Insightful... Figuring out the right amount of automation in business is hard. Too much automation makes the company too rigid to the point of breaking but too

Insightful... Figuring out the right amount of automation in business is hard. Too much automation makes the company too rigid to the point of breaking but too little reduces productivity. This is a dilemma that factories/companies have to constantly re-learn. We see it regularly. A new manager comes in and decides that a company can save a truck load of money by completely automating production. But soon finds out that there are too many variables in life and that total automation can't work. The goal should be to find the sweet spot that produces the maximum while being flexible to change. But I don't think this is why productivity is dropping. I suspect it's related to the reduction of reliance on foreign factories. The US wants to reduce the reliance on foreign manufacturing and bring all of that production back to the US. That will take time, capital and ability to learn how to do the work here. That will hit productivity hard. All than change won't happen cost free in terms of productivity and assets. The change started a few years ago. We are beginning to see the result.