Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Can Manufacturing Survive the 21st Century?

The Beer: I tried "fining" again with the Cherry Wheat. We'll see how that goes.

The Bicycle: I'm still on the DL, but a trip to the minors for a rehab assignment might help.

The VRWC: How does manufacturing survive in the US? the President seems to think that increasing Union membership is the key. It's not. I'm heavily involved in looking at what the next generation of factory worker is going to look like. IMHO, that worker is going to need more education than high school or less. The highly skilled worker with math skills, computer skills and the ability to think on his or her feet will be highly sought. The ability to learn new skills and "turn on a dime" flexibility is going to be extraordinarily important. The new reality is high-tech (I hate that term), flexible, computerized manufacturing. If unions can adapt to this new reality, great. I see pockets that have and can. Those that do will survive. Those that don't can only hope the government keeps them afloat.

2 comments:

Dad29 said...

Oh, I dunno...

Someone who is actually EDUCATED in high school can handle programming and 'on the fly' thinking.

Natch, some training will be required. But...how many US employers actually train their people these days? By that I mean training that costs money, not just over-the-top/look-left/push this button stuff.

Real technology, properly developed, would be like really good supervisors: facilitating their workers' needs, not impeding them.

Beer, Bicycles and the VRWC said...

Yeah, but they aren't edumacated in the Public schools, anyway.

And industry is just starting to figure out the value of training.