in El Paso, Texas, “to keep up with growing demand to increase production of switchgear and power distribution products,” and to open a Houston innovation center that will offer AI-powered automation solutions.

Our take: “Schneider Electric’s significant investment is a clear sign that manufacturing in America is moving forward—driving economic growth, innovation and job creation across the country,” NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons said in a statement quoted in the article.

• “By expanding their operations with a focus on energy security, automation and AI, Schneider Electric is not only strengthening America’s competitiveness but also creating new opportunities and powering our nation’s future.”

Johnson & Johnson will spend more than $55 billion on manufacturing, research and technology in the U.S. over the next four years, the biopharmaceutical company announced (Axios). These investments include a long-planned $2 billion state-of-the-art biologics facility in Wilson, North Carolina.

What’s going on: The NAM joined J&J for the groundbreaking of the 500,000-square-foot biologics manufacturing plant in Wilson on Friday.

• The White House praised the announcement and J&J’s commitment to manufacturing in America. North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein and Rep. Don Davis (D-NC) also attended the ceremony to highlight the facility’s importance to the state economy and the jobs it will bring to the state.

Other projects across the total investment will include:

• Three new advanced manufacturing sites and the expansion of several facilities in J&J’s Innovative Medicine and MedTech businesses;
• Significant spending on research-and-development infrastructure “aimed at developing lifesaving and life-changing treatments in areas such as oncology, neuroscience, immunology, cardiovascular disease and robotic surgery,” according to the company; and
• More investment aimed at speeding drug discovery and development, supporting workforce training and improving business operations.

Common goal: The Wilson site demonstrates the power of collaboration, Johnson & Johnson Executive Vice President and Chief Technical Operations & Risk Officer and NAM Board Chair Kathy Wengel said at the groundbreaking.

• “Today is a tangible example of how J&J is bringing communities, government, education and industry together to achieve the common goal of creating a future-ready workforce that is ready to tackle the toughest health challenges and achieve new breakthroughs.”

Why it’s important: The investments will strengthen not only North Carolina’s economy, but the U.S. economy as a whole, NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons said at the event.

• “Every $1 invested in manufacturing adds more than $2.60 to the economy. That’s top-of-the-line ROI for communities, neighborhoods and cities like Wilson—among the best ROIs you can get. And every new manufacturing job supports, on average, five additional jobs in other industries.”

The big picture: The new Wilson facility will generate a $3 billion impact across North Carolina in its first decade of operation.

• It will support about 5,000 jobs during construction and create more than 500 permanent positions—paying an average of $109,000 a year—in the state (WRAL News).

Certainty and predictability: These investments illustrate why policymakers must ensure that manufacturers have more certainty and predictability, not less, Timmons added.

• “Manufacturing—especially biopharmaceutical manufacturing—requires years of planning, ingenuity and investment decisions,” he said. “When there’s stability, common sense and competitive policies, companies like Johnson & Johnson can plan for the future—and plan big.”
• Timmons said that to “make more wins like this happen,” elected officials must stay focused on a comprehensive manufacturing strategy, including a “competitive tax policy, balanced regulations, prompt permitting, abundant energy and smart trade policies.”

The tax factor: J&J credits the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act with allowing it to increase its investment, according to MassDevice.

• Investments like J&J’s “are why it is critical that pro-growth provisions of the 2017 tax law be made permanent and more competitive,” Timmons wrote in a social post. “If Congress fails to act, 6 million American jobs—184,000 in North Carolina—will be wiped out. We can’t let that happen.”
• But if Congress does preserve the measures, manufacturing will win, Timmons said. “And when manufacturing wins, America wins.”

President Trump’s recent executive order to accelerate permitting and access to domestic critical minerals will help manufacturing—and America—win, NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons said.

What’s going on: The recent executive order aims to boost U.S. production of critical minerals—which include lithium and cobalt—“as well as uranium, copper, potash, gold and any other element, compound or material as determined by the Chair of the National Energy Dominance Council,” according to the EO.

• China dominates the global market for critical minerals, which are vital in the manufacture of everyday goods from cell phones and computers to advanced energy and defense technologies.
• Increasing American production of these crucial substances “can create jobs, fuel prosperity and significantly reduce our reliance on foreign nations,” according to the EO. “Transportation, infrastructure, defense capabilities and the next generation of technology rely upon a secure, predictable and affordable supply of minerals.”

What’s in it: The EO—which cites “overbearing federal regulation” for the lack of American critical mineral production—enumerates “staggered timelines for agencies across government to prioritize financing for domestic mineral projects, including loans, capital and technical assistance, and calls on the Department of Defense to accelerate domestic mineral production” (POLITICO Pro’s GREENWIRE).

• It also calls on the DOD to work with the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation to offer financing for the projects.

Aligned on regulations: The NAM has long called for regulatory reform to combat the onslaught of rules coming from the federal government—and this EO is a much-needed reform, said Timmons.

• “For too long, red tape and burdensome regulations have stood in the way of the basic building blocks that power manufacturing in the United States, especially mining and processing the minerals manufacturers rely on to create jobs and dominate on the world stage,” Timmons said. “The administration is addressing those barriers, making it easier for manufacturers to access the resources we need to build the future in America.”

Artificial intelligence has become integral to modern manufacturing, which is why manufacturers support the Trump administration’s goal of making America globally dominant in AI, the NAM told the White House this month.

What’s going on: “[M]anufacturers use AI in myriad ways, which has made AI integral to modern manufacturing and put manufacturers at the forefront of developing and implementing AI systems,” the NAM told White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Acting Director Michael Kratsios and AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks last Friday in response to a request for information on the development of an AI action plan.

• The NAM supports President Trump’s stated goal of “sustain[ing] and enhance[ing] America’s global AI dominance in order to promote human flourishing, economic competitiveness and national security” while also, in Vice President Vance’s words, “avoid[ing] an overly precautionary regulatory regime.”
• The NAM has been one of the foremost voices for smart regulations on AI. Last May, it published “Working Smarter: How Manufacturers Are Using Artificial Intelligence,” a first-of-its-kind AI report on AI deployment in manufacturing and an accompanying list of suggested AI-policy actions Congress and the administration should take.

What should be done: To ensure that Americans benefit from AI safely and in a manner that does not unduly hamstring innovation, four specific steps should be taken, the NAM said:

• Direct regulators to update their frameworks for the AI age: “[M]anufacturers recommend that the AI Action Plan direct federal regulators to review the statutory and regulatory frameworks they maintain and enforce”;
• Customize AI regulations: “AI is context-specific, so ‘AI regulation’ should be too”;
• Transparency between AI vendors and users: The plan should direct [the National Institute of Standards and Technology] to work with the industry to develop best practices on how vendors explain how they develop and train their AI systems, to help companies defend their use of these AI systems in front of regulators.
• “Right-size” compliance burdens: “The ubiquitous use of AI throughout modern manufacturing, as well as manufacturing’s dependence on innovation, underscore the need for rules that enable rather than hinder manufacturers’ development and adoption of AI systems.”

Other critical needs: In addition, the NAM urges the administration to prioritize the following as part of its AI action plan:

• A “dual workforce strategy”: “The AI Action plan should make enhanced access to, and support for the development of, science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education programs throughout the country, at both the K-12 and higher education levels, a national priority … and increas[e] the allowable number of advanced degree STEM graduates for employment-based visa categories, in particular among lawful permanent residents.”
• Permitting reform and existing energy generation: The plan should endorse expedited judicial review and permitting processes for energy generation projects, working “with stakeholders to identify ways that the projected increase in demand growth can be leveraged to lower the cost curve of traditional light-water [nuclear] reactors” and look closely at the role of natural gas as a source of baseload power for the data center sector.
• Privacy and security: Work “with Congress to pass a national privacy law that fully preempts the growing patchwork of state laws, protects individuals’ privacy and provides much needed legal clarity to support continued innovation and competitiveness.”

Manufacturing in the U.S. will experience a renaissance under President Trump, Vice President JD Vance said Friday in an NAM-attended speech at Vantage Plastics in Bay City, Michigan.

What’s going on: Vice President Vance—whose talk was part of the Small Business Administration’s recently announced multistate Made in America Manufacturing Initiative and Made in America Roadshow—told the crowd of employees at the plastics processing facility that America’s achievements are contingent on the achievements of its manufacturers.

• “I really do believe that America’s success depends on the success of companies like Vantage Plastics,” he said. “And I don’t mean that in some abstract, poetic-sounding sense; I mean it literally. If we do not protect our nation’s manufacturers, we lose a fundamental part of who we are as a people. Making things, building things, working with our hands is America’s heritage, and that heritage is alive and well in this facility.”
• Vantage Plastics President Paul Aultman agreed. “Imagine how much stronger this country would be if every manufacturer—large and small, in cities and towns across America—had the tools to build, expand and succeed,” Aultman said. “Manufacturing is the backbone of America, and on shop floors like ours, we’re not just making products—we’re making the future.”

Relief from the onslaught: The Trump administration intends to protect manufacturers and in doing so, touch off a gilded age for the industry—by unburdening it of the many regulations that have been heaped upon it, said Vice President Vance.

• “The Trump administration is working hard to slash regulations left and right. … We’ve got to make it easier to build stuff in our own country. We can’t have people telling our great builders that if they want to start a factory or if they want to expand a factory, they’re not allowed to,” he said, echoing longtime NAM advocacy, backed by manufacturer surveys and data. “And that is the biggest thing, I think, the Trump administration is working on when it comes to renewing American manufacturing.”
• SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler, who spoke prior to Vice President Vance at the event, sounded a similar note, saying, “The golden era of manufacturing in America is not behind us; it’s in front of us” (Detroit Free Press).

Energy unleashed: Vice President Vance discussed the administration’s NAM-supported move last week to review dozens of burdensome Environmental Protection Agency regulations.

• “These include the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, which cost U.S. factories and power plants hundreds of millions of dollars,” the vice president continued. “And that money is now going to be reinvested in American workers. And we remember the Clean Power Plan 2.0, which has imperiled America’s grid by creating impossible restrictions on coal and natural gas plants that account for 60% of our power. You can’t tell people to build in America while at the same time destroying American energy.”

A new path forward: Under President Trump, American manufacturing will have room to thrive, the vice president went on.

• “We are done overregulating American businesses. We are going to be guided by a simple principle: Build in this country. We cut your taxes, we reduce your regulation and we reduce your energy costs. Build in this country. Make American manufacturing great again. And we are going to fight for you—and the president will, too.”
• “Our goal is to make it easier and more affordable to make things again in the United States of America,” he said. “If you invest in American jobs and workers and businesses, you will be rewarded. We will cut your taxes, we will slash regulations and reduce the cost of industry in this country we all love.”

The last word: “President Trump and Vice President Vance understand what manufacturing means to America—not just in economic terms, but also in human terms,” NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons said.

• “But we can only reach our full potential with the type of leadership that will make the 2017 tax reforms that were rocket fuel for the manufacturing industry permanent, rebalance the regulatory framework, expedite permitting reform to unleash American energy, grow the manufacturing workforce and implement sensible trade policies. That’s how we make America strong, prosperous and proud. That’s how we will Make America Great for Manufacturing Again.”

The newly established House of Representatives’ AI and Energy Working Group is seeking information on the increase in energy demand we can expect due to the growing use of artificial intelligence (POLITICO Pro, subscription).

What’s going on: Group lead Rep. Julie Fedorchak (R-ND)—who was North Dakota’s head utility regulator for more than a decade prior to being elected to Congress last year—discussed the new working group with us Tuesday at NAM headquarters.

• Rep. Fedorchak spoke at an event at the NAM on how the U.S. can strengthen the electrical grid, advance permitting reform and support manufacturers investing in the latest energy technologies.
• The working group issued a request for information on Monday, “invit[ing] stakeholders to provide written responses” to questions under “three pillars,” according to the RFI document.

The details: These pillars are the following:

• American Energy Dominance and AI Energy Demands: The RFI “seeks to identify strategies to secure a stable, affordable and sustainable domestic energy supply capable of powering next-generation AI infrastructure.” Subtopics on which respondents are asked to inform the working group include oil and gas, nuclear, solar, geothermal and other power production methods.
• Securing the Energy Grid: A resilient, secure electrical grid is “essential” for AI systems and the larger “digital economy,” the document says. Permitting reform, electricity generation and baseload power are possible subtopics here.
• Strategic Competition: Outpacing China: “In an era of intensifying global rivalry, ensuring American technological and energy leadership is critical.” Some of the subtopics under this pillar are manufacturing, critical minerals and chips. 

Why it’s important: “To be AI dominant, we must first be energy dominant,” Rep. Fedorchak said in a statement, according to POLITICO Pro.

• “In 2024, data centers accounted for 4.3% of total U.S. power demand, and analysts predict this could climb to as much as 12% by 2030—more electricity than the entire state of Texas uses today. Yet the U.S. isn’t scaling up reliable baseload power quickly enough to support this rapid growth.”

How to respond: Responses are due by May 15 and should be emailed to [email protected].

Get ready! Manufacturing’s leading annual event on accelerating digital transformation is right around the corner.

What’s going on: Rethink—held by the Manufacturing Leadership Council on Marco Island, Florida, each June—is a must-attend conference for anyone interested in Manufacturing 4.0 and where it’s headed (The MLC is the digital transformation division of the NAM.)

• This year’s event takes place June 15–18 at the JW Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort.

Why you should go: Rethink attendees will get an inside look at the cutting-edge processes and technologies transforming manufacturing today—directly from those creating and implementing them. They’ll also get a chance to:

• Consult with peers on manufacturing’s most critical initiatives, including smart factories and digital production, resilient supply networks and analytics and data mastery;
• Participate in real-time discussions and one-on-one meetings to help them understand how various solutions can solve their business problems;
• Hear from industry leaders and experts during panel discussions, executive interviews and more;
• Interact and collaborate with peers during interactive “think tank” sessions; and
• Hear from the MLC’s event partners during Rethink’s exclusive VIP Tour.

Who will be there: Scheduled speakers include Siemens USA President and CEO Barbara Humpton, Eaton Vice President of Industry 4.0 Craig Sutton, Hershey Company Vice President of Manufacturing, Operations Technology and Supply Chain Strategy Will Bonifant, Rockwell Automation Senior Vice President of Intelligent Devices Tessa Myers and many more.

The gala: Closing out the packed three-day event is the Manufacturing Leadership Awards Gala, at which the MLC will recognize award finalists and winners of the Future of Manufacturing Award, the Manufacturing Leader of the Year, the Small/Medium Enterprise Manufacturer of the Year and the Large Enterprise Manufacturer of the Year. The gala will take place on the evening of June 18.

Attend: Register online here for Rethink 2025. (NAM members get a discount at checkout.) Questions? Send them to [email protected].