< PreviousMAY 201910A lack of skills training has been an issue for decades but is fast approaching a crisis worldwide. High schools have been reducing or eliminating shop classes for years; experienced workers of the baby boomer generation are retiring, and guidance counsellors have long discouraged students from entering the manufacturing sector in favour of white-collar careers.Written by Robert HoshowskyThe combination has left many industries with an urgent need for trained young workers. Fortunately, public and high schools, colleges, universities, and entire municipali-ties are working with businesses to inspire students to enter the industry and fill manufacturing roles. Across North America, events like Manufacturing Day (MFG Day) are helping to address the demands of industry. MFG Day was initiated in 2012 by the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association, International, and sees thousands of students taking tours of manufacturing plants across the United States and Canada. The event gives manufacturers the opportunity to and reveal what is involved in manufacturing and address-ing misconceptions.Governments, manufacturers, and schools are recognizing and addressing the pressing need for trained workers and their importance to the overall economy, particularly in the manu-facturing sector. This March saw the release of a whitepaper highlighting the need for closer ties between businesses and schools to address the shortage of young workers. 11MANUFACTURING IN FOCUS The paper from Infosys, entitled Workforce Development in the Age of Digital, outlines the “fundamental workforce devel-opment misalignment between academic institutions and businesses,” and notes that the private sector must provide greater training opportunities to lower the barriers which cur-rently prevent workers from nurturing the skills they need to participate in the digital economy.”“While the private sector cannot overcome the skills gap without partnership with academic institutions and govern-ment, we can and must lead the way,” stated Infosys President Ravi Kumar in a media release. He states that people should be hired for their ability to learn new skills, and by “providing them a continuum of lifelong learning, we can nurture workers on the cutting edge of all that’s needed for the future of work.”Of the hundreds of people surveyed for the report, an over-whelming majority felt that the time and costs needed to acquire skills were becoming obstacles to careers and that cor-porations need to play a larger role in developing unconven-tional job candidates. Around the world, the push for more students to enter the man-ufacturing sector continues to gain ground. In The Philippines, 370 spaces for skills training were recently announced for young people. “Education must adequately prepare people for the twenty-first-century workplace. Workforce development challenges, while global in nature, also have local nuances that require local solutions, and industry-academe-government collaboration is a key success factor in working global models of workforce development programs,” said USAID Director Brian Levey to the Philippine News Agency, a government newswire service. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is one of the organizations behind skills training in Manila and Cebu.YouthWorks Philippines chief of party Karol Mark Yee agreed. “Improving the state of our education is a task that is no longer exclusive to government and academic institutions, and workforce development is not the sole responsibility of the business sector.”The government of Hong Kong began the Business-School Partnership Programme (BSPP) to help students recognize the needs of future employers and be able to adjust to changes. And in North America, many well-known corporations – like automotive giant Toyota – are nurturing partnerships with schools and government to attract young people to manu-facturing and present modern industry as safe, clean, and with plenty of opportunities for growth and career advancement. “Governments, manufacturers, and schools are recognizing and addressing the pressing need for trained workers and their importance to the overall economy.”MAY 201912Since the year 2000, the number of Americans retiring has doubled, with an estimated 10,000 leaving the workforce every day. While not all these workers were employed in manufactur-ing roles, the figure is an indicator of the necessity for newer employees to fill their roles. Many sectors including health-care, construction, welding, and assembly are feeling the loss of skilled workers. The time for industries and schools to work together to train and recruit staff is now.One way to bring in new manufacturing recruits is to make students aware of the many potential employment opportu-nities while they are still young, even before they enter high school. Across the U.S. and Canada, many manufacturing com-panies are willing to pay for students to learn hands-on skilled trades. In instances where school shop classes may be limited or unavailable, it is still important to promote manufacturing careers as a relevant option in the future.For parents, one way to keep teens aged twelve to sixteen busy in the summer and open their minds to the future of manufacturing is through Nuts, Bolts & Thingamajigs (NBT), a foundation of the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association, International (FMA). Students across America participate in over one hundred summer camps at technical high schools and community colleges. In a supervised, hands-on setting, students design and make a product they can then take home.Youngsters learn of the many potential careers in manufactur-ing and take tours of manufacturing facilities while at camp. Camps start in late May and run until August, from California to Maine.There is also much to be learned in school or at home. Manufacturers do not need to be Fortune 500 corporations to take part, as some make modest monetary or equipment donations to local schools, and these make a big difference to aspiring youngsters. Sponsoring awards for students who create successful products and recognizing them for their achievements also means a great deal, and providing intern-ships at area manufacturing plants inspires young minds to think about the future and their career path. While at home, parents can spark interest in their children with electronic or science kits and education-based games.From partnering with schools to attracting students through hands-on learning, camps, workshops, apprenticeships, facility tours, events like Manufacturing Day, and more, much can be done to encourage young minds and promote the many benefits and opportunities that come from choosing a career in manufacturing.“Around the world, the push for more students to enter the manufacturing sector continues to gain ground.”13MANUFACTURING IN FOCUS Collaboration is today’s buzzword in manufacturing circles. Collaboration takes place anywhere a group of people work together for a common goal, from formal settings in the boardroom to the factory floor, on job sites, or at off-site meetings.MAY 201914Written by Nate HendleyThese days, people do not even need to be near each other to bring ideas together. Technology tools like mobile devices, video and web-conferencing applications, data and screen-sharing programs, email, instant messaging, and speakerphones all enable collaboration. Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, meanwhile, make it a simple matter to collect and share vast amounts of data, meaning that machines themselves collabo-rate as software is used to communicate information or operate devices.The collaborative concept is not new: smart manufacturers have long known about the benefits of collective problem-solving and the importance of working closely with suppliers. Decades ago, manufacturers were using speakerphones to host remote conferences with representatives from around the world. And software applica-tions that allow people to share information are not new, although they are being used in new ways. 15MANUFACTURING IN FOCUS The advent of cloud computing and IoT have supercharged the ability of manufacturers to store or issue information. Underpinning these breakthroughs is a shift towards a more global economy and a demand for new products brought to market quickly.“Today, there can be significant distance between individual manufacturing sites. A product can be engineered in one location, produced in another, and then shipped and stocked somewhere else,” states a 2017 Cisco white paper entitled Manufacturing & Collaboration Technology: How to Drive Production and Streamline Processes. The paper acknowledges that manufacturers must get products to market more quickly, necessitating that teams be able to come together. “Collaboration technology can help manufacturers overcome these challenges,” it reads. “Today’s collaboration technology offers the best of all worlds: expert resources made available to any site in real-time. With the right tools, teams can quickly locate a remote expert, con-ference them in and resolve the issue. Collaboration technol-ogy also allows outside suppliers or equipment manufacturers to quickly help their customers fix problems,” adds the paper. And through the use of “videoconferencing and high-defini-tion cameras… remote experts can view and resolve problems at the source of the issue without having to be onsite.”Some additional pointers to keep in mind: collaborative tech-nology is only effective when outside parties cannot hack into your system. The paper notes that the technology used by col-laboration platforms must not reduce security and “should support end-to-end encryption to keep content safe.”Evan Rosen, a well-regarded communications and collabora-tion specialist, has penned several books about the benefits of collaborative action in the workplace. As Rosen points out in his 2014 article ‘Collaborative Manufacturing Creates Value’ for IndustryWeek.com, collaboration depends as much on company culture as it does on technology. He recommends that manufacturers adopt what he calls an “all-access people policy,” in which all employees share ideas through technology. “Technology lets us interact with anybody on the fly regardless of level, role or region,” writes Rosen, adding, “Adopting an all-access people policy means everybody has immediate access to everybody else regardless of level, role or region.” In compa-nies that lack an all-access people policy, information can easily be lost or buried, he argues. Rosen also encourages manufacturers to collaborate with cus-tomers. A simple way to do this is to solicit feedback via email, text or an online template from people who buy your products or use your services. These tools can help manufacturers find out what clients are looking for and determine what com-plaints they may have. Supply chains are also becoming increasingly global and complex, and manufacturers must establish close relationships with vendors, no matter how far-flung they might be. This is where collaborative technology can play a major role. “Real-time video and voice collaboration solutions keep infor-mation flowing between manufacturing locations, suppli-ers, vendors, and customers. Better information leads to improved customer satisfaction, faster response to market and sounder upstream/downstream supply management,” states a September 2008 paper entitled ‘Collaboration in Manufacturing’ from Polycom, a communications and collab-orative technology solutions firm.“Manufacturers must get products to market more quickly, necessitating that teams be able to come together.”MAY 201916Yet another facet of collaboration comes in the form of remote maintenance and quality control. In the past, to ensure products and services were attaining high standards, inspectors would have to visit factories and plants in-person. While in-person inspections are still important, technological tools provide a helpful alternative. In a blog post cheekily titled, 9 Benefits of Collaboration in Manufacturing You’d Probably Never Think Of tech-nology firm Upchain says a collabora-tive framework can also help firms rec-ognize new directions with potential. For manufacturers, “The cost of explor-ing a new market is high, and the risk associated with building a new product (especially if there’s no client) is con-siderable,” writes Upchain. “Design, engineering, sales and marketing, plant managers and team leads all have different data silos. By uniting that data and using tools that make collaboration easy, businesses can identify and exploit new opportunities faster and more effectively.” A collaborative set-up, complemented by remote monitoring, can lead to preventing, finding, and fixing mistakes more effec-tively. Better error correction entails more than just reviewing problems remotely and resolving them in a collective fashion. It can also mean eliminating errors in the first place. Collaborative technology can help manufacturers reach this goal by reducing what Upchain refers to as “file confusion.” A collaborative environment creates transparency for file versions. Users are able to view the latest version, changes from previous versions, who changed it, and who approved it, explains Upchain.A simplified, centralized file storage system, in the cloud or elsewhere, results in not only less confusion among employees but a reduced risk of sending the wrong work file to the factory floor. A cloud-based system is also helpful if a manufacturing plant uses collab-orative software such as CAD programs.“At the data level, cloud platforms not only offer multiple options for data storage but also make it very easy to distribute, geo-replicate, cache and backup this data for optimal performance and reliability,” states Diego Tamburini in his June 2018 article How the Cloud Enables a Collaborative Manufacturing Enterprise for the Manufacturing Leadership Council. “Collaboration among software applications can be achieved by exchanging data or exchanging messages. The cloud is an ideal platform for both of these types of communication.”Also, any manufacturers serious about collaboration really need to explore cloud computing for easy storage, retrieval, and sharing purposes. “The cloud computing model can enable collaboration in manufacturing companies in multiple ways, including among software applications, machines, people, and between people and machines,” says Diego. “Collaboration wasn’t born with the cloud, but it is definitely much easier to enable in the cloud.”Ideally, collaboration entails “the best minds solving the biggest challenges together, a continuous flow of new ideas among team members [and] customers contributing to company and products,” according to IVCi, a self-described provider of col-laboration solutions based in Hauppauge, New York.“Any manufacturers serious about collaboration really need to explore cloud computing for easy storage, retrieval, and sharing purposes.”17MANUFACTURING IN FOCUS MAY 201918Fiber Materials, Inc. (FMI) is “a high-temperature advanced materials company, largely supporting aerospace and defense applications,” in the words of Chief Executive Officer Mark Miklos. The business has ISO 9001:2015 certification and maintains very high quality standards to support the most stringent customer standards. Since it was profiled in April 2018 in Manufacturing in Focus magazine, the company has experienced a dizzying ascent and is eager to hire more workers.Written by Nate HendleyFMI designs and produces carbon-fiber reinforced high-temperature composites from its base in Biddeford, Maine. The company has two locations: a main campus, “that houses our office headquarters and primary manufactur-ing footprint, and a second facility a mile away specializing in automated manufacturing,” according to Miklos. Since the last profile, the company has expanded its com-mercial operations and business development and marketing team. Beefing up the latter has “created a customer focused, market driven organization,” he says. It’s significantly elevated the profile of FMI and is building awareness of our differenti-ated capabilities and significantly expanding our new business pipeline,” he explains.“For the past two years, we’ve spent a significant amount of effort refining our strategy. We’ve really concentrated our focus on fewer markets, to leverage our differentiation and provide high value for our customer. We have focused primarily on aerospace and defense with a secondary focus on building our pipeline in commercial aerospace,” he adds.19MANUFACTURING IN FOCUS Next >