MISUMI Americas releases reshoring report, supports manufacturing training bill
The Robot Report•July 21, 2026•8 min read
S. 91 trillion in value. S.
But how much reshoring is actually happening? S. Manufacturing , which has compiled mostly positive statistics.
Demographics is driving investment automation, as manufacturers struggle to mitigate the growing workforce challenge. 9 million of those positions could go unfilled, according to The Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte. 8 million comes from workers retiring and the remainder from new growth, including jobs tied directly to the CHIPS Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
More than 65% of manufacturers have cited attracting and retaining talent as their single biggest business challenge. S. S.
91 trillion in 2024, reported MISUMI Americas. The Institute for Supply Chain Management’s purchasing managers’ index ( ISM PMI ) reached 54 in May 2026, its strongest reading since 2022. S.
Census Bureau. Semiconductor fabs and electric vehicle (EV) battery plants, fueled by the CHIPS Act and Inflation Reduction Act, drove the majority of that increase. That pace has since moderated to about $196 billion by January 2026.
S. manufacturing, said the Bureau of Economic Analysis ( BEA ) and the World Bank. S.
S. industry. S.
manufacturing was its own economy, the sector would be the eighth largest in the world. Source: MISUMI Americas Vocational enrollments rise as labor demand becomes acute Since 2010, reshoring and FDI have produced more than 2 million jobs since 2010 , said the Reshoring Initiative. In 2024, 88% of those jobs were in sectors such as semiconductors, electronics, and EVs.
7 million of those announced jobs have already been filled. Since Spring 2020, enrollment at vocational community colleges has grown by 20%, estimated the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Undergraduate certificate programs have grown for four consecutive years, but total enrollment remains under 1 million students nationwide, a fraction of the number of people that manufacturers will need by 2033, Misumi acknowledged.
“The investment case for American manufacturing has never been stronger — record output, a historic construction cycle, trillions in committed foreign capital,” stated Dave Evans, president and CEO of MISUMI Americas and CEO of Fictiv . “What we see with our customers every day is that the next constraint isn’t capital. It’s having enough people with the right advanced skills to run these new facilities at full capacity.
” Manufacturing will need millions of workers by 2033, with nearly half of those jobs at risk of going unfilled. R. 9097, the American Manufacturing Revitalization Exchange Program Act , introduced by Rep.
Bill Huizenga (R-MI) and now pending before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. The bill would provide a stipend to send American workers to allied nations for six to 12 months of hands-on training in advanced production skills for industry-recognized credentials. R.
9097 builds directly on that momentum by sending workers to learn from the countries — Japan, Germany, South Korea — that have spent decades perfecting advanced manufacturing training, and bringing that expertise home,” said Evans. Supporters of the proposed legislation include the National Association of Manufacturers, the Manufacturing Institute, United Steelworkers, IEEE-USA, BMW Group , the American Automotive Policy Council, LIFT, the Alliance for International Exchange, Automation Alley, and the Additive Manufacturing Coalition. R.
9097: How much of the recent reshoring was expansion of existing operations versus new construction? S. manufacturing jobs from two streams — reshoring by American-headquartered companies and foreign direct investment.
In 2024, that split ran about 66% reshoring to 34% FDI, the widest margin favoring domestic reshoring on record. What that source doesn’t cleanly separate is construction versus expansion of existing plants; a single announcement often blends both. 2 billion for expansions.
So the honest picture is that a large share of the capital flows through existing operations rather than pure new construction — which is exactly why the workforce question is so critical right now. And why MISUMI Americas is investing so heavily in our educational partnerships starting in middle school through to graduate studies. S.
manufacturing PMI in May reached its strongest level in four years, signaling renewed growth in orders, production, and backlogs. Source: MISUMI Americas Are there demographic factors beyond student numbers — like generational preferences — driving the shortage? Sherman: The generation actually reshaping the floor today is Gen Z, with Millennials in the supervisory ranks.
The pattern we watch most closely is retention. 3 years, far faster than prior generations, and manufacturing turnover has topped 40% annually in some settings, with high turnover now among the top reasons companies miss production targets. What that generation is asking for is well documented: purpose, financial security, well-being, and clear opportunities to learn and grow — not just a paycheck.
The encouraging counter-trend is that a meaningful share of young people are now choosing trade and vocational training over a traditional four-year path. Our job as an industry is to convert that openness into long careers, and that’s a systems design problem — how the work feels, what it pays, whether there’s a visible ladder — not just a recruiting problem. If foreign investment declined from 2022 to 2023, what are the latest trends?
5% of the total. 5 billion. Manufacturing’s share of inbound investment strengthened even as the headline number moved around, which fits what we see in our own business.
It’s worth separating flow from stock, too. S. 4 trillion figure people often quote.
S. jobs have been announced since 2010—most in advanced manufacturing. Source: MISUMI Americas.
If community college enrollment is up, is investment in those institutions rising too? 2% year over year with community colleges leading and freshman enrollment up more than 6%. Funding is following, but unevenly and often with a lag.
5 million into a model that steers dollars toward high-demand fields like advanced manufacturing. At the same time, systems are hitting a capacity ceiling and backfilling lost federal grants for programs like apprenticeship support. So while direction is positive, public investment isn’t keeping pace with demand everywhere — which is precisely the gap private partnership and smart policy have to close together.
High-vocational community college enrollment is up 20% since 2020, building the skilled workforce needed to power America’s manufacturing resurgence. R. 9097 exchange program cost?
Sherman: There’s no official price tag yet. The bill was only introduced on June 2, 2026, and referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, so it hasn’t been scored by the Congressional Budget Office, and the text doesn’t set a specific appropriation. What it does authorize is a per-participant stipend covering things like housing, food and local transportation, training materials, visa fees, travel, and health care for the participant and dependents.
Because participation is capped at no more than 10 people a year and the whole program sunsets two years after enactment unless Congress renews it, the direct federal cost is very modest by design — this is a proof of concept, not a mass program. MISUMI Americas’ expansion of investments in the next generation of engineers and manufacturing workers is another example of knowledge transfer that works. S.
middle school teams in First Robotics competitions and teach undergraduate and graduate engineering courses on everything from product design and tooling to CNC, injection molding, and beyond. We also partner with research programs at schools like MIT. , we need to empower the engineers of tomorrow with the tools of today.
S. How many students are eligible, and if there’s still a shortfall, is there interest in attracting foreign talent? Sherman: The bill caps participation at 10 a year.
S. citizen with manufacturing or apprenticeship experience or enrolled in a relevant trade, vocational, or college program who has or can build language proficiency for the host country. On foreign talent: This program isn’t an immigration or work-visa pathway, and I’d be careful not to frame it that way.
It’s knowledge transfer in both directions — sending American technicians, machinists, engineers, and production specialists abroad to train, and bringing that expertise home. Our own posture is the same. As a company with deep Japanese and American roots, we move know-how across borders every day, but the goal is a homegrown skilled workforce, not importing one.
The point of an exchange is that people come back. Save the date for RoboBusiness 2026 What can be done to make manufacturing technology careers more attractive? Sherman: Three things, in order.
First, fix the image gap — most people still picture the factory of 40 years ago, dark, dirty, and dangerous work. In reality, 88% of the jobs reshored in 2024 were in high- or medium-high-tech sectors like robotics, semiconductors, and electronics. These are technology careers.
Second, make the pathway visible and paid — apprenticeships, employer-backed credentials, and partnerships that let someone earn while they learn rather than taking on debt for an uncertain payoff. Third, deliver on what younger workers actually say they want: growth, purpose, and a real ladder. At MISUMI Americas, we try to start that early — sponsoring middle-school robotics teams, teaching university courses, and putting industrial-grade tools in students’ hands — because the surest way to make these careers attractive is to let people experience the work before they have to choose it.
Does MISUMI have an exchange program already, and how will it support this law if it passes? S. and Japan is built into how we operate, and we invest heavily upstream — we publicly support the American Manufacturing Revitalization Exchange Program Act as a forward-thinking investment in people.
S. Manufacturing Revitalization Summit , because policy sets the framework, but the pipeline gets built when manufacturers, educators, and policymakers are in the same room. The post MISUMI Americas releases reshoring report, supports manufacturing training bill appeared first on The Robot Report .
The Robot ReportJuly 21, 20268 min read