Impact Dakota Blog is a blog dedicated to supporting North Dakota’s manufacturing community improve People, Purpose, Processes and Performance. Entries provide information on opportunities, new ideas, quick tips, celebrations of success, and well, frankly, anything to help you become a better manufacturer.
Workforce “FireWorks” were on full display in Cleveland, Ohio, on June 22 and 23! We all know and love fireworks; who hasn’t “ooh’ed” and “aah’ed” as they light up the sky? Fittingly, these workforce programs, ideas, innovations, and collaborations had exactly that same impact, expanding the horizons of more than 70 workforce professionals from inside and outside the MEP National Network. A day and a half of networking, sharing, brainstorming, and collaborating was exactly what these professionals were looking for to illuminate their local workforce ecosystems.
We have to ensure that the employees and team members we’re serving bring a diversity of perspectives so we can create organizations capable of solving the complex challenges of our modern world. It’s time for us to move beyond simple operational excellence — making your processes as efficient and cost-effective as possible — and start thinking about inclusive excellence, which prioritizes people above products and profits.
The MEP National Network can aide in certification processes.
Many manufacturers have struggled for years to hire qualified workers. The outlook is for more of the same. With an aging workforce, emerging new technologies requiring more skilled talent, and the continuing decline of trades education in high schools and community colleges, an estimated 2.1 million manufacturing jobs could go unfilled in the U.S. by 2030.
Technology transfer is not easy, especially when attempting to introduce a new capability or technology into the manufacturing sector. Smaller manufacturers in particular present unique environments and challenges that must be appropriately understood if the transfer is to be successful.
The Gulf Coast’s shipbuilding industry is a case study in resilience. Not only have the manufacturers there survived COVID-19, but during the same two-year span they have also dealt with a hurricane, rapid inflation, and a host of other calamities that would ruin most businesses. Given that they’ve bounced back, and the shipbuilding and repair industry now employs some 400,000 people nationally, it’s no surprise that America’s maritime manufacturers have some workforce lessons to teach … and we should all be listening.
Why do so few leadership improvement efforts produce the results that leaders and business sponsors want? What is in the way?
There have been four major technological trends during the past few hundred years that have revolutionized both industry and manufacturing. With Industry 4.0, communications and cybersecurity cannot be viewed as isolated processes. To take full advantage of the opportunities that Industry 4.0 has to offer, manufacturers of all sizes will need to understand its capabilities and potential risks.
To respond to the current workforce crisis, a growing movement has swept across universities, community colleges, workforce development boards and nonprofits nationwide.
Innovation comes with risk, but the benefits of being innovative can be significant. Manufacturers that build new product development into their culture often develop “intrapreneurs,” staff members with an entrepreneurial spirit who will help their companies grow. Not sure where to start? The MEP National Network is here to help manufacturers achieve growth through innovation and new product development.