Manufacture Smarter Blog

9/21/2018 - THE CENTER
Since 2013 the Skilled Trades Training Fund (STTF) has provided nearly $73 million in funding for training and apprenticeships. This fall, another $29 million will be available for businesses throughout Michigan through the Going PRO Talent Fund, the new face of STTF. Although its name has changed, Going PRO is still as powerful as ever, helping to drive Michigan’s economy and provide manufacturers with the talent they need to compete and grow.

9/14/2018 - BY: ELLIOT FORSYTH
Manufacturing is changing. The industry is entering a new era, with oncoming workforce and technological advancements set to transform manufacturing as we know it. In this emerging age of smart manufacturing, a number of factors are contributing to this evolution.

8/24/2018 - BY: JAMIE HEADLEY
Employers across America are dealing with the combined effect of baby boomers retiring, a strong economy and record low unemployment. Now faced with the large labor shortage this perfect storm has created, manufacturers are looking to the next generation of workers to fill this gap: millennials.

7/13/2018 - BY: ELLIOT FORSYTH
Having skilled, competent employees is key to an organization’s success. This is no longer easy for manufacturers to come by, however, as a massive talent shortage has emerged in the industry in recent years, leaving many jobs unfilled and tasks undone. It is expected that this talent gap will result in millions of positions remaining vacant in the years to come, a number that will only continue to grow if nothing is done to counteract this trend.

5/4/2018 - BY: CHUCK WERNER
Discussions of the Industry 4.0 technologies among small to medium enterprises usually take one of two paths. The first is a politely positive path where everyone ignores the impact these advancements will have on the human workforce. This is what is known as ignoring the “elephant in the room,” where there is an obvious problem at hand, but no one wants to address it.

4/6/2018 - ​BY: ELLIOT FORSYTH
There’s no question that one of the biggest concerns we hear from our clients is finding and keeping good employees. Unfortunately, this situation is likely to only get worse. In the next decade, it is expected that of the nearly 3.5 million open U.S. manufacturing jobs, roughly 2 million are anticipated to go unfilled due to a gap in skills required for holding such jobs.

2/2/2018 - BY: ANDY NICHOLS
Competency is all around us. It pervades our lives. We see competency on television, for example, in “America’s Got Talent.” Talented people, regardless of their age, gender or social background, performing all manner of stage acts that wow the show’s judges and viewers. We often ask ourselves, “How did they do that?”

1/5/2018 - BY: MIKE BEELS
Most organizations now know the importance of having an engaged workforce, largely due to the undeniable link between engagement and profitability. Workforce engagement can be described as a combination of commitment to the organization and its values and a willingness to help colleagues. Essentially, it is interpreted as the execution of discretionary effort.

11/17/2017 - BY: REBEKAH MCCARTER
Michigan has been active in creating programs and opportunities to introduce young people and unemployed individuals to the vast and evolving opportunities in manufacturing. One such program, the Michigan Advanced Technician Training Program (MAT2), is a partnership between educators and technology leaders that seeks to train workers in the manufacturing and technology industries.

6/9/2017 - BY: JAMIE HEADLEY
For the first time in our nation’s history, four generations (and soon to be five) work alongside each other. Manufacturers now find themselves trying to balance age gaps that can span upwards of 50 years between the youngest and oldest employees. What can be done so every generation of your workforce is engaged?