Christophe Combemale
Assistant Research Professor, Engineering and Public Policy Carnegie Mellon University
- Pittsburgh PA
Christophe Combemale's is an expert contributor on labor and technology issues for the National Network for Critical Technology Assessment.
Biography
Combemale is an an expert contributor on labor and technology issues for an NSF-funded pilot program seeking to develop a National Network for Critical Technology Assessment. The program objective is to develop assessment capabilities for critical technologies for U.S. competitiveness and present insights to U.S. legislators. He also serves as a consultant to the Allegheny County Department of Human Services on workforce development and strategic programs, such as rate-setting for large-scale Medicaid reimbursements for behavioral health services.
In addition, Combemale has a research appointment at the Block Center for Technology and Society at CMU’s Heinz College.
Areas of Expertise
Media Appearances
The services part of the economy is growing much faster than the part that makes things
Marketplace online
2025-02-05
“That’s been the story of the U.S. labor market and occupational employment since the mid-2000s,” said Christophe Combemale, an assistant research professor of engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University. “The overall share of U.S. manufacturing has been declining pretty consistently for decades.”
Higher tariffs on Chinese computer chips may not lead to more U.S. engineering jobs
Marketplace online
2024-05-23
In a still tight job market, “we don’t actually have a good sense of who’s available,” said Christophe Combemale, who researches engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon.
Media
Social
Industry Expertise
Accomplishments
Inaugural Freeman & Nelson Prize | Industrial and Corporate Change,
2023
Best Papers TIM Division| Academy of Management,
2022
Editor’s Choice | Industrial and Corporate Change
2021
Best Paper Award | Industry Studies Association,
2019
Education
Carnegie Mellon University
Ph.D.
Engineering and Public Policy
2022
Carnegie Mellon University
M.S.
Public Policy and Management
2016
Carnegie Mellon University
B.S.
Ethics, History and Public Policy
2015
Affiliations
- Critical Technology Initiative
Languages
- English
- French
- Spanish
Event Appearances
Measuring Skill Availability and Anticipating Skill Demand
2023 | Industry Studies Association Conference Columbus, OH
New Technology, New Hierarchy? Implications of Product and Process Innovations for the Division of Problem Solving
2022 | Industry Studies Association Conference Philadelphia, PA
Articles
Not all technological change is equal: how the separability of tasks mediates the effect of technology change on skill demand
Industrial and Corporate Change2021
We measure the labor-demand effects of two simultaneous forms of technological change—automation of production processes and consolidation of parts. We collect detailed shop-floor data from four semiconductor firms with different levels of automation and consolidation. Using the O*NET survey instrument, we collect novel task data for operator laborers that contains process-step level skill requirements, including operations and control, near vision, and dexterity requirements. We then use an engineering process model to separate the effects of the distinct technological changes on these process tasks and operator skill requirements. Within an occupation, we show that aggregate measures of technological change can mask the opposing skill biases of multiple simultaneous technological changes. In our empirical context, automation polarizes skill demand as routine, codifiable tasks requiring low and medium skills are executed by machines instead of humans, whereas the remaining and newly created human tasks tend to require low and high skills.
Design for Nonassembly: Current Status and Future Directions
Journal of Mechanical Design2021
In this paper, we review the literature on design for nonassembly (DFNA) and the broader literature on design for manufacturing that has design guidelines and metrics applicable to nonassembled products, including both monolithic single-part products and nonassembly mechanisms. Our review focuses on guidelines that apply across multiple manufacturing processes. We identify guidelines and metrics that seek to reduce costs as well as provide differentiated products across a product family. We find that existing DFNA guidelines fall into four main categories pertaining to: (1) geometry and size, (2) material, (3) production process, and (4) clearance and tolerances. We also identify existing product family metrics that can be modified for nonassembled products to capture some aspects of these categories. Finally, we discuss possible future research directions to more accurately characterize the relationships between design variables and manufacturing costs, including investigating factors related to the complexity of operations at particular process steps and across process steps.
