Manufacturing a Renaissance

Would you encourage your son or daughter to pursue a career in manufacturing?

If you’re like most Americans, probably not.

A recent survey showed that only 35 percent would recommend a career in the manufacturing industry to their children. That may be due, in part, to the fact that only 43 percent of Americans believe a manufacturing career is as secure and stable as a career in other industries.

Long considered the backbone of the US economy, manufacturing finds itself at a crossroads. Ninety percent of the survey respondents rated manufacturing as “important” or “very important” for America’s economic prosperity and standard of living. However, over the long term, 78 percent of Americans see the US manufacturing sector as getting weaker or at best staying the same.

Fortunately, organizations like the Association for Manufacturing Excellence think manufacturing can be turned around. AME is the industry’s premier non-profit dedicated to the journey of continuous improvement and enterprise excellence. They believe that amplifying the focus on people within process improvement is one way to help revitalize the industry. We do, too.

Watch the video above about AME’s and Barry-Wehmiller’s collaboration to bring people-centric practices to other manufacturing organizations.