The United States will regain its lead as the world’s most competitive manufacturing nation by the year 2020, according to a report by economic analyst Deloitte.

Deloitte made its forecast after surveying the opinions of manufacturing industry executives for its 2016 Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index.

Deloitte says “executives expect the US to assume the top position before the end of the decade”.

Currently, Deloitte says China is the most competitive nation, followed by the US in second, Germany in third, and Japan and South Korea placed fourth and fifth respectively.

The main driver of the resurgence of the US, according to Deloitte, is advanced manufacturing technologies.

The trend towards adopting higher value, advanced manufacturing technologies are tilting the advantage to developed nations in the future, says Deloitte.

The report says: “CEOs say advanced manufacturing technologies is a key to unlocking future competitiveness. As the digital and physical worlds converge within manufacturing, executives indicate the path to manufacturing competitiveness is through advanced technologies.

“The shift to higher value, advanced manufacturing tilts the advantage to developed nations in the future. As the manufacturing industry increasingly applies more advanced and sophisticated product and process technologies and materials, traditional manufacturing powerhouses of the 20th century are back toward the very top of the 10 most competitive nations in 2016.”

Deloitte uses its own system for rating individual countries’ competitiveness in manufacturing, and below is the full list the consultancy published.

Deloitte Global CEO survey: 2016 Global manufacturing competitiveness index rankings by country

China United States Germany Japan South Korea United Kingdom Taiwan Mexico Canada Singapore India Switzerland Sweden Thailand Poland Turkey Malaysia Vietnam Indonesia Netherlands Australia France Czech Republic Finland Spain Belgium South Africa Italy Brazil United Arab Emirates Ireland Russia Romania Saudi Arabia Portugal Colombia Egypt Nigeria Argentina Greece

The above is Deloitte’s own list and is, as mentioned, based on the consultancy’s own criteria. Another, similar list of major manufacturing nations, based on output is included below.

But one particularly interesting part of the Deloitte survey was a list of what CEOs said were the most important advanced manufacturing technologies, which we publish below.

Predictive analytics Smart, connected products (internet of things) Advanced materials Smart factories (IoT) Digital design, simulation and integration High performance computing Advanced robotics Additive manufacturing (3D printing) Open source design / direct customer input Augmented reality (to improve quality, training, expert knowledge) Augmented reality (to increase customer service and experience)

According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development statistics, the world’s leading manufacturer in 2014 – the latest available figures – was China, as shown in the list below, along with the individual country’s total manufacturing output in billions of dollars.

UN Conference on Trade and Development statistics on manufacturing output in 2014

China – 1,882 United States – 1,843 Japan – 1,001 Germany – 680 South Korea – 368 India – 290 France – 267 Italy – 257 United Kingdom – 247 Taiwan – 190 Mexico – 170 Canada – 150 Brazil – 145 Russia – 140 Spain – 134 Turkey – 120 Indonesia – 110 Switzerland – 95 Poland – 94 Netherlands – 87

Figures in billions of dollars.

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The combined manufactured output of the above countries accounts for around 84 per cent of total world manufacturing output, which reached a two-year high in September, according to reports quoted in SeekingAlpha.com.

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