But Lonnie Love, leader of the automation, robotics and manufacturing group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, sees the device as a key to exciting young Americans to innovate and learn engineering and manufacturing skills.

The United States has been the dominant manufacturing country in the world, he said, “but we are losing our edge. We are losing our share mostly to Asia, especially China and India. How do we turn that around?”

President Obama and politicians in both parties have emphasized the importance of manufacturing because it creates jobs that pay well.

In a recent talk to Friends of ORNL, Love asked, “But, what happens if we turn the tide and get our companies that manufacture goods abroad to bring jobs back to the United States?” How many Americans will be qualified to work for companies with expanded manufacturing capabilities, he also asked.

“Our STEM education has been on a steady decline,” Love said, referring to science, technology, engineering and mathematics. “The U.S. is not ranked in the top 20 worldwide in any of the sciences or math.”

He noted that UT-Battelle, the managing contractor of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is addressing both of these problems. Love is personally involved in trying to fix both of them.

He is a user of 3-D printing, or additive manufacturing, to make innovative “hydraulic hands” as prostheses. He is also a mentor of high school boys and girls with engineering talents who participate in a robotics competition. They have been given the opportunity to do 3-D printing and traditional manufacturing at ORNL’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility off Hardin Valley Road in Knoxville. Love works at the MDF.

His wife is a high school teacher who encouraged him to mentor students at Hardin Valley Academy, where she works. He learned students today no longer take “shop.” In the 1980s, he took auto shop and woodworking shop.

But one Hardin Valley student told him the school has a 3-D printer. Love found out a teacher bought a 3-D printer with startup funds, but had no idea how to use it. So teachers stacked books on it.

“I sat down with three boys and told them they are my mechanical designers,” he said. “I taught them how to use SolidWorks 3D CAD design software. They designed robot parts and printed out 25 percent of the robot they planned to enter into a competition. Kids today are very bright and very creative, but they just need some guidance.”

He explained to the students how a 3-D printer works. The printer has a powder bed with a support underneath and an electron beam to melt the powder.

“You melt the powder where your part is,” he said, “and then step the table down a few thousandths of an inch to accommodate the next deposited layer of powder, which is melted. You repeat the process many times, growing your part.” The support’s overhang can be broken off or eroded away using a salt.

Then the HVA students asked if they could work in the MDF to finish their robot projects.

So, Love asked ORNL Director Thom Mason and ORNL Deputy Director Jeff Smith if the MDF could be opened to local schools participating in the FIRST Robotics Smoky Mountains regional competition in Knoxville. Mason and Smith agreed.

“But, the kids will still need to use a band saw, circular saw, drill press and other power tools to build their robots,” Love told them. “Are you OK with that?” After all, safety is ORNL’s No. 1 priority.

Smith said “yes,” adding, “We are going to train the kids to use power tools safely.”

So, the MDF staff opened their labs to 100 to 150 boys and girls from local schools in the first year and trained them. The next year 200 to 250 kids used the MDF equipment to build their robots. Last fall, 550 students showed up at the MDF.

For six weeks, many boys and girls worked evenings and Saturdays to complete their robots. The robots this year had to throw discs and climb pyramids.

On March 28-30 at the third annual FIRST Robotics regional competition at Knoxville Convention Center, Hardin Valley Academy, Oak Ridge High School and Hall High School won the championship title, and a team from Roane County High School netted the Rookie All-Star award. These four of the 14 teams sponsored by UT-Battelle at a cost of $50,000 went to the national finals held April 24-27 in St. Louis.

“All four teams competed well at the nationals,” Love said, adding he expects future Knoxville alliances to be strong competitors in subsequent national FIRST Robotics competitions.

Maybe next year Oak Ridge and Knoxville area youth will make the news and put 3-D printing in a more positive light.

More specifically, the most common reasons for “buying American” were to support the U.S. or to be patriotic, mentioned by 32% of adults who sought out U.S.-made products in recent months, and to keep or create jobs in the country, mentioned by 31%. Additionally 20% said that buying U.S.-made products is good for the U.S. economy in general.

Fewer Americans in the April 11-14 poll mentioned specific attributes of U.S. versus foreign products as reasons for buying American, including the perception that U.S. products are better quality (13%) or concerns about the safety or quality of products made overseas (3%).

Though a substantial percentage of Americans, 45%, say they have made a special effort to buy U.S.-made products in recent months, more, 54%, have not made an attempt to do so.

There are wide generational differences in U.S.-centric shopping habits, with older Americans (61%), aged 65 and older, much more likely than younger Americans (20%), aged 18 to 29, to actively search for products made in the U.S. Younger Americans may be more accustomed to getting their products from overseas, and with international free trade agreements increasingly common, they may not have been exposed to as much pressure to “buy American.”

In addition to differences by age, there are differences by race and place of residence, with whites and those living in rural areas showing a greater propensity to favor American-made products. There are at best modest differences by gender, income, and party identification.

Americans Willing to Pay More for U.S.-Made Products
Sixty-four percent of Americans say they would be willing to pay more to buy a U.S.-made product than a similar product made in other countries. This includes the vast majority, 88%, of those who make a special effort to buy U.S.-made products, but also nearly half of those, 44%, who do not.

Given that 45% of Americans say they are making a special effort to buy U.S.-made products, and 64% say they are willing to pay more for American-made products, there is a group of about 20% of Americans who are not actively “buying American” but who seem willing to do so, even if they end up spending more.

The question did not specify how much more consumers would have to pay for U.S.-made products than for foreign-made products, but Americans may be less willing to pay significantly more for products made in the U.S. Thus, the 64% willing to pay more for American-made products may be an upper boundary estimate.

Nearly half of young adults, 43%, say they are willing to pay more for U.S. products. However, that figure is much smaller than the 70% of Americans aged 30 and older who are willing to do the same.

Americans Believe U.S. Quality Improving, but Attitudes Unchanged Since 1990
Most Americans believe that U.S. products are better now than they were a few years ago — 71% say they are a lot or a little better, while 16% say they are a lot or a little worse. However, those views are no more prevalent than they were more than 20 years ago, the last time Gallup asked the question in 1990.

Meanwhile, 52% say the U.S. has gained ground on Asian countries in terms of the quality of goods the country produces. But again, little has changed in Americans’ views on the topic since 1990.

One thing that has changed since 1990 is the rise of Chinese-made goods sold in the U.S. The 1990 question did not specify China as an Asian competitor, and Gallup did not include China in the 2013 update to ensure the current measurement is comparable with the past.

Implications
“Buy American” behavior is far from universal in the U.S., but nearly half of Americans say they actively try to buy U.S. products, and even more say they are willing to pay more for U.S. products.

Patriotism and concern for the health of the U.S. economy are major reasons behind people’s shopping for American-made products, but those attributes may be in shorter supply among younger Americans who find less appeal in U.S.-made goods. In fact, Gallup has found younger people in the U.S. ranking among the least patriotic subgroups of Americans.

If younger consumers continue to be less interested in buying U.S.-made products as they get older and future generations show a similar weak commitment to buying American, the wide generational divide in U.S. product shopping behavior could be a concern for the future market of U.S. products.

At the same time, there does seem to be a sizeable latent market for U.S. products that could be tapped, exemplified by the roughly one in five Americans who are not actively shopping for American-made goods but who say they are willing to pay more for U.S. products.

In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

View methodology, full question results, and trend data.

For more details on Gallup’s polling methodology, visit www.gallup.com.