What’s the Most Overhyped Trend in U.S. Manufacturing Right Now?
-
We hear a lot of noise in this industry; flashy headlines, buzzwords, promises.
But when you’re on the ground, building and problem-solving every day… some trends just don’t hold up.
You tell us — what’s overhyped, what’s real, and what’s worth paying attention to?Let’s get honest about what’s working — and what’s not.
-
All of the talk about tariffs is getting crazy.
It's being weaponized and twisted by pessimists and influencers who are fueled by outrage.The other flashy promise that I see a lot of skepticism around is full-on automation.
So many manufacturers are working on high mix production lines.
For the right factories it has been amazing, but it will be a long time before humans are put out of jobs. -
In my opinion the most over hyped product in mfg is desktop 3d printing, while they have a place in the market, I believe they were over hyped and way over priced for the value.
-
Yeah, it seems like fun consumer tech, though it’s less applicable to commercial manufacturing. Plus, Bambu’s software relies on servers in China — which raises some security concerns.
-
I think honestly its a bit underhyped now, the cost for good at home 3D printing has gone down so much over the last 10 years from when I first got into it. The quality you get from a cheap Bambu printer is insane now compared to older FDM printers. We will see how long that last though with the Tariffs ... I think the issue lies in the market of people that purchase them don't necessarily understand the design/engineering side of creating products/objects to print haha so they rely on 3D model marketplaces like Thingaverse or Printables which in turn create the trends for what's being printed. Which is why we end up with fidget spinners and articulating dragons being huge.
-
I think over the last 10 years I've been in the American manufacturing ecosystem, the biggest buzzwords I've grown tired of were "Industry 4.0" and now I think there is "Industry 5.0" lol. Usually heard it from investor types that were trying to explain the new "Smart Manufacturing Industrial Revolution". Probably more then half have never stepped onto a shop floor.
-
I think over the last 10 years I've been in the American manufacturing ecosystem, the biggest buzzwords I've grown tired of were "Industry 4.0" and now I think there is "Industry 5.0" lol. Usually heard it from investor types that were trying to explain the new "Smart Manufacturing Industrial Revolution". Probably more then half have never stepped onto a shop floor.
