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.

Contact

Carnegie Mellon University

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Biography

Christophe Combemale's research focuses on the implications of technology choices and process design for skill demand, and on workforce supply chain levers to meet industry skill demand needs. He is interested in how regional and national labor supply may constrain economic productivity and innovation, and solutions that enhance outcomes for workers and firms.

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

Artificial Intelligence
Workforce Demand and Supply Analytics
Technology Forecasting
Skill Demand
Workforce Supply Chains
Technology Choices
Operations Improvement

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.”

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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.

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Social

Industry Expertise

Health Care - Providers
Employment Services
Education/Learning

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

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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 Change

2021

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.

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Design for Nonassembly: Current Status and Future Directions

Journal of Mechanical Design

2021

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.

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