"YOU AREN'T ABLE TO JUST DO IT WITH A WRENCH ANYMORE.".

Computerization and robotics are key for production, recruiting and education. For this Business North Carolina round table, manufacturing leaders talk about technology, post-COVID growth, shortage of employees, reaching students early and cybersecurity.

Cargo Transporters, Mertek Solutions, NC Chamber, Pitt County Economic Development, The Rise Companies, Technology Associates and UNC Charlotte sponsored the discussion. It was edited for brevity and clarity.

YOU REPRESENT DIVERSE MANUFACTURERS. CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR COMPANY?

SILVER: Ketchie is a precision machine shop in Concord. We mainly support the railroad, heavy equipment and road construction equipment industries.

MCINTYRE: I'm the site director for Avient Protective Materials. We manufacture Dyneema, which is the strongest synthetic fiber in the world. It's made in Greenville. There's also a smaller facility in the Netherlands. It goes into bulletproof vests, cut-resistant gloves, ropes, nets and consumer applications.

PEDLEY: Mertek Solutions is in Sanford. We design and build automated assembly and test equipment. Business North Carolina named me Mr. Robot years ago and it seems to have stuck with me, so I appreciate that.

ANDERSON The RISE Companies is an investment company. We are buying and leading companies in manufacturing and industrial industries. Current companies are in commercial electrical contracting and metal fabrication.

HOBBS: Technology Associates is based in Raleigh. We're a full service technology solutions firm providing support for small-to medium-sized businesses.

MINTZ: N.C. State Industry Expansion Solutions is an extension and outreach division of the College of Engineering on campus. I also operate as the director of the North Carolina Manufacturing Extension Partnership. It's geared to work with mostly smaller manufacturers, to make sure that N.C. manufacturers have all the things that they need such as best practices and access to technology information.

WHAT IS THE STATE OF MANUFACTURING IN NORTH CAROLINA? ARE THINGS AS GOOD AS BEFORE COVID?

MCINTYRE: I can't speak for the state. I can certainly talk more for eastern North Carolina. Trying to recruit people into manufacturing now is very, very difficult. It has been since the pandemic. We are sold out to our capacity. I know that our next-door neighbors, Thermo Fisher (pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors), they are growing like crazy. We have Hyster-Yale, which makes lift trucks and we have Grady White Boats. All of them have hiring signs outside of their plants. So I think that says a lot about how positively manufacturing is going. In the past, we put an application out and within four or five days, we'd have hundreds of applicants. For a technician job now we get 10 to 20 applicants. I think the generation coming through now, these jobs are not as appealing maybe as 10, 20, 30 years ago. My son is 22 years old. He wants to work in social media or something that's going to make him rich very quickly.

SILVER: We have a very long backlog. North Carolina has always been a manufacturing powerhouse. That probably speaks to why we were founded here in 1947. We have a low cost of doing business in our state compared to other states. We have a competitive tax rate. Nationally, there are 13...