The Buzz: “The Factory of the Future…Perhaps manufacturing will at last be able to leave behind the public impressions of labor-intensive, dirty and dangerous worksites…There is only one characteristic of the Factory of the Future that is essential: A creative mindset for problem-solving and out-of-the-box thinking is key to embracing new technologies.” (industryweek.com) So many questions! What will future factory jobs look like – only programmers, AI experts and supervisors in Silicon Valley and MIT Boston? Will there be a role for the not-so-educated, perhaps today’s burger-flipping job level? Will everyone receive a base welfare-level monthly allowance for life? Will the work week be reduced to 35 or 30 hours for all? Will first the Chinese and then Europe have truly smart factories before the US does? We’ll ask Gerd Hoppe at Beckhoff, Dr. Christian Liedtke at KUKA AG, Rakesh Gandhi and Nils Herzberg at SAP about Jobs in the Factory of the Future: Who, What, Where, How Much $?