Excerpted and edited from “Manufacturing Can Become Newest Dream Job for Many: America Primed for Industrial Evolution, But Where Are Needed Skilled Workers,” a White Paper prepared by Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, International.  www.fmanet.org 

The American manufacturing community and others connected to it can position manufacturing as the dream job by leveraging these trends with vigor and verve:

THE INDUSTRY HAS CHANGED

Innovations and new technologies implemented in factories and plants from coast to coast have dramatically transformed manufacturing.  Of course, such complex new production technologies require highly-trained production workers. 

THE PROBLEM IS PERVASIVE

A sampling of industry reports:

USA Today, December 6, 2006:  “Manufacturers, regardless of size, are reporting a dire shortage of skilled workers: people such as welders, electricians or machinists with a craft that goes beyond pushing buttons or stacking boxes, but does not require a degree.”

National Association of Manufacturers survey: more that 80% of 800 manufacturers said they were experiencing a shortage of skilled workers.

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, in October 2006, manufacturers surveyed said, “Finding qualified workers” was “their biggest business problem.

Modern Metals, January 2007 editorial: “Manufacturing is a skilled profession, and many employers are saying that people aren’t educated enough and the skilled labor simply isn’t available.”

Results released from a survey of Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, International (FMA) members revealed the biggest challenge they face - by far - is the dwindling supply of skilled workers.  Some 40 percent of those polled felt this way, far surpassing concerns such as the rising costs of materials, labor and benefits (cited by 17 percent), staying competitive globally (11 percent) and staying current with new technologies and regulations (6 percent). 

THE JOBS ARE “COOL” AND APPEALING

With such developments, workers can now be experts and operate the most advanced, sophisticated equipment and automated apparatus in the world.  They can cut steel with laser lights, perform laser welding and plasma cutting, operate water jets and program robotics.  Due to this, high tech skills are needed, which dovetails to what younger people love these days; these jobs can be more fun than many service jobs.  Plus, this requires a higher education that nearly everyone aspires to.

WAGES ARE GOOD

Here’s a key part of the sell: Manufacturers will pay a premium for expertise and offer excellent, highly competitive wages.  One welder from Illinois summed this trend concisely in 2006 when he told an Atlanta newspaper, “We are doing a blue collar job and make white collar money.”

JOBS ARE PLENTIFUL

Concurrently, the manufacturing workforce is shrinking.  So opportunities will abound.  According to employment projections by the Department of Labor, between 2002 and 2012, there will be two million job openings in computer science, math, engineering and physical sciences; and 2.4 million skilled production jobs for machinist, machine assemblers and operators, systems operators, and technicians.  At the same time, the current science and engineering workforce is getting older.  More than half of these workers are already older than 40 and 26 percent are older than 50. [National Association of Manufacturing: “Manufacturing a High Performance Workforce,” Solutions White Paper series.]  This dynamic is impacting our neighbor to the north as well, where experts note Canada’s aging population will create a shortage of skilled workers.

A presentation by Eric Mittlestadt, CEO of the National Council for Advanced Manufacturing, at the 2007 American Welding Society Conference, also addressed the “shrinking U.S. workforce.”  By 2018, he said, 70 million baby boomers will retire, 40 million new workers will enter the workforce, creating 30 million fewer available workers.”

SKILLED JOBS ARE STAYING IN THE U.S.

American manufacturers are discovering specialized work like this cannot be done overseas.  The Chicago Tribune reports in a story headlined, “Lack of qualified workers threatens India’s success,” that although “Indian schools churn out 400,000 new engineers every year, as few as 100,000 are actually ready to join the job world.”  China, the country that so many see as an overwhelming threat to U.S. jobs, may be a threat no longer.  According to Business Insurance magazine, “While China has a lot of raw, hardworking talent, employees who lack the necessary skills set is one of the key bottlenecks to growth for most multinationals there.  Just 10% of Chinese engineers are suitable for work at non-Chinese companies.”

There is a prevailing mood in general that taking advantage of low labor rates overseas may not be as advantageous as it seems.  There are intangible costs involving political control and currency risks and lack of protection for intellectual property.  Additional real costs are increased inventories and delays in time-to-market.  These costs are hard to see and harder to measure, but they are real.

Here’s what a manufacturer executive told the FFJournal, “I have spoken to at least three different customers lately who told me that jobs went to China are returning because of quality issues.”

WHAT MUST BE DONE

The convergence of these factors has laid the foundation for an industrial evolution in this country.  Here’s what we need to do and build on:

Industry sectors must team up and help drive the process.  Such initiatives should be fostered in all regions of the country.

Reach out to potential job candidates when they are young.  Parents and educators should recognize the availability of such programs and consider introducing their children and students to these fun, learning experiences.

Get educators on board.  Trade groups and manufacturing executives should aggressively convey to educators the need to create curricula that provides young people the knowledge and skills in demand today on the factory floor.

Recognize overseas labor is not the panacea.  Government and economic leaders must communicate such perspectives issues to manufacturing executives.

Overhaul the image of manufacturing. We must constantly inform the media about these exciting initiatives and convince young people that dream jobs are there for the taking.

KEEP THE DREAMS ALIVE

The American Dream has been part of this country’s fabric since the day it was founded.  This country is on the cusp of reviving that dream for millions.  This is a shared dream, beginning with the manufacturers who are clamoring for motivated, skilled and enthusiastic workers.  There are many organizations now working in concert to help make such relationships happen.  And the influential power of the press is changing its course, beginning to focus on the needs and the opportunities.

As young people recognize the exciting potential to work with the most advanced technologies in a clean, comfortable environment and receive a high level wage commensurate with the high skills required, this American dream will live again.  All of us with any link to manufacturing should be dedicated to this worthy mission that will benefit so many Americans – and our country.