最近我到德国斯图加特参加一个有关制造业的会议。“世界制造业论坛”(World Manufacturing Forum)，顾名思义就是一项国际性的活动，但主办单位直言不讳地表示，该会议的主要目标之一在于积极提升与鼓励欧洲的制造业。
这次的活动大部份都由德国大斯图加特地区赞助支持，当地议会主席Thomas Bopp也在活动开幕时致欢迎词。最先发表谈话的是世界制造业论坛主席Fred-Holger Gunther。该论坛在官网上所发表的声明即阐明其目标：
“今年世界制造业论坛的目标在于促进企业和政府领导者之间的实质对话，以及探讨制造业创新的挑战。主讲人将讨论全球企业关注重点、策略资源管理，以及政府如何藉由有效的对话和国际科技合作，协助提升企业营运的可持续性以及降低冲突的风险，进而支持全球制造业的创新。”
这项目标听起来够清楚明白了，但在促进全球企业与政府合作发展制造业策略的崇高目标背后，还有另一个更值得关注的重点。我认为，当中国与东南许多国家不断吸引外国工厂争相进驻设厂、掏空了许多原先生产国家的工业重镇之际，此次论坛对于协助提升西方世界在全球制造业的地位也格外具有意义。
斯图加特的地理位置及其经济发展史正与德国的命运密不可分。斯图加特市就位在内卡河(Neckar River)上，这里是一些世界著名的制造商公司总部，如保持捷(Porsche)和戴姆勒公司(Daimler AG)。该区也是汽车工业的制造业重镇，但由于全球经济──特别是欧盟(EU)面临财务与债务负担，近几个月来此区正持续受到关注。
在美国与许多欧洲城市参观任何的硬件或零售商店，更容易看清西方工厂工人经常面对的不愉快现实。陈列在像Wal-Mart、Best Buy等商店和Macy’s百货公司的大多数商品都有着“中国制造”(Made in China)的卷标，而这种现象有时也让顾客感到困惑－－他们了解工作外包的情况已经对于当地造成直接的影响，但他们自己却又被这种转移至海外工厂制造能提供较低商品价格的好处所吸引。
很少有其它的西方国家能像德国一样地积极展现出争取制造业市占率的强烈意愿。透过制造业的带动，德国已经成为世界第五大的经济体以及第三大出口国，也取得欧洲经济强国的地位。然而，这一地位得来不易。就像其它西方经济体 一样，德国的企业也面临着一些更低成本制造商带来的压力，迫使这个国家的许多公司设法提升其价值链，转而专注于一些需要更高专业技术的产品制造。
本文授权编译自EBN Online，版权所有，谢绝转载
本文下一页：其他国家只能争夺中国的剩菜残羮？
相关阅读：
• 实现生产流程全程可追溯性，突破电子制造业困局
• 中国工资涨了，跨国公司慌了是什么心态？
• [图文报道]中国是否还能继续扮演太阳能市场救世主？bAJesmc
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德国最大的出口市场──欧元区，由于正陷入财务与债务困境，也间接地冲击德国的经济成长。 News最近的报告指出，由于邻近国家的需求减少，德国的出口已经开始下滑了。但德国仍持续协助希腊、西班牙与意大利等欧盟伙伴摆脱困境，原因之一就在于 担心这些国家的经济危机蔓延可能波及德国边境。
因应生产制造转移至低成本国家，我看到德国人正努力提振本国制造业。他们担心如果制造业持续转移至西方以外的国家，可能造成失业率攀升的负面结果，因此，当地的政客与企业正团结起来，共同努力提升该国的制造业。而今，这个目标正反映在世界制造业论坛上。
如果欧洲对于制造业抱持乐观的前景，所有的人都必须团结起来。虽然他们正面对种种困难与挑战，但就算中国完全垄断制造经济，难道就意味着世界上的其它地区只能争夺剩菜残羮吗？或者，像美国和德国等一些高成本的国家，是否也有机会在制造业占有一席之地？未来我将分更多在世界业论坛上的一些观点与心得，也想知道你对这一议题的看法。
编译：Susan Hong
本文授权编译自EBN Online，版权所有，谢绝转载
参考英文原文：Has the West Given Up on Manufacturing?，by Bolaji Ojo, Editor in Chief
相关阅读：
• 实现生产流程全程可追溯性，突破电子制造业困局
• 中国工资涨了，跨国公司慌了是什么心态？
• [图文报道]中国是否还能继续扮演太阳能市场救世主？bAJesmc
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Has the West Given Up on Manufacturing?
Bolaji Ojo
I am this week attending a conference in Stuttgart, Germany, on -- wait for this -- manufacturing. The World Manufacturing Forum, as the name suggests, is an international event, but the organizers aren't shy at all about one of its key goals, which is to actively promote and encourage a manufacturing industry in the heart of Europe.
The event is heavily sponsored and championed by Germany's Greater Stuttgart Region, and one of the welcome addresses will be delivered on Tuesday by Thomas Bopp, chairman of the regional assembly. The first address will be delivered by Fred-Holger Günther, chairman of the World Manufacturing Forum. In a statement on its Website, the Forum elucidated its goals:
This year's World Manufacturing Forum aims to facilitate an effective dialogue between business and government leaders and explore challenges for manufacturing innovation in the context of policy makers' options. Speakers will talk about global business concerns, the management of strategic resources and how governments can support global manufacturing innovation by increasing the sustainability of business operations and by lowering the risk of conflicts through effective dialogue and international S&T cooperation.
That sounds clear enough, but there's another stream of concern flowing beneath the lofty goals of aligning global corporate and government strategies in manufacturing. In my opinion, the forum is also meant to help boost the position of the Western world in global manufacturing as China and Southeast Asian nations continue to pull in foreign factories in droves, resulting in the hollowing of many previous producer nations' industrial heartlands.
Stuttgart's location and its economic history intertwine with the fortunes of Germany. The city is right on the Neckar River and is home to some of the world's better known manufacturers, including Porsche and Daimler AG. The region is a manufacturing powerhouse for the automotive industry, but concerns have risen in recent months as the global economy, and especially sections of the European Union, have continued to reel under fiscal and debt burdens.
A visit to any hardware or retail outlet in the United States and many major European cities will drive home the often unpleasant reality facing factory workers in the West. Most of the items on display at stores like Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Macy's carry the "Made in China" tag, a nagging phenomenon that sometimes bothers customers who realize the outsourcing of jobs has immediate local impact but who themselves are drawn by the lower prices afforded through the transfer of factories overseas.
Few other Western nations have demonstrated fiercer willingness than Germany to fight for manufacturing marketshare. It is the world's fifth largest economy and its third-biggest exporter, boosted by manufacturing that has earned it the status of the continent's economic powerhouse. This position has been hard won, though. Like other Western economies, German companies are facing pressure from lower-cost manufacturers, and this has forced companies in the country to move up the value chain to focus on products that require a higher level of expertise.
Fiscal and debt problems in the euro-zone -- Germany's biggest export market -- are crimping the country's growth. A recent News report noted Germany's exports have been falling as demand has dwindled in neighboring countries. One of the reasons Germany has been active in helping to bail out crisis-prone European Union partners Greece, Spain, and Italy, is because of fears the economic contagion in those nations could spill across its own borders.
I see the efforts to promote manufacturing in Germany as part of the country's response to the transfer of production to lower-cost countries. Local politicians and companies are teaming up to boost manufacturing in the country because of concerns about the possible negative consequences of rising unemployment if manufacturing continues to migrate outside the West. This goal is reflected in the agenda for the World Manufacturing Forum. Here are some of the topics scheduled for consideration. You may draw your own conclusion from these:
· Manufacturing -- a solution to the economic crisis?
· Why manufacturing is important -- a European view
· Living and working in an urban environment
· How can policies ensure resource use efficiency?
· What does industry expect from policy makers?
· Technological solutions supporting resource use efficiency
· Are current policies able to guarantee a sustainable use of resources?
Speakers on the various panels are drawn both from government and the private sector and include Herbert Von Bose from the European Commission; Ingo Rust, State Secretary, Ministry for Finance and Economy, Baden-Württemberg; Carlos Costa, Governor of the Central Bank of Portugal; and G?ran Ottoson, CEO, LKAB Schwedenerz GmbH.
If Europe is to have a viable future in manufacturing, all these folks will have to join forces. I wonder, though, if they are swimming against the current here. Has China completely cornered the manufacturing economy, meaning the rest of the world must scramble for leftovers? Or is there still a role for high-cost countries like Germany and the United States? I am open to be convinced and will share insight from the World Manufacturing Forum with EBN readers over the next few days. Let me know your particular concerns by leaving comments on this page.
责编：Quentin
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