Manufacturing may look different in the coming years – but its continued strength is vital to companies doing business in the U.S. and beyond.

Emerson Chairman and Chief Executive Officer David Farr is the newest chairman of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). He kicked off his new role with the 2017 “State of Manufacturing Tour,” a series of events focused on reigniting the American imagination of what’s achievable in modern manufacturing. Farr joined Jay Timmons, NAM president and CEO, for the first tour stop in Austin, Texas.

bout 3,000 Emerson employees call Texas home, making the Lone Star State a critical hub of operations for Emerson—its Automation Solutions business in particular. Over the past five years, Emerson has invested about $200 million into Texas facilities and technology.

On the State of Manufacturing tour stop—just a day before Farr met with President Donald Trump at the White House—Farr stressed the importance of evolving manufacturing practices to keep the industry strong.

“Technology has been a tremendous benefit to manufacturing,” Farr said. “There’s a mistaken belief that technology is stealing jobs from people, but technology is actually ‘future-proofing’ jobs and careers. We’ve seen it firsthand as Emerson works with customers to help implement real-time monitoring and Internet of Things solutions. Hundreds of billions of dollars will be invested in the Internet of Things this year alone—and our industrial customers at Emerson are eager for new ideas on how to leverage its power.”