A White House exec’s quiet visit signals Pittsburgh’s growing robotics clout

Mill 19’s symbolism is not subtle, right down to its bright yellow paint.

The Pittsburgh industrial site completed its rebirth into a site of the future last week with a visit from one of the country’s most prominent economic leaders. 

Inside the skeleton of the city’s last steel mill operating — as recently as 1997 — the Regional Industrial Development Corporation (RIDC) unveiled last year the 265,000-sq.-ft. complex in what developers call Hazlewood Green. 

Nearby residents have concerns in part because of the old truism that change tends to happen slowly and then all at once. Long decaying, the nearly 200-acre plot southeast of downtown is being reimagined as a glitzy mixed-use riverfront development, including a robotics innovation center and a forthcoming biomanufacturing facility.

As director of the National Economic Council, Lael Brainard is President Biden’s top economic adviser, and has been short-listed to lead the Federal Reserve Bank. In a quick visit last week without press, Brainard toured Carnegie Mellon University’s Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute. Biden leaders have visited Mill 19 before, but none as high-ranking as Brainard.

Hugging the Monongahela River, it’s a crown jewel of a decades-long economic development strategy that fit oh-so-neatly into the Biden administration sprawling post-pandemic industrial policy. In 2022, the federal Economic Development Administration (the same Commerce Department division behind the Tech Hubs program) announced a $63 million investment into a coalition calling itself the Southwestern Pennsylvania New Economy Collaborative.

The NEC supports a portfolio of projects targeting workforce development and business investment related to advanced manufacturing. Among them is the ARM Institute, which hosts an array of concurrent robotics projects. 

Brainard and team were led by ARM Institute staff, including CEO Ira Moskowitz, through demonstrations of robotics designed for various manufacturing functions. A mix of federal dollars keeps the complex active with academic research, industry applications and workforce training.

What’s replacing steel jobs? Robotics jobs

Like other sites around the region, Mill 19 once employed hundreds of workers as Pittsburgh Jones & Laughlin Steel Company. 

Today, there are more roboticists. 

The count of steel fabricators (who prepare raw steel for final use) versus the number of robotics engineers (those who fine-tune hardware and software) tell the story of regional change. Before the Great Recession, Southwestern PA still had more working in steel than in robots. That changed fast. In 2010, the balance flipped, according to Lightcast data Technical.ly analyzed. Today, there are three times as many.

Federal investments intend to speed and expand this change, while encouraging more representation in the workforce. 

The New Economy Collaborative, led by local economic development veteran Ben Pratt, has a big portfolio — and Technical.ly will be involved in a soon-to-be-announced component. That gives it a tricky mandate: Establish consistency across a range of programs charged with upgrading the region’s manufacturing sector, which boosters boldly claim the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

What’s the risk? Critics of big federal funding always worry the dollars can prove inefficient. Like quantum computing, advancing manufacturing is characterized by some as necessary for national defense. Regional leaders, like their federal investors, need to keep a steady eye on outcomes.

Brainard was hosted by the Allegheny Conference and the NEC team, along with a slate of funded programs, including the ARM Institute. The event was closed to the press, but photos were shared with Technical.ly. 

Jackie Erickson, who helped stand up the New Economy Collaborative and has since moved to an Allegheny Conference role, posted about the visit.

“We are so grateful that Director Brainard, the White House National Economic Council, and her exceptional staff spent the afternoon with us in Pittsburgh,” she wrote. “Fantastic groups of partners came together for a productive and successful visit.”

Brainard’s visit lets locals rub elbows with an influential insider, and also serves as a signal of the region’s reputation. It’s why regions covet the visits, and why the grandees who offer them tend to be careful about where they go. 

The fresh yellow paint over rusted steel, backed by crisp workforce data, makes the story simple.