Clemson’s Aleda Roth Named to Competitiveness Executive Advisory Board

CLEMSON, SC – August 26, 2010 – Aleda Roth, the Burlington Industries Distinguished Professor in Supply Chain Management at Clemson University, has been named to the executive advisory committee for the U.S. Manufacturing Competitiveness Initiative, a new flagship program developed by the U.S. Council on Competitiveness.

“I am pleased to join the conversation with senior executives, labor leaders and academics regarding the challenges facing U.S. manufacturing and to set the stage for new policies on improving our national manufacturing competitiveness,” Roth said. “Today manufacturing spans ideas, products and services — well beyond the sole production of goods, as in the 20th century view.”

“This is a significant appointment, not only for Aleda, but for our college and for Clemson University,” said Claude Lilly, dean of the College of Business and Behavioral Science. “Through Aleda’s leadership on this committee, Clemson’s supply chain and operations management program will gain more international visibility and will actively participate in the government policy area for manufacturing competitiveness.”

Roth will assist in shaping different aspects of the competitiveness initiative, provide expertise and address integration issues. Part of the committee’s agenda is first to frame high-priority and impact areas: the country’s talent base, technology, investment and costs, and infrastructure — and to make recommendations to advance manufacturing that will be shared with the administration, Congress and other key stakeholders in December. The committee also will prepare a comprehensive National Manufacturing Strategy to be released in late 2011. 

“In a post-industrial society, a country’s globally competitive manufacturing sector is critical to its long-term prosperity and growth,” Roth said. “Manufacturing creates a sustainable economic ecosystem, encourages domestic and foreign investment, and improves a country’s balance of payments. It creates good jobs — not just within the sector but spills over into almost every other sector: financial services, infrastructure development and maintenance, customer support, logistics, information systems, health care education and real estate.”

Roth came to Clemson in 2006 from Arizona State University, where she held the W.P. Carey Chair in Supply Chain Management. Previously, she was an Endowed Chair at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She co-authored the 2010 Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index Report in conjunction with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and the U.S. Council on Competitiveness to report how more than 400 manufacturing CEOs worldwide view their industries and national competitiveness.