AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
U.S. Dept. of Commerce (2017) states over 95 percent of the
world’s consumers live outside U.S. borders. A new middle class
is emerging in once-developing nations, which will increase the
consumption of goods and services worldwide. More than one
billion new consumers worldwide will enter the middle class
during the next 15 years. According to a recent study by the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD), global middle-class consumption is expected to rise
from $21 trillion to $35 trillion by 2020, with over 80 percent of
the growth in consumption occurring outside of North America
and Europe. U.S. companies ignore these opportunities at their
peril (Krajňáková, Vojtovic, 2017).
5 Discussion
Upon analyzing the impact of trade on the US economy and
international trade development the issue why international trade
and investment within the Industry 4.0 is so important for the
United States is about to be discussed.
The United States of America is the most economically powerful
country in the world. In 2018, its economy accounted for 22.4%
of nominal world GDP. As far as industry is concerned, the USA
produces almost a third of the world's industrial production. In
particular, USA specializes in advanced engineering, with a high
proportion of science and research. North America with
traditionally strong industrial sectors, the technological
innovation in terms of Industry 4.0 remains the only way to keep
the competitive prices, being expected not only to increase
productivity but also to reduce costs and optimize the production
process (Tupa, Vojtovic, 2018).
The Smart Factory approach appears to be the trend of Industry
4.0 in the USA, being characterized by flexibility and re-
configurability, efficient resources deployment, ergonomics and
direct connection with customers and subcontractors, hence the
production productivity should increase by 30 to 40% (Abrhám,
Lžičař, 2018). Industry 4.0 means the implementation of new
software and technology in the US economy. The Smart factory
approach development - called 4.0 Industry 4.0 - means that
industrial companies are increasingly investing in software. And
all this, along with the development of future technologies such
as smart vehicles, artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality and
3D printing, is a very promising background for long-term
investment and changes within the industry production and
foreign trade quality structure (Abrhám, 2017). In any case,
technologies are a highly globalized sector - with the supply
chains of companies often operating in many countries. The US
economy is known for its technological innovations – that is
why, it is home to some of the world's most important IT
companies (Drabik, Zamecnik, 2016; Krnacova, Drabik, 2018).
The entire Industry 4.0 in the US is based on the logic of cyber-
physical systems (CPS). This means that you have autocratic,
independently operating systems that are able to optimize
production by themselves through self-optimization and mutual
communication. Cyber-physical systems (CPS) are a central
element of the new industry. They will enable efficient
interconnection of individual machines, equipment, computers,
logistics systems, vehicles, raw materials, products and entire
operations in a co-operative supply-customer chain into one
comprehensive network (Internet of Things - IoT). Individual
items and sub processes in "smart factories" not only
communicate with each other, but also control each other
reliably.
In the US, the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) was
established in 2014 and currently has 212 members. It was
founded by AT&T, Cisco, GE, IBM and Intel to accelerate the
development of communications technologies for machine and
device interconnection and intelligent analysis. IIC is to
coordinate priorities and release technology for the industrial
Internet. The consumer is at the center of all activities. Today's
consumers demand individually manufactured products and
services ("Made-for-Me").
Daňo and Lesáková (2018) state that
intelligent items, products and machines would enable
manufacturers to embark on piece production and produce
original products without extra cost. This phenomenon is also to
be adapted to the US export structure.
Advancing the US economy is the way to an innovative and
smart intelligence economy. American companies have a major
advantage in terms of cutting-edge areas such as artificial
intelligence, software, automatics and robotics. According to
Hanulakova and Dano (2018) digital connectivity not only
improves efficiency, but also accelerates innovation, implements
new business models that can be put into action much faster.
Industry 4.0 is speeding up and bringing innovation to the US
economy by generating new businesses by sharing devices or
selling their capacities. With sensors and connectivity, products
will be enriched with services (such as predictive maintenance)
or even transformed into service. The engine manufacturer does
not need to sell engines in the future, but will provide them as a
customer service, and will only charge the engine power used by
the customer.
Grenčíková et al. (2017) argues that international trade - both
exports and imports supports 38.1 million American jobs. These
trade related jobs are at large and small companies, on farms, in
factories, and at the headquarters of globally engaged firms. The
United States exports trillions of dollars in goods and services
annually, including petroleum products, transportation
equipment, farm products, travel services, and royalties from
industrial processes. According to Jiroudkova and Rovna (2015)
the vast majority of U.S. exporters are small and medium sized
companies with less than 500 workers. Customers in 234
countries around the world buy American grown and
manufactured goods and services. Top markets like Canada,
Mexico and China buy hundreds of billions of dollars of U.S.
products and services annually (Sejkora, Sankot, 2017). Imports
lower prices and increase choices for United States companies
and families. Lower raw material and input costs help U.S.
companies stay competitive in global markets, while families
can stretch paychecks further as trade agreements reduce the cost
of products by eliminating costly barriers to trade. Free trade
agreements (FTAs) have led to rapid export growth to partner
countries. America’s FTA partners purchased 12.8 times more
goods per capita from the United States than non FTA countries
did in 2012. Foreign-owned companies invest in the United
States and employ 5.3 mil-lion Americans (Trade and
Development Agency, 2019).
Here are some of the enormous benefits of the international
market place for the U.S economy. Successfully enhanced the
U.S. trade pro-motion agenda means: jobs for local communities
throughout the United States; more business opportunities for
small and medium-size firms across America; increased
manufacturing for potential all key industrial sectors from
chemicals and computers to machinery and transportation; and
finally it means more sales revenue to supplement the tax base of
each state to fund community assets like roads and schools. As
this discussion demonstrates, embracing international trade has
bolstered the economic prosperity of companies from all 50
states. Nearly every state in the country exported at least a
billion dollars’ worth of goods to markets overseas. These
exports create thousands of jobs as local export-oriented
businesses work to fulfil customers’ orders around the world.
6 Conclusion and Further directions
By arriving to the conclusion it is necessary to highlight that
globalization within the implementation of Industry 4.0 aspects
should head in all directions and levels to activities that
disintegration would not be the case. The fact that the US
accounts for 22% of world GDP production is also relevant to
the further development of the US economy and, consequently,
to global economic growth. Thus, as a leader of global economic
growth, US will continue to determine clearly further
developments in global economic growth, as well as improving
its future growth measures or its future developments. Industry
4.0 means implementing new software and technology in the US
economy. Developing and advancing Industry 4.0 affects all
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