Darryl Seland, editorial director of Quality, and Michelle Bangert, managing editor of Quality, discuss the results and provide analysis for the annual State of the Profession Survey.

Manufacturers face complex challenges, including attracting and retaining labor and adapting to a volatile market. Skilled human labor remains crucial despite advancements in automation.

SME, the nonprofit committed to accelerating new manufacturing technology adoption and building North America's talent and capabilities, announced a strategic partnership with the Alliance for Working Together Foundation (AWT), an organization based in Ohio dedicated to promoting manufacturing careers and bridging the gap in the industry’s skilled workforce.

Automation helps move skilled workers from repetitive tasks to more important roles, experts say. It’s essential to train them to use these new technologies properly.

Regional apprenticeship program will create pipeline of skilled talent for area manufacturers.

Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s denial of cert to reconsider the D.C. Circuit’s decision affirming the validity of Optional Practical Training extension for STEM graduates, a program that expands access to hundreds of thousands of skilled workers for manufacturers and other American businesses, National Association of Manufacturers Chief Legal Officer Linda Kelly released the following statement:

As baby boomer engineers retire from manufacturing, younger generations aren’t rushing in to fill their shoes. Rapidly changing technology has created greater demand for new skills among shrinking pools of talent, just as reshoring efforts promise to make domestic manufacturing even more robust.
This is why the field’s well-documented skills gap will only widen.

As I lied once before on these pages, I tend to avoid getting political in these columns with the exception of the occasional cheap generic shot. But since this is the first column of the new year, it’s that time again when the past year is reviewed and the number crunching begins. 

It isn’t exactly news—manufacturing production lines are heading back to the States en masse, but there aren’t enough trained techs ready to staff them. Baby Boomers—our proverbial Old Guard—are retiring, leaving unfilled jobs for the unskilled—and some say uninterested—masses.