The southeastern U.S. has become a hub for battery manufacturing in recent years. In a January forecast of the sector, the Department of Energy highlighted Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia as likely to see the most production capacity growth by the end of the decade.

The area, dubbed the “battery belt,” has risen in popularity for the sector given its proximity to ports and transportation corridors, utility connections, water availability, sites prime for development and ease of permitting, said Betony Jones, director of the department’s Office of Energy Jobs.

Alongside the rise in manufacturing investment is a need for talent to fill the factories being built. Schools, universities, training centers, state governments and manufacturers themselves are launching a wide range of initiatives to meet the growing demand for a trained workforce as battery manufacturers increase in the region.

The Energy Department’s Battery Workforce Initiative

The Department of Energy’s Battery Workforce Initiative is one such program looking to bring new talent into the battery manufacturing sector. The initiative is working with industry experts to identify the core skills needed for battery manufacturing jobs, and using this information to create national training guidelines for local workforce education and training programs, Jones said. 

The initiative aims to standardize workforce development in ways that ensure employers and workers alike find the skills and resources they need, as well as solve the skills gap many companies contend with in battery manufacturing.

The battery workforce initiative also works to solve the skills gap issue many companies face in battery manufacturing. 

“While many programs already exist to train workers for battery manufacturing, there is a significant mismatch between the skills attained through classroom or lab training and the skills required on the job,” Jones said. “Under this program, the training for battery manufacturing workers will involve both classroom training and on-the-job training with mentorship.”

Georgia Quick Start

In Georgia, the state boasts its Georgia Quick Start initiative, a free and customizable workforce training program administered through the Technical College System of Georgia.

“Quick Start designs training regimens that meet the specific needs of the employer, and trains the workers to be ready to start work as soon as the manufacturing facility is ready to begin production,” said Kristi Brigman, deputy commissioner of global commerce at the Georgia Department of Economic Development.

SK Battery America is one of the many battery manufacturers benefiting from the program. “Thanks to a strong partnership with the state of Georgia and the Quick Start program, SK Battery America, recently announced they had exceeded their hiring goal two years ahead of the initial projected timeline,” Brigman added.

“The Georgia Quick Start program has helped us attract and train workers with a speed and scale that would be difficult for any company to do on its own,” said Steven Jahng, director of external affairs at SK Battery America in Commerce, Georgia. “We exceeded our local hiring goal of 2,600 employees, and we’ve expanded to 3,000+ employees to meet the growing demand for electric vehicles.”

Freyr Battery is another company benefiting from the program. “We have begun working with Georgia Quick Start to develop the employee onboarding and technical training that will be needed once we hire the talented people from the pipeline,” said Lars Kvadsheim, vice president of HR & Sustainability in Freyr Operations and Michael J. Brose, vice president of U.S. Operations.

The role of educational institutes

One of the biggest reasons Freyr chose Georgia as the home of its U.S. gigafactory is the state’s access to universities like Georgia Tech, the University of Georgia, Aurburn University, as well as a robust technical college system, according to Kvadsheim and Brose. 

Freyr has also partnered with West Georgia Technical College to explore curriculum and certificate programs to help build a strong future candidate pipeline for the battery maker. 

Jahng of SK Battery America also credits the state’s local educational institutions for the company’s workforce development success.

“The Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) has the curriculum and programs in place to support our manufacturing,” Jahng said. “From production-level certificates to entry-level engineering, TCSG has a lot to offer companies setting up a manufacturing plant.”

Educational institutes in other southeast states have also launched new programs catering to battery manufacturing needs.

For example, this fall South Carolina’s Clemson University will begin offering the nation's first bachelor of science degree in automotive engineering, through which students will take classes, work in the local industry and tackle real-world problems in the school’s lab facilities, said David Clayton, executive director at Clemson’s International Center for Automotive Research.

In addition, Clemson will continue to offer its master's and PhD programs in automotive engineering, where students have the option to perform a specialized course of study or research in electric powertrains and/or EV and battery manufacturing. For students in other departments of the university, a minor program in the electrification of transportation is also available, which offers classes on battery engineering.

Other local education institutions are also planning for the future. Trident Technical College, Greenville Technical College and Spartanburg Community college have formed the consortium Revolutionizing Electric Vehicle Education, focused on developing and investigating the use of VR and AR educational tools to support electric vehicle and battery manufacturing, Clayton said. The initiative received $2.83 million from the National Science Foundation to fund the project. 

"With the aid of several state and federal government programs, South Carolina continues to invest heavily in its 16 technical colleges to prepare the local workforce,” Clayton said. 

Dive Brief:

• The solar energy industry will need to more than triple its workforce by 2030 to meet the Solar Energy Industries Association’s solar generation goal, which will require training many workers who have little to no solar experience, said Will White, a solar applications specialist at Fluke.
• White, who previously provided curriculum and training for Solar Energy International, said in an interview that most of the people coming into the industry are receiving on-the-job training, which “varies pretty significantly from company to company.”
• SEIA is working on developing a set of solar and energy storage industry standards, including standards for training, which would “go a long way” toward providing industry-wide consistency, “something we’re definitely lacking at this point,” White said.

Dive Insight:

SEIA received approval in July 2023 from the American National Standards Institute to develop a set of voluntary consensus standards for the solar industry including consumer protection, recycling, and supply chain traceability as well as training for installation, operations and maintenance, and health and safety.

“It's always good [for installers to] know, for instance, why are you plugging these things in together? What does it actually do?” White said. “It leads to people understanding when something is wrong, which leads to better quality on the back end — something that has been an issue in the industry for sure.”

White said that proper formal training for solar workers leads them to have a more holistic view of the process, which leads to lower operations and maintenance costs. 

Worker demand is high across the renewable energy industry as projects in development have skyrocketed in the year since the Inflation Reduction Act passed. Many solar manufacturers and installers are expanding their operations in order to take advantage of this boom, and need to expand their labor force accordingly.

In the Interstate Renewable Energy Council’s 2022 National Solar Jobs Census, 44% of solar industry employers reported that it was “very difficult” to find qualified applicants, the highest percentage the census has ever recorded.

This level of demand means there are plenty of opportunities for workers who want to leave jobs in low-skilled labor or the service industry and move to a role that offers “more of a career path,” White said.

However, that means the “bar to get in is really low,” he said, with many employers focusing on soft skills like punctuality and willingness to learn instead of directly applicable experience — making good on-the-job training key to the overall success of the industry.

White has seen some companies offer in-house apprenticeship programs where four days a week are spent on the job and one day a week spent in the classroom, while other companies offer much more hands-off training.

However, companies and nonprofits like Solar Energy International, HeatSpring and the Midwest Renewable Energy Association have offered solar workforce training programs and curriculum for years, White said, while community colleges, trade schools, and unions like the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers are increasingly offering solar training.

The IRA requires a percentage of labor on certain projects be completed by registered apprentices in order to qualify for tax credits, but there may not be enough registered apprentices on the market to meet labor demands. Bernice Diaz, a labor and employment attorney with Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, said during an industry conference in February that the IRA “created a surge of demand” for apprentices but “did little to address” the shortage.

White called apprenticeship requirements a “double-edged sword,” due in part to the current lack of a federal apprenticeship designation for solar installers.

The occupation of solar installer is “not currently approved for use in a Registered Apprenticeship Program,” according to the Department of Labor’s website. The roles of solar technician, designer, and engineer are also not currently approved for use.

“That makes it challenging in terms of, okay, well, what [occupation] do you register them as?” White said. “We're working through that now – right now it’s being set up at the state level.”

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Get your new factory hires up to speed faster with training software

Thanks (or no thanks) to the pandemic, many manufacturers’ employee turnover and onboarding costs have increased. In 2019 only, American manufacturers spent $26 billion on learning and development efforts. This is exacerbating the industrial skills crisis and has forced companies to raise wages to compete for qualified candidates and, in many cases, reduce production due to a lack of staff. In fact, 75% of manufacturers mention that they are still facing challenges attracting and retaining a quality workforce.

Researchers have found that a high-quality onboarding experience should include setting expectations, building role-specific skills, and introducing company culture to new team members, which strongly influences employee satisfaction and long-term retention and organizational profitability. The cost of replacing an employee can range anywhere from half to two times their annual salary.

Studies show that companies with standardized onboarding have better productivity early on and higher retention, while newcomers who miss out on comprehensive training experience frustration, confusion and uncertainty.

A study from Purdue University examining the onboarding experience of new hires at US manufacturers uncovered a damningly low opinion among study participants: they all reported insufficient, non-standardized onboarding training, compounded by a lack of management support and poor communication.

Whether it’s a knowledge deficit amongst companies or limited resources, there are tools available that can help manufacturers tackle these common challenges altogether.

Why is Onboarding so Important?

Onboarding is a critical process for any manufacturing organization. It sets the tone for new employees and provides them with the tools and knowledge they need to become productive team members. A positive onboarding experience can make employees feel supported and valued, while a negative experience can lead to a high turnover rate and decreased morale.

Studies show that only 66% of frontline workers are satisfied with their organization’s training and development opportunities. And only 59% are happy with their company’s communication practices. Training today is still falling short. These numbers demonstrate that manufacturers still have a ways to go in improving their onboarding programs to meet employee needs and expectations.

Furthermore, approximately two-thirds of employees under 25 said they stay with their current employer because of training and development, and career opportunities. The good news is that these valuable, difficult-to-entice younger employees were more motivated to stay because of quality training than older workers, so a good training program should be considered part of your retention strategy.

With that being said, here are the top reasons why onboarding is vital

1. First impressions matter: A good onboarding experience can make new employees feel they are being taken care of and that their employer is invested in their success. This can lead to a more engaged workforce right out of the gate.
2. Safety: According to the Institute for Work & Health, employees in their first month on the job have more than three times the risk for a lost-time injury than workers who have been at their job for more than a year. This is why ensuring new employees receive comprehensive safety training during onboarding is crucial.
3. Employee retention: According to a study by the Aberdeen Group, the first six months of employment are the most critical period for employee retention. A positive onboarding experience can help to reduce turnover during this period, as new hires will feel more engaged and invested in their role.
4. Faster time to productivity: This is a key goal of any onboarding process. Manufacturers want their employees to hit the ground running and become contributing team members as quickly as possible. However, this can be at odds with the above-mentioned points. It’s essential to strike a balance to ensure that new hires are equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to perform their role effectively while also being productive as soon as possible.

What Should Onboarding Include?

When it comes to onboarding new frontline employees, it’s important to have a standardized training process that covers all the necessary skills. We recommend that you cover these three main categories in your onboarding program.

1. Corporate and Factory-Wide Foundations: This typically covers health and safety, corporate vision, security, and quality. These skills are important for all employees, regardless of their role, and in many cases are required for compliance reasons. Although these foundations typically only make up around 10-15% of your training content, they can represent a big burden on L&D resources because of the number of team members that need to be trained and the regular recertification requirements. This type of training is typically conducted in a classroom, although there is an opportunity to leverage eLearning and online exams for improved training efficiency.
   • Safety Training: This training should cover all relevant safety regulations, emergency procedures, and personal protective equipment (PPE) requirements.
   • Quality Training: Quality compliance training is critical for ensuring that all employees understand the importance of maintaining quality standards, adhering to regulations, and following best practices. Quality training typically covers topics such as product quality control, process validation, documentation, audits, and non-conformance management.
   • Company Culture and Values: Introduce new employees to the company’s culture and values. This can include an overview of the company’s mission and vision, a review of the company’s core values, and an explanation of how the employee’s role fits into the larger picture.
2. Role-Specific Operations: This category covers job-specific skills related to operations and should include an introduction to the job role and the skills required to perform it effectively. Training content should be constantly evolving to reflect best practices gained from production and typically makes up 50-75% of onboarding content. On-the-job shadowing is by far the most common way to deliver role-specific training but has known shortcomings - most notably that the senior team member delivering the training is no longer fully available for production during this period, and there is often inconsistency in training.
3. Troubleshooting: The final category covers troubleshooting and maintenance skills, which is typically 10-20% of the training content. The emphasis placed on this content will obviously vary based on the role (i.e. maintenance workers) and whether your factory has a Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) program in place. By including all three of these categories in your onboarding program, you can ensure that your new employees have the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in their roles.

Modernize Onboarding With a Connected Worker App

Connected Worker apps are not designed to replace or eliminate shadowing or classroom training but to supplement it, in order to help overcome their well-known limitations and the current growing labour challenges. The goal of Connected Worker apps is to reduce the reliance on traditional training methods, and support continued learning beyond formal training events, leading to more efficient and effective onboarding.

Onboarding With Poka - Training Delivery Method

1. Link out to external resources for corporate or compliance e-learning modules.
2. Host recorded classroom sessions or short instructional videos.
3. Supplement shadowing or on-the-job training with always-on-hand digital work instructions or troubleshoot.
4. Validate skills via self-assessments, exams or endorsement by trainer.
5. Track completed skills to ensure compliance and skills mastery for faster time to productivity

Book your demo today or visit us at poka.io.

Lorie Wilson had her first daughter Paige, when she worked at an auto components manufacturer in 1997, followed by her second, Rachel, in 2000.

The collective bargaining agreement for the unionized company included six weeks of partial-pay maternity leave under short term disability, worth roughly 60% of her typical wages. Her husband, Terry, who worked at the same plant, received no paid leave.

“He used vacation or attendance points to be with me,” Wilson said. Wilson thought that policy was the norm in the manufacturing industry, but has since learned it is not.

Wilson is now based out of Pennsylvania and serves as the Eastern Territory Grand Lodge Representative for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, assisting with contract negotiations for unions in her territory. Her work spans Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio and Michigan. 

“Not that many [workers in the region] have any paid leave,” she said.

Wilson recently spoke with one union member in Michigan, who had a baby when she was a new hire and still in her probationary period. She quit the job and got rehired when she was ready to return to work, as new workers still under probation are not covered under the company’s paid leave policy.

In Wilson’s IAM experience, the only aerospace manufacturing plants that offer paid parental leave are in New York, where the law requires up to 12 weeks of paid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. While FMLA is national, the leave is not necessarily paid. In Ohio and Pennsylvania, she said, workers can take that time off but are not compensated.

In her negotiations with companies, Wilson is seeing some smaller companies agree to grant mothers time off, but without pay. 

Wilson’s experience, though, is not universal, with some in the industry offering more generous policies.

The 2023 Institute for Women’s Policy Research Women in Manufacturing Survey of women on the shop floor found that found that 78.1% of respondents with young children said their employers offered paid maternity leave, and 46.1% offered paid paternity leave.

Of union respondents, 52% said their employers offered paid family and medical leave, compared to 56.3% of nonunion workers.

This access fares better than the national average — approximately one in four private sector employees have paid family leave, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As of January, 11 states and Washington, D.C. have passed paid family and medical leave laws, according to the Center for American Progress.  

The pandemic spurred positive paid leave changes

The pandemic caused some employers to rethink benefits.

Jennifer Tenfelde, human resources director at Pennsylvania-based chemical manufacturer Polysciences Inc., conducted a competitive benefits analysis during the pandemic. As a manufacturer producing diagnostic healthcare-related chemicals and products, the company was concerned about people retiring or not wanting to be in the workplace.

“To see how we could compete with other companies, we had to look at parental leave and other benefits we offer, and the cost for copays or deductions that go with them,” Tenfelde said. “We were continually having mothers and fathers with new babies that were going through all their vacation time and saying they don’t want to come back in two weeks and have no time off.”

In 2022, Polysciences implemented 80 hours of parental leave during the first 12 months after giving birth. It was “not a wallet killer,” she said, and employees have appreciated the change.

The company also shortened the amount of time needed to qualify for the short term disability plan, from 31 calendar days to 10 days, and the plan pays out 60% of a worker’s salary. The company pays the full cost of short term disability insurance. About half of the company’s 236 employees are in a manufacturing environment or in the lab, according to Tenfelde.

Wilson noted that since COVID-19, companies have been “very willing” to offer vacation upfront, rather than requiring accrual upon hiring. The shift is a significant change from pre-pandemic policies, where “no new hire gets vacation for two years, or maybe they get a few days in a year.”

On the national level, 86.7% of union member respondents in IWPR’s Women in Manufacturing survey receive paid vacation time. 

What do parents on the shop floor want?

The Women in Manufacturing survey respondents wanted a robust parental leave policy, and that’s been Wilson’s experience as well. But who wants it may depend on the shop floor make-up.

Barbara Stanford-Allen, director of industry partnerships and business engagement for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Advanced Manufacturing Industry Partnership at Philadelphia Works, said that the top priority for the 75 SEPMA companies she works with is to identify talent, identify business opportunities and manage their supply chain.

As part of that work to retain talent, Stanford-Allen said many of the small to mid-size companies she works with are focused on securing day care for their employees, rather than parental leave policies. Some of these companies have women on the shop floor, but not in large numbers, she added. 

Wilson does bring the call for parental leave to the negotiating table as a worker priority, “seeing that manufacturing is always looking to hire, and to retain and bring people in, be it male or female.”

Her experience is that companies don’t want to entertain it, preferring to rely on Family Medical Leave Act.

“We’re hoping 10% of the manufacturing facilities would listen and get us language in the contract or memo of understanding so we can provide that [to workers],” Wilson said. 

For manufacturing facilities where workers are mostly males over age 40, parental leave tends not to be a priority, Wilson said. But for plants trying to attract a younger generation into this type of work, “they’re young and want to start a family,” she said. “They want to know they’ll have some kind of income coming in.”

Editor’s note: This story is part of an ongoing series diving into the opportunities and challenges facing the manufacturing industry in 2023. Read the rest of the series here.

When the National Association of Manufacturers surveyed industry players about their biggest business challenges in August 2022, over three-quarters of respondents listed attracting and retaining a quality workforce among their top issues. 

Months later, little has changed. “Manufacturing companies still are struggling to find workers,” NAM Chief Economist Chad Moutray said. “Everywhere I go, they tell me that is still one of the top issues, and job openings continue to be really elevated.” 

Nearly 780,000 jobs were unfilled in the industry as of November 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But amid those thousands of open roles, some are proving particularly hard to fill. As technical skill requirements and academic interests continue to change, companies are struggling to find production workers, engineers and middle skill workers, a problem that experts say is unlikely to subside in the year ahead. 

Production workers

Much of today’s staffing challenge is centered on the shop floor. 

“The position I hear the most is entry level workers” said Moutray. “The average pay for production workers in manufacturing is $25 an hour, and yet, there is a lot of competition for that talent.”

The competition has intensified as companies hike wages to vie for workers in an increasingly tight job market. In particular, manufacturers are finding themselves at odds with sectors that attract similar talent, such as warehousing and retail. 

“You’ve got everybody from the Amazons, the Walmarts, the Targets, and the FedExs … and so forth, paying considerably more for entry-level blue collar talent,” said Erik Olson, a senior client partner with Korn Ferry, who specializes in advising industrial manufacturing companies. As a result, manufacturing has fallen further behind when it comes to base compensation ranges.

Manufacturing’s digital transformation is also creating a mismatch between available workers and the skills needed to fill open jobs. Moutray explained that companies are constantly looking for workers that can leverage new technologies, which “takes a lot of folks off the table.” 

“There’s no such thing as a low skilled job in manufacturing anymore,” Moutray said. “To really thrive, we’re going to need continuous learning and upskilling.”

Engineers

A scramble for engineers has also been brewing for some time, said Mary Ann Pacelli, former program manager for workforce development at the National Institute for Science and Technology’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership. She retired from the agency in December 2022, most recently serving as division chief of National Platforms for the public-private partnership. 

Fewer young people are pursuing careers in engineering as college populations level off, Pacelli said. As more baby boomers retire, she expects there won’t be enough students in engineering programs to fill the roles that open up in the next five years. 

Doreen Poehlitz, human resource director for Bosch USA’s Charleston, South Carolina plant, said this trend is not new. 

When she moved into HR more than a decade ago, Poehlitz recalled looking at statistics that revealed more international students than residents were graduating from engineering programs at U.S. universities. “Even back then, it shows the U.S. was falling further behind, especially on the engineering and technical side,” she said. 

International students have played a critical role in filling demand for science and engineering talent in the U.S., according to a recent analysis by the National Foundation for American Policy.

Between 2014 and 2018, over half the growth in engineering graduate programs was driven by international students, who made up nearly 57% of the student engineering population in 2016, the American Society for Engineering Education found. At the same time, domestic enrollment in these programs slowly decreased. 

However, international applications to engineering schools fell across the board in 2021, with the society citing the Trump administration’s 2020 policy change to student visas and COVID-19 travel restrictions as key factors. 

Compounding the issue, Poehlitz noted, is competition between industries for a dwindling number of engineers in an increasingly digital environment.

“We have a higher amount of need now than ever, and a decreasing line on the opposite side of people becoming available,” she said.

Middle skill workers

After decades of pushing college education, the U.S. is experiencing a shortage of tradespeople.

The scope of these positions is vast, with experts calling out everything from electrical, mechanical and automation technicians, to CNC machinists, welders and maintenance mechanics. 

The labor gap among these roles is exacerbated by a rising need for technical specialists who can work with automation. 

Olson said that more than 70% of the clients his organization works with have increased automation over 50% in the past three years, upping the need for people in operational technology positions at the plant level. 

“We’re producing fewer and fewer folks that come into the workforce in the areas that we’re talking about,” Olson said, noting a continued de-emphasis on technical and trade skills among the country’s youth has played a role. 

As of 2012, federal figures on technical education showed that only 8% of undergraduates enrolled in certificate programs. In November, the Department of Education launched an initiative aimed at expanding access to skills-based learning and training programs in industries like advanced manufacturing, to ensure the “next generation” builds skills needed to fill in-demand jobs.

Such efforts are a reversal from the 1980s and 1990s, when a larger national push for students to attend four-year universities meant fewer people attended trade schools, said Patrick O’Rahilly, founder of manufacturing recruitment platform Factory Fix. 

“That’s your skilled workforce a decade later, so without that, you get a real shortage, and that’s what we’re paying the bill for now,” he said. 

In 2019, women made up 30% of the manufacturing industry. That’s despite making up over 50% of the U.S. population and 47% of the total national workforce.

The fact that women make up a significantly smaller portion of the manufacturing labor force is central in the conversation around how to close the industry's labor gap. 

As companies consider how to fill the more than 800,000 worker shortfall in the industry, many are weighing how to better recruit and retain women, who enter and stay in manufacturing at lower rates than men. Some are offering on-campus childcare, while others are investing more heavily in mentoring and leadership programs. 

Such initiatives are proving crucial for companies as they consider how to keep talent in a chronically tight labor market.

The Manufacturing Institute honed in on the issue in a November 2022 study on how to close the gender gap. The Institute received 190 responses to its survey, and conducted interviews with executives at seven manufacturing companies to inform their research, including Dow and Cornerstone Building Brands. 

The study found that women make up an undeniable portion of potential talent. If the percentage of women in manufacturing were raised to 35%, it would bring 800,000 workers into the industry, enough to fill nearly all of the open roles in the market. 

"The key theme of one of the major problems that all manufacturers are trying to solve is the availability of quality talent and the labor shortage that we're experiencing," said Rose Lee, president and CEO of Cornerstone Building Brands, during a recent Manufacturing Institute webinar. 

"There is a very large untapped potential in a pool of talent that we're not able to fully bring into the fold of the manufacturing space at large." 

Childcare is a central issue for women

Across manufacturing companies, one issue remains critical to recruiting and retaining women – childcare. 

The availability and affordability of childcare is an issue that plagues families in many industries, but particularly in manufacturing and production roles, where work is more likely to be on an in-person shift schedule. In addition, many women in these roles are single parents, said Allison Grealis, founder and president of the Women in Manufacturing Association. 

"Many of them are on their own supporting their families," Grealis said. "So, the more that we can intervene and help them from an early stage in their career so that they can be successful and rise within their organizations and in this industry, the better for all of us."

Lack of childcare ranked as one of the top challenges facing women employees in the Institute's survey. Nearly 50% of manufacturing leaders cited it as a top challenge heard from women, versus only 8% for men. 

Some companies have opted to tackle this issue by bringing childcare onsite. Toyota offers childcare services at its Indiana and Kentucky facilities for children as young as six-weeks-old. 

For smaller companies, another option is to subsidize childcare costs for employees, or partner with a local provider, said Manufacturing Institute President Carolyn Lee. 

"Obviously, a company the size of Toyota can do many things and create an onsite facility and some other other opportunities," Lee said.  "But even a small employer can work locally to create some creative solutions." 

The need for childcare services goes hand-in-hand with the need for greater flexibility in schedules. Giving parents shift schedules that allow for things such as school pickup or dropoff can be key, Lee noted. 

According to the Institute’s survey, 63% of respondents ranked lack of flexibility as the number one challenge heard from women employees

"Flexible shift hours, or looking to offer flexibility to employees, is another way to get at the care issues that is next to formal childcare options," Lee said. "There's no one silver bullet. We need to look at varied approaches because people have various needs."

Creating an environment for women to succeed

A lack of mentorship and opportunities for advancement is another obstacle plaguing many women in the industry, and it starts at the beginning, Graelis said. Companies need to be conscious of how they market themselves to women and tell the story of their workplace. 

This includes using inclusive language in job descriptions and reconsidering which skills they list as "required" versus "desired," which can help more individuals feel confident in applying for a position, Grealis said. 

Once in the company, women need mentors who can help show them an upward career path. A study earlier this year from Xometry and Women in Manufacturing found that 44% of women cited leadership/management training as having the most significant impact on their career advancement, with mentorships at 35%. 

"Mentoring programs are also highly successful, whether they be formal and or informal within companies," Grealis said. "A lot of companies have even started to use software that helps them match people within different facilities that have similar backgrounds."

Some companies are also offering discussion prompts and guides for mentees and mentors to facilitate discussion, she added.  

On the shop floor, it comes down to creating an atmosphere of inclusion and building on momentum. Creating this environment as a small manufacturer can be difficult at the beginning, but once there are a few champions on the factory floor, it's a "gamechanger," Aneesa Muthana, president and co-owner of Pioneer Services, said during the Institute's webinar. 

"[It's about] having those allies and sending a message and not putting your female employees on a pedestal, but instead work towards stewardship," Muthana said. "Work towards teamwork, and make everyone understand that when we lose we all lose, when we win, we all win.”

As manufacturers review their recruitment strategies, many of them are brainstorming around the same issue: how to attract young talent. 

In an industry where the median age of workers is 44-years-old, companies are increasingly turning to the next generation in the hopes of solving their labor constraint woes. 

Manufacturers, however, face an uphill battle, with workers ages 16 to 24-years-old making up only 8% of the manufacturing workforce in 2021.

In a competitive labor market, Gen Z workers are demanding strong wages, more flexibility and clear upward mobility, pushing companies to adjust their job offerings and opportunities to meet young people where they're at. 

"Smart companies are connecting [Gen Z] to a bigger purpose," said Julie Davis, senior director of workforce and industry initiatives at the Association of Equipment Manufacturers. "They are painting the picture of what a career with their company could look like."

Gen Z doesn’t just want a job, they want a career

When trying to attract young workers, one of the biggest hurdles manufacturers face is showing Gen Z recruits the clear career path that awaits them in the industry, said Patrick O'Rahilly, founder of manufacturing recruitment platform Factory Fix. 

"I think the biggest thing is you have to sell them on the potential career path and what can come next, versus the actual job that they start in," O'Rahilly said. "Because usually the actual job is not going to be super glamorous or super impactful. Manufacturing is one of those industries where you have a slow growth curve."

Proving to recruits that the company offers upward mobility from the factory floor up to management is key, particularly as manufacturers attempt to compete with the competitive wages at places like Amazon and the scheduling flexibility offered by DoorDash, Uber and others, he added. 

"The one place it truly can compete are the career tracks that exist within the industry. There's a pretty clear path to a six-figure career if you can be disciplined about getting better in your trade,” O’Rahilly said. “That's really the thing manufacturers have to lean into more."

The earning potential in manufacturing is clear. For example, while the average machinery manufacturing annual wage for assemblers and fabricators, common entry-level positions, is $40,950, among management occupations it's $135,330, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

It's that kind of data that could also help the industry continue to overcome its longstanding perception problem as an industry lacking in competitive salaries or technology.

The pandemic has helped to change that narrative, highlighting the critical and technical nature of manufacturing, according to a 2022 study from Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute. The study found a 25% increase in the number of respondents who "believe US manufacturing jobs are creative, innovative, and employ problem-solving skills," up from 39% in 2017 to 64% in 2021. 

Similarly, the study saw a jump in the number of respondents who were likely to encourage their child or other youth to pursue a career in manufacturing, up to 40% last year from 27% in 2017.

To capitalize on that change, manufacturers also need to provide potential and current young talent with upskilling and reskilling opportunities, Davis said. 

"If they have some of that skill base that you're looking for, do you have the capacity to upskill them to the point where they're able to work for you, and if you can't do that internally, are you working with an educational partner that can help create that bridge?" Davis said. "And so it is all about micro learning, and being able to do that gap training."

Creating an ideal environment for young workers

A common priority among Gen Z talent is flexibility in their position, Davis said. Such an ask, particularly when it comes to remote work opportunities, is difficult in an industry that relies on in-person labor on a factory floor. 

Despite the challenge, she noted there are many ways employers can approach the issue and offer other forms of flexibility. It starts by asking employees what kinds of flexibility they value. 

This could include options such as shift schedules that more carefully match school schedules, additional PTO that workers can use for medical appointments or even a four-day workweek. 

"It's really about understanding the needs and goals of your workforce, and then creating something that is the best solution for your workers," she said. "Because let's be honest, flexibility for a workforce that is under 35 and what they would want is going to be very different than your average workforce age being 45 or 50."

In the Deloitte and Manufacturing Institute study, researchers found that surveyed executives were also increasingly offering options such as shit swapping, part-time jobs and shorter contracts. 

Finally, Davis noted that when it comes to the working environment, Gen Z employees aren't just looking for a boss, they want a mentor. 

"Gen Z expects you to be a coach and mentor, and when you're not, they don't want to work with you," she said. "They're fair question askers. And if you don't have a supervisor over Gen Z that is willing to answer their questions and be in communication with them and be that coach, you're going to lose them.”

When the National Association of Manufacturers asked its members in August 2022 about their biggest business challenges, more than three quarters of them came back with the same answer — attracting and retaining a quality workforce is among their top problems.

The pain among companies is acute. There were more than 800,000 job openings in the industry as of September 2022, according to federal data. And NAM economists estimate the number could rise to 2.1 million if left untreated by 2030.  

Retaining high-performing employees is a top strategic priority next year for manufacturers, Deloitte found in an August survey of 100 industry leaders. Over 70% said finding and keeping the right talent was a top challenge in managing the production workforce.

"Companies continue to have workforce issues," said Chad Moutray, chief economist for the National Association for Manufacturers. "Some are raising wages and still are having difficulties finding anybody, which is holding back their ability to expand and stay productive."

Companies aim to improve wages, flexibility to fill vacancies

Some positions are harder to fill than others, but for manufacturers, the issue extends down to the floor.

"Perhaps the biggest challenge is in filling entry-level production positions, which includes roles such as miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators and production worker assistants," said Stephen Gold, President and CEO of the Manufacturers Alliance.

To attract more entry-level workers, many firms are increasing pay. A Q3 2022 NAM member survey found that companies expect employee wages to rise by 3.5% over the next 12 months. 

The need to more rapidly bump wages is becoming particularly important as manufacturers compete not only against each other, but other industries that attract similar workers, such as warehousing and retail, said Paul Wellener, Deloitte’s vice chari of industrial products and construction practice leader.

Pay alone, however, cannot solve companies' talent woes.  

For Wellener, this means companies need to not only offer a high value proposition of competitive wages and other services, but overcome the perception problem that manufacturing is a dated industry.

"Manufacturing has to compete with the other industries and make sure it shows that it's attractive," Wellener said. "It's not the dark, dirty and dangerous manufacturing that our mothers or fathers knew. It is a new cleaner, high tech, more innovative, more diverse manufacturing."

Making manufacturing a more enticing career

A primary way companies are striving to make manufacturing a more attractive career option is by offering upskilling and reskilling programs. The Manufacturing Institute estimated manufacturers spent at least $26.2 billion in 2019 on internal and external training programs for their workers. 

"They are people who already know your organization and already know your culture," Wellener said. "How do you continually retrain that workforce so you can move from being on the shop floor to being in supervision?"

Others are tapping into the new trend of flexible work arrangements. The pivot is meant to entice a more diverse workforce, such as younger workers, women, veterans and those with disabilities. 

Companies have modified shift schedules, reduced overtime requirements and introduced childcare options as they seek to adjust working cultures, according to a March 2022 analysis from Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute.

And while options such as hybrid work schedules can be difficult for manufacturing roles that rely on in-person labor, Wellener noted that companies are getting creative in what they can offer employees.

"You do have to keep factories running, but that's where some of the unique solutions around sharing or providing flexibility or even splitting shifts in different ways [comes in]," he said. "People are really trying to get creative because they know flexibility driven by the pandemic is here to stay.

As manufacturers continue digitizing their daily operations, one area in which delays in the transition are often apparent is in onboarding, training and performance maintenance.

And amid a nationwide manufacturing labor crunch, outdated employee onboarding practices can have serious consequences when it comes to recruitment and retention.

Analog practices risks turning off potential new employees and rising turnover rates, said Muilenburg Manufacturing Consulting founder Michael Muilenburg.

“In manufacturing, we don’t have a hiring problem. We have a retention problem,” said Muilenburg. “I was just at a mid-size manufacturing company and I asked the president, ‘Have you ever had anybody leave on lunch break and not come back?’ And he said, ‘Oh, yeah, about one a month.’”

Muilenburg says the first several hours on a job, which may feel the most jarring to a new recruit, are crucial. Digital tools can help ease this transition to a new work environment and set a foundation for the regular integration of digital practices.

For companies unsure of how to integrate digital tools into their training programs, Muilenburg recommends to “start small.” That can mean something as practical as equipping new employees with iPads featuring digitized work instructions, or setting up screens with charts and graphs that can signal worker progress on shop floors in real-time.

As soon as companies do away with analog methods such as binders full of training materials, plant managers often find that digitizing their onboarding processes can free up a lot of energy and reduce training time, according to Tulip Interfaces Industry Practice Lead Gilad Langer.

Equipping a new employee with a tablet or other mobile instructions can help guide them step-by-step through an operation, Langer said. For instance, employees can “see that they’re taking the right screw and putting it in [the right place],” because the illustrated instructions are easy to consult.

If the tablet is equipped with a camera, employers can even program it to detect whether the instructions are being followed correctly. That’s especially helpful in environments where teams are “cycling through a lot of manpower,” and it can be difficult to offer accurate, attentive training to every single new recruit, Langer added.

Introducing tablets into a training program can minimize the ramp-up time it takes to bring new employees up to full speed on their responsibilities, Langer said. And in many cases, using digital tools that people already use in their personal lives — like iPads and smartphones — helps employees hit the ground running starting day one.

And while the delivery of work instructions might be the core appeal of having digital devices on the floor, Langer noted that they can even be used to collect data on the efficacy of the training or on the products being manufactured.

Once they’ve institutionalized digital devices in their training, managers can then feel free to add more things on the digitization continuum, including robotics, digital twins and fully automated factories, Muilenburg said.

However, Langer cautioned that it could be a while before more high-tech integrations become mainstream throughout an operation.

“I can’t even imagine going to an airport without my mobile phone. I don’t even know how I would check in,” Langer said. But in the manufacturing industry, that kind of digitization is late in coming, he says.

“We’re at iPhone 1.”

Recognizing the role education plays in shoring up domestic talent for manufacturing, one of the largest U.S. universities has opened a school specializing in the discipline.

Arizona State University’s School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks, which launched in October 2022, will prepare students for a career in an industry that now demands high-level data analysis and technological expertise.

“The new manufacturing has significant computing, significant automation, significant needs that go beyond just using a tool,” said Binil Starly, the school’s inaugural director.

The program has elevated manufacturing from within ASU’s massive engineering school, and its launch highlights the increasing number of careers available to students as the U.S. works to reshore manufacturing. 

Demand for the new degree has returned after a roughly 20- to 30-year decline in domestic manufacturing operations that might have given parents pause about their children entering the industry, Starly said. 

“No parents ... actually know what career pathways do exist now,” the director said. “Many people think it’s the old kind of manufacturing. But it’s not.”

Catering to the local industry

Already, ASU is situated as a potential talent pipeline for major players in the semiconductor industry such as Intel and Apple supplier TSMC that have embarked on projects in Arizona over the past few years.  

The university has one of the largest engineering programs in the country with around 30,000 students. Part of launching a concentrated manufacturing school is the opportunity to “redefine what a manufacturing curriculum needs to be” to cater to the needs of the local industry, Starly said. 

Although chip companies are investing in highly automated facilities, they still require operators and advanced technicians to run them. 

Options to help fill jobs in the state’s developing manufacturing industry include aligning curriculum standards with companies’ trainings to expedite onboarding of engineers or technicians, Starly said. Another is to help to establish a pathway for K-12, community college students and working professionals who want to pursue a higher degree.

Bridging the digital skills gap 

Manufacturers across many industries also stand to benefit from the new ASU school and others like it graduating digitally savvy recruits. 

Germany-based Bosch is one manufacturer that has relied on education to cultivate a long-term workforce near its operations in Charleston, South Carolina. The company has invested over $2.5 million in grants related to STEM education efforts in the area over the past decade. 

“Previously, when someone had to fix something on the manufacturing floor, you probably walk up with a tool box,” said Tim Weiland, director of corporate communications for Bosch North America. “Now, you walk up with a laptop ... and make your decision on what needs to be done based off of data.” 

As manufacturers continue digitizing their operations, workers with more digital skills are needed. More than half a million jobs have remained unfilled in the industry since 2021, which is projected to rise to 2.1 million if the skills gap persists. 

ASU’s new curriculum brings with it a significant opportunity to impart digital literacy and computing literacy for manufacturing engineers at all degree levels, Starly said. 

While manufacturing engineers are trained in the processes involved in making a product, many products today are digitally created first – both from a design and manufacturing perspective, he explained. As a result, familiarizing manufacturing engineers with programming, to expand their knowledge of making a product to use computing skills to analyze it, is a significant part of the curriculum. 

Another key is teaching students how to integrate automation. 

“Many companies have also recognized that if we are going to reshore manufacturing to the U.S., industrial automation [and] robots is going to be a critical role,” Starly said. 

Revamping the curriculum

Given ASU’s significant online presence, the next challenge for the School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks will be navigating how to impart a hands-on manufacturing education online. 

The school is figuring out how to create digital environment in which students don’t have to be located in Arizona to get the same learning experience, Starly said. He sees significant opportunities in using extended reality technologies, but incorporating it in manufacturing education comes with challenges. 

“It’s an opportunity that I think in the next one or two years, we are going to revamp our curriculum [to enable] students from anywhere to be able to access manufacturing content.”