Answer the questions on Text B.

1) Where and when did the Industrial Revolution begin?

2) What did it bring about?

3) What contribution did Eli Whitney make to factory system?

Make 5 more questions on Text B and ask your partner.

Translate the sentences paying attention to the predicates in the Passive Voice.

1) When one stage is complete, the product is passed to another station where the next stage of production is accomplished. 2) An airplane is assembled when the manufacturer puts together the engines, wings and fuselage. 3) The assembly line driven by a conveyor belt was then implemented to manufacture the automobile body and motors. 4) Today iron is made from ore in blast furnaces. 4) Steel is manufactured by first removing the impurities and then adding elements, predominantly carbon, in a controlled manner. 5) Oxygen and other elements are removed when the ore is mixed with coke and limestone and then blasted by hot air. 7) Once removed from the earth, the crude oil is refined into gasoline, heating oil, kerosene, plastics, textile fibers, coatings, drugs, pesticides and fertilizers. 8) Science and engineering are required to develop new products and to create new manufacturing methods. 9) The steel is then shaped into bars, plates, sheets and such structural components as girders. 10) The metallic automobile body parts are welded together by robots into a unibody or one-piece construction.

Work in pairs and discuss the questions.

1) What do you know about the modern level of industry development in the world?

2) How is manufacturing connected with economy of a country?

3) What country is the leader in this sector of economy?

Every year The Manufacturing Institute in partnership with National Institute of Standards and Technology edits a review of Modern Manufacturing in the USA. Here is the extract from their report about its level in 2009. Read Text C and check your answers to the questions in Activity 20.

Text C

Manufacturing plays a vital role in the U.S. economy. The United States still has the largest manufacturing sector in the world, and its market share (around 20 percent) has held steady for 30 years. One in six private sector jobs is still in or directly tied to manufacturing. Moreover, productivity growth is higher in manufacturing than in other sectors of the economy. Due largely to outstanding productivity growth, the prices of manufactured goods have declined since 1995 in contrast to inflation in most other sectors, with the result that manufacturers are contributing to a higher standard of living for U.S. consumers. Manufacturing still pays premium wages and benefits, and supports much more economic activity per dollar of production than other sectors.

Another major indicator of the importance of manufacturing to the strength of the economy is its key role in driving innovation and technology. These are crucial components of a productivity-driven, global competitiveness agenda, and also help explain the steady rise in our standard of living. U.S. manufacturing accounts for 35 percent of value added in all of the world’s high technology production, and enjoys a trade surplus in revenues from royalties from production processes and technology.

U.S. inventors still account for more than one half of all patents granted in the United States, and the nation outpaces its rivals in terms of industrial research and development. Technology has aided U.S. manufacturers to use less energy per or dollar of production and to lead all other sectors in reducing CO2 emissions in the last two decades. Finally, the technology and advanced processes developed in manufacturing consistently spill over into productivity growth in the service and agriculture sectors. For this reason, it is important to consider innovation in terms of processes as well as technologies. U.S. manufacturing is much more engaged than other sectors in global trade. Fifty-seven percent of all U.S. exports are in manufactured goods. Many foreign U.S. Manufacturing: An Industry in Transition firms also use the United States as an export platform as well as an entry point to its domestic economy. Over $350 billion in goods exports in 2007 were sourced from American affiliates of foreign firms.

The application of modern management practices and cutting-edge technology has steadily improved safety in the workplace. The Facts clearly illustrate that U.S. manufacturing plays a critical role in our economic future. Still, that future is not without its challenges. Rising external costs faced by U.S. manufacturers represent a fundamental challenge in a global, interconnected and competitive marketplace. Corporate tax rates continue to be a critical concern for manufacturing cost competitiveness. The U.S. corporate tax rate has been essentially unchanged for the past two decades, while all of our major competitors have been lowering theirs. Rising health care costs remain one of the most challenging pressures for manufacturers. U.S. industry is faced with the highest pollution abatement costs compared to its major trading partners – even higher than the so-called «green economies» of Western Europe.

Many analysts have noted that the United States is not producing enough numerate workers, much less the more highly skilled engineers and scientific researchers required to be the foundation of advanced, technology – intensive manufacturing. The realities of this assertion are at least partly borne out by international comparisons of skill levels in K-12 education and at the higher levels of university level training. There has been some growth in the number of PhDs granted in computer and physical sciences, but international comparisons still do not favor the United States in relative terms. Additionally, over 52 percent of these computer science and over 58 percent of engineering degrees were granted to foreign students in 2005, and studies show that more and more of these foreign students are returning home – to China, India, Korea – to build their careers.

The Facts thus present a picture of the current state of U.S. manufacturing, but also suggests we need to pay attention to key areas that support manufacturing competitiveness.