By 2025, manufacturers in the United States will need to fill 3.5 million jobs but will only be able to fill about 1.5 million. The reason: the lack of skilled workers and the difficulty getting the younger generations interested in “building things”. There’s a reason most engineering colleges see nearly 100% of their graduating students getting hired. But, there’s not nearly enough of the younger generation looking at manufacturing as a career even if they don’t choose to be an engineer. Yet there are ways we can convince the future generation that manufacturing isn’t just working at a plant all day long,

Manufacturing Jobs are High-Tech Jobs

Unfortunately, millennials (those born in the 1980s and 90s, the largest population in our country right now) have a view of manufacturing that isn’t correct. It’s not sitting on a factory floor with a screwdriver or wrench. In fact, the precision equipment we need to use to create custom metal enclosures is very high-tech. Most of the country’s manufacturers use robots that need humans to code the movements. And some manufacturing companies have begun employing 3D printing as well as virtual reality in their process. Since millennials are the digital generation, manufacturers need to invest in digital technologies to help future workers understand these jobs are for them

Use of Social Media

How are we going to get in front of today’s youth if we aren’t on social media? We have increased our onlin

e presence on Facebook and Twitter as well as Linked-In so we can talk to people who are searching for something but might not know what that “something” is. Our hope is that these social platforms and our blog help some teens take a closer look at what we do and consider learning more about the metal working process.

Community Outreach

In our large and diverse community here in Washington County, we were just part of a great project with the Washington County Workforce Alliance that gets us in front of high school students and their families to talk about the custom mental fabrication we create for our clients. It’s important to let these teenagers know there’s a lot to creating the metal enclosures that they see and use everyday: from self service/kiosks to medical equipment to outdoor utility enclosures, there is a lot to making these ideas in metal come to life. This is more than just bending metal! But, we have to show them that, not just talk about it. The future is changing but bright for manufacturers. In order to continue our growth, we need to adapt to find the right people to fill the jobs we have. Take a look at our career page. There could be something there for you or someone you know!