MT Magazine March/April 2025

MANUFACTURING MATTERS

MARCH/APRIL 2025

9

Manufacturing Matters Check in for the highlights, headlines, and hijinks that matter to manufacturing. These lean news items keep you updated on the latest developments.

TECHNOLOGY

How Do I Train for Future Technology? That’s the fun part – you don’t. The culture of technology adoption has rapidly changed over the last few generations. With the influx of more advanced technologies at the consumer level, modern workforces are learning on the fly based on specific needs and use cases. Some of the accelerators for modern manufacturing technologies that support this are the simplified human-to-machine interfaces and multiple programming techniques for automation. For a long time, manufacturers have strived for stability. In today’s climate, fluidity will give you a competitive edge. Want to enable a continuously learning workforce? Challenge the workforce with your business problems and provide them with time. Let this generation cook.

INTELLIGENCE

An Evolving Manufacturing Workforce Since 1972, U.S. manufacturing output has nearly tripled, even as employment has declined by 25%, indicating a fourfold increase in output per worker. Notably, production employee numbers have decreased by 32%, while non-production and supervisory roles have only seen a 7% reduction. This trend suggests that knowledge work in manufacturing has demonstrated resilience over the past five decades. Looking ahead, manufacturing employment will likely continue to shift and grow toward knowledge-based roles. As advanced manufacturing is adopted and evolves, demand will increase for workers skilled in leveraging data and information to optimize manufacturing processes. This transformation reflects the growing importance of the skills needed to harness and utilize information within the manufacturing sector, reshaping the industry's workforce requirements for the future.

SMARTFORCE

Bigger, Bolder, and More Connected: The 2025 AMT Meetup Series The AMT Meetup series is back – bigger, bolder, and more connected than ever! In 2025, we’re teaming up with Women in Manufacturing (WiM) to bring even more industry leaders, technology end users, and decision-makers together at high-impact networking happy hours. Join us in Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, and St. Louis, where hundreds of executives, managers, engineers, and R&D professionals will gather to exchange insights and build valuable connections. With WiM chapters from all seven cities actively engaged, expect fresh perspectives, a diverse crowd, and new opportunities to grow your network. Don’t miss your chance to be part of it! Learn more at AMTonline.org/events/AMT-meetups.