Manufacturing misperceptions: a future of layoffs, plant, closings and stagnant wages?

• Author: Snyder, Tom
• Position: VIEWPOINT

"MANUFACTURING? You don't want to work on an assembly line the rest of your life, do you?"

"Manufacturing jobs are moving to China, where the labor's cheap. There won't be much manufacturing left in Indiana 10 years from now."

"Manufacturing was a big part of our economy for a long time--but that era is over."

Comments like these are part of a common misperception of the manufacturing industry--that the sector is dead or dying, that automation and offshoring have stripped away all of the career opportunities and left a future marked only by layoffs, plant closings and stagnant wages.

The facts tell a different story But unfortunately, unfounded predictions and half-truths about the future of manufacturing are becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy, creating a shortage of the very resource that manufacturers can't succeed without--skilled, talented people.

While U.S. manufacturing faces many challenges, a lack of high-paying jobs isn't among them. A lack of people is. Workforce shortages are a major concern among manufacturers nationwide. In a member survey conducted by the National Association of Manufacturers, 80 percent said they were experiencing a shortage of skilled workers.

A strategic skills study conducted by the state Department of Workforce Development shows that nine of the top 11 occupational shortages facing private industry are related to the manufacturing and logistics sectors

But how can this be? How do these facts mesh with the media reports and political rhetoric about downsizing and jobs moving overseas?

It's true--the use of automation and new technologies are eliminating many lower-skill positions on manufacturing assembly lines. Manufacturers are doing more with less to stay...