The manufacturing drain felt in the United States several years ago has been put into reverse, thanks to innovation in energy and technology, the head of a national manufacturers advocacy group said at Kansas University Monday.

Jay Timmons, the president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, delivered the KU Business School’s 2014 Anderson Chandler Lecture in front of about 400 people at the Lied Center Monday.

In his 40-minute address, Timmons spoke about manufacturing’s rebound from the 2008 recession — which had observers sounding the industry’s death knell in the United States, he said — and the obstacles that remain as it chugs ahead.

Production of American manufacturing is up 18 percent since 2009, he said. Over that time, he added, the industry also crossed over the $2 trillion mark for its contributions to the U.S. economy.

In Kansas, he said manufacturing produces $20.5 billion in goods, and companies have expanded production for eight straight months.

The primary reason why that’s been possible, Timmons said, are advances in energy that made costs “more affordable than anywhere else in the world.”

He also argued that innovation in robotics only changes jobs rather than replacing them, saying their design and maintenance provide opportunities for workers.

“(Manufacturers) discover, they evolve, they act,” Timmons said. “That is why American manufacturing is back.”

But he attacked the federal government for imposing what he called an “unfair” amount of regulations on the industry. He said industry employers pay nearly twice as many dollars per worker in compliance fees than an average U.S. business. Small manufacturers pay near three times as much, Timmons said.

He also criticized the high tax rate placed on corporations in the United States, saying it continues to put American jobs at risk when other countries offer something friendlier.

“We need to incentivize more in innovation, not saddle manufacturers with overly burdensome mandates that limit what’s achievable,” he said.