The Fourth Revolution: The Solution to the Manufacturing Labor Shortage Might Be An Internal One

You can hardly listen to a political speech without hearing the buzzword – “manufacturing jobs.” As baby boomers retire from their lifelong careers in manufacturing, no one is stepping up to fill these vacant positions. But why?

The manufacturing industry has an “industry image issue,” said Greg Barnett, senior vice president of The Predictive Index. Manufacturing jobs have lost their glamour as the industry has aged. In today’s flashy tech-centered world, manufacturing jobs look drab and unattractive in comparison to Silicon Valley startups.

On this episode, we were joined by Barnett to discuss how manufacturing business can make internal changes to their company and recruit smart, long-term employees. Manufacturing jobs have several perks, and the industry itself is working hard to transition into the modern world by rebranding their look and appealing to the rising workforce.

Core company changes are crucial to keeping the manufacturing industry alive, but Barnett said that all to often, he hears from his clients: “We’re not Google. We don’t do ping pong tables…and free food.”

So how can manufacturing companies modernize and attract the rising workforce? Barnett broke it down into three parts: designing new leadership, defining company culture, and inspiring the workforce. Manufacturing businesses are in desperate need of a rebrand, starting with how young workers view and are trained for jobs.

Education today is mostly done online, yet there is no pipeline for training future manufacturing workers on a digital platform. By redefining company culture, highlighting employment benefits to the public, and optimizing the workforce with the modern tools to succeed and grow, the manufacturing industry can flourish in today’s modern world.

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