Manufacturing Needs Skilled People

[frodo82801]

I work for a company that provides vision systems primarily to manufacturing. I sit in on some training classes and I'm amazed at how much manufacturing still goes on in the U.S. But, there's a shortage of qualified people.

http://controleng.com/article/CA6518155.html
The U.S. industrial sector has seen its fair share of changes and challenges during the past several decades. Throughout it all, however, manufacturers have been able to rely on a steady supply of fresh talent — particularly in the engineering sector — to fuel innovation and hone our competitive edge. Today, however, this competitive advantage is in jeopardy.

The skills gap — a personnel or skills shortage created when experienced employees exit the workforce faster than new talent can join — is one of the most pressing issues facing manufacturing today. This phenomenon is not unique to the manufacturing sector, but as engineers in the so-called “Baby Boomer” generation begin to opt for a well-deserved retirement, the industry is receiving a wake-up call. Forward-thinking organizations are working now to ensure that the next generation of engineers are being nurtured and trained.

The extent of this problem was brought into high relief in 2005 as the National Association of Manufacturers and Deloitte Consulting LLP published “The 2005 Skills Gap Report — A Survey of the American Manufacturing Workforce.” This study revealed that 65% of the more than 800 manufacturers surveyed reported experiencing a “moderate” to “severe” shortage of engineers and scientists.

As I talk with people who come to the training classes, one thing is evident. The infrastructure that produces and delivers products to the consumers is amazing. We walk into a store and buy something with hardly a thought of what it took to turn raw materials into a product and then get that product to the store in a timely manner.

[firstoftwelve]

My husband has noted the same thing. He actually works with vision systems and robotics. :)
Something he has noted is that while robots can perform alot of the welding processes, there are still some that need to be done manually, but it's a skill that's leaving along with the older workers.

He was hired initially out of college with an electrical engineering degree. And it's his technical backround that has helped him have the "edge" over some others, who might have the book knowledge but not hands on mechanical and technical application skills.

[LoudRam]

We're hiring right now. We're looking for two trained industrial journeyman electricians. There are not that many of us out there. Most guys don't have heavy industrial experence.

[Brick]

Is it just me or is it that everyone wants someone with experience and skills. When they can't find them they complain about not enough skilled labor. Somewhere someone has to start out with no experience.

I'm kinda speaking in generalities not poking at any one company in particular.

[frodo82801]

My husband has noted the same thing. He actually works with vision systems and robotics. :)
Something he has noted is that while robots can perform alot of the welding processes, there are still some that need to be done manually, but it's a skill that's leaving along with the older workers.

He was hired initially out of college with an electrical engineering degree. And it's his technical backround that has helped him have the "edge" over some others, who might have the book knowledge but not hands on mechanical and technical application skills.

I grew up in farm country where you always made do with what you had and improvised and were a jack of all trades. I think that made me a much better engineer.

Ask your husband if he knows anything about Cognex.

[SumSam]

Is it just me or is it that everyone wants someone with experience and skills. When they can't find them they complain about not enough skilled labor. Somewhere someone has to start out with no experience.

I'm kinda speaking in generalities not poking at any one company in particular.

Seems lots of young folks are entering the work force and getting good training...overseas, where the jobs went.

[frodo82801]

Seems lots of young folks are entering the work force and getting good training...overseas, where the jobs went.

I've trying to figure this out. If all the jobs went overseas, then why is the unemployment rate so low? It's not only low, it's historically low.

Even with jobs going overseas, there's still a lot of manufacturing here. I see it every day in my job.

[firstoftwelve]

hey frodo -
My hubby said yes he is familiar w/ Cognex. He works with developing new applications customers request w/ the robots, and said they have used your product some, but also use another brand.

[Issachar]

This is from 5 years ago ....

Fifty years ago, a third of U.S. employees worked in factories, making everything from clothing to lipstick to cars. Today, a little more than one-tenth of the nation's 131 million workers are employed by manufacturing firms. Four-fifths are in services.

The decline in manufacturing jobs has swiftly accelerated since the beginning of 2000. Since then, more than 1.9 million factory jobs have been cut — about 10% of the sector's workforce. During the same period, the number of jobs outside manufacturing has risen close to 2%.

Many of the factory jobs are being cut as companies respond to a sharp rise in global competition. Unable to raise prices — and often forced to cut them — companies must find any way they can to reduce costs and hang onto profits.

Jobs are increasingly being moved abroad as companies take advantage of lower labor costs and position themselves to sell products to a growing — and promising — market abroad. Economy.com, an economic consulting firm in West Chester, Pa., estimates 1.3 million manufacturing jobs have been moved abroad since the beginning of 1992 — the bulk coming in the last three years. Most of those jobs have gone to Mexico and East Asia.
more (http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2002-12-12-manufacture_x.htm)

Note the chart on the right at the link.

I think if you work in a manufacturing job and have contact with others in manufacturing, it can seem like "every one is working even in manufacturing". The stats of folks losing a job that would support a family and are now employed in jobs with no health insurance and low pay are astounding in the past decade. Also, how unemployment figures are derived is not a good method of measurement.

Issachar

[4JesusLove]

Its low because people are running out of their benefit's and get dropped off the chart. Didn't you see that the Gov is talking about extending it as part of the economic stimulus package?

Yes there is still mfg jobs here but not like it use to be. NAFTA and the other programs let the Corp greed ship plants and jobs overseas. We shot ourselves in the foot with them.