Right now the tool is geared toward assessing the sustainability of existing products, but plans are in the works to roll out a tool that could be integrated into design and manufacturing processes early on to help gauge the potential impacts of various decisions and enable companies to design more sustainable products.
Apart from what has occurred in the industry itself, the complete transformation of the global machine tool industry is a useful barometer for the entire manufacturing sector.
The disappearing jobs list also reflects the continuing long-term decline of no- and low-skilled manufacturing jobs in the U.S.--sewing machine operators, engine assemblers, machine tool setters, home appliance repairers and textile knitting machine operators.