Manufacturing jobs of the future

Say you’re a young person interested in a career in manufacturing. What types of jobs are out there, and what training do you need? Will today’s training adequately prepare you for a lifelong career in manufacturing?

To help answer those questions, you might want to take a look at a new study from UI LABS and ManpowerGroup that has identified 165 data-centric jobs that will define the future of manufacturing in the United States.

“The Digital Workforce Succession in Manufacturing” report is touted to be “the first to offer such a comprehensive workforce playbook to help companies develop a talent pipeline for existing and factories. The research includes in-depth profiles for 20 roles that span a range of ‘digital’ technologies and business practices.”

The report also describes the type and level of educational degree associated with each position, ranging from an AAS in robotics technology to a Ph.D. in mathematics or engineering.

“‘Digitization is transforming the job market, creating a need for people with more advanced skills in manufacturing, and our work with UI LABS is evidence of this,’ said Jonas Prising, Chairman and CEO of ManpowerGroup. ‘By mapping the digital roles and skills of the future, our research will help companies and schools upskill today's manufacturing workforce for the connected, smart machine, and augmented-technology jobs of an increasingly digital enterprise. This will help bridge the skills gap and highlights the advanced and attractive jobs emerging on the forefront of the manufacturing sector.’”

According to the report: Along the way, the entire ecosystem of manufacturers, government, educators, and the workforce itself needs to ask and answer:

• What’s on the roadmap to being successful in adopting digital manufacturing and design technologies?
• Where are the skills and capabilities to lead and delivery on the promise of digital technology?
• How do we describe the work to be done, the jobs and the roles, and workforce to do it?
• How can workforce role and job structures flex to accelerate the succession - the change in response to a disruption - of a transforming global industry?

Foundational answers can be found in the report’s “Roles Taxonomy,” which also lists 165 roles in digital manufacturing and design.

The majority of roles (more than 60 percent) are known as producer roles. “In any broad community of related workers, some roles are responsible for the group’s major accomplishments and output. These are the roles that are usually larger in number and through their work they elevate the volume of output that the overall organization accomplishes.

“The size of the workforce in these roles is a business factor for each manufacturer based on their size and their ‘niche’ or area of business across the manufacturing life cycle. Producers can be at any level or any type (technician to engineer to manager, etc.). In their roles, they magnify and amplify the resources given. These essential functions, across any domain where some are more specialized and others more generalized, are responsible for much of the continuous work output of a manufacturer – they convert key resources into outcomes for the business and produce the lion’s share of the overall value.

“Producers enable the ecosystem to flourish by expanding and optimizing resources through both generalist and specialist role making. Digital Design Specialist, Digital Manufacturing IT Systems Analyst, and Digital Product Manager are among the roles within this category.”

This report comprises several comprehensive documents, all of which can be accessed at the links below. Suffice it to say that the information is mindboggling for those of us still struggling to comprehend IIoT and Industry 4.0. This information just might help us understand where we’re headed.