The Manufacturing Skills And Labor Challenge Is Real—Here Are Three Things To Do About It

It’s no secret that labor has been challenging manufacturers for the past several years. The world, workers and expectations have changed. While the manufacturing industry has rebounded from about 1.4 million jobs lost over the pandemic, attracting and retaining workers remains a top challenge, as the National Association of Manufacturers Q1 2024 Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey shows.

On top of that, the skills gap is only growing. Manufacturers say 60% of the workforce needs training to bridge today’s skills gaps, yet only 23% say the workforce will be equipped with the skills they need by 2030, according to a recent report from The World Economic Forum and Kearney.

The need to train and retain workers is perpetual: New workers are trained, they leave soon after and training restarts with the next round of new hires, who may also leave quickly. This rings true for Gen-Z working in manufacturing. McKinsey recently found nearly half (48%) say they intend to leave within the next three to six months, compared with 41% working outside of manufacturing. The days of long-term manufacturing employees are gone.

But with a new world comes new solutions. Manufacturers can meet labor and skills gaps and operational challenges head-on with a connected plant floor where people and technology collaborate. Key steps of the journey include focusing on visibility, augmenting the workforce and optimizing quality. Let’s take the first step.

Focus on visibility.

Inventory visibility enables manufacturers to “see” all aspects of every manufacturing process—from the granular to the gigantic—in real time.

Think of it as the choreographer behind an intricate dance, directing every move with perfect balance from raw materials through production to finished goods, all while collaborating with workers throughout. If one step is out of sync—undetected defects, waste or errors—the entire dance stumbles.

Machine vision technology powers the visibility dance. It uses artificial intelligence (AI), 3D and color cameras to perform repetitive tasks, including inspection or counting inventory, with speed and precision unmatched by humans. The benefits include streamlined processes, improved speed and accuracy and increased visibility. Even better, workers are freed from tedious, time-consuming tasks, gaining the opportunity to bridge their knowledge for higher-value work.

Achieving inventory visibility is the first step to establishing a truly connected plant floor. Tap into the power of machine vision technology to track inventory, assets or components across the plant floor and enable workers to take on more valuable work. The result is greater manufacturing speed, accuracy and visibility and the potential to fill knowledge gaps with upskilled workers.

Augment, integrate and empower workers.

Historically, manufacturers have responded to labor shortages by increasing wages. McKinsey reported manufacturing wages rose by 21.5% since January 2020, but labor gaps haven’t closed. It’s not likely to change, as McKinsey also found the newest workers, Gen-Z, select jobs less for compensation and more for factors like doing more meaningful work.

In manufacturing, this might mean replacing roles like loading and unloading machines or pallets or walking miles searching for an item with work requiring more critical thinking and decision-making skills. Roles considered higher value in manufacturing often leverage and collaborate with technology, robots or both.

For instance, autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) integrated into workflows can take over repetitive, manual tasks for workers and enhance productivity. The latest AMRs use cloud-based software to provide data insights, analytics and reporting, enabling workflows to be refined in real time. Rather than performing menial tasks, workers can even create more tasks helping drive productivity and efficiency.

Integrating mobile and wearable technology for workers can bring efficiency to new levels. A substantial 79% of factory workers still rely on paper and checklists to track work and communicate with their teams, according to Parsable research. When workers are connected to wearables or mobile tablets, information is more accessible, communication is enhanced and errors, search times and man-hours are reduced.

Perhaps the biggest benefit of automating with AMRs and mobile technology is implementation time. It’s fast, and it’s scalable. Because mobile tech and AMRs are collaborating with workers, serious infrastructure changes aren’t required. If your plant floor and processes are ready to improve, these solutions are ready to unburden workers from monotony to meaning.

Digitize and optimize quality.

The workflows supporting quality in manufacturing—inspection, quality control, traceability and more—are crucial. Focusing on visibility and integrating automation, augmentation and tech solutions all support optimizing quality across the plant floor.

Take inspection, for example. When inspection is digitized, it enables manufacturers to use track and trace technology. This supports corrective and preventive action (CAPA) that can be taken to attain and sustain key quality parameters. With the power of AI behind it, machine vision can surpass human capability for fast, near-perfect accurate inspections at any level of complexity.

It automatically identifies images, sorts, inspects, detects, analyzes, classifies and verifies items or parts at multiple control points. Nonconforming materials are also isolated earlier in the production process, reducing scrap costs. Workers can receive quality alerts, empowering them to resolve issues at an earlier stage of the production process.

Waste, a stumbling block to manufacturing efficiency, agility and flexibility, is also reduced. It can range from overproduction and overburdened workers to equipment and unpredictable demand. But when quality is optimized, agile and accurate production outpaces waste.

Look to optimize quality on your plant floor. Start by integrating visibility solutions such as machine vision with mobile technology solutions. Creating the path to optimized quality increases efficiency, reduces waste and empowers workers from quality detectors to decision-makers.

A connected factory moves manufacturing and workers forward.

There’s no dancing around the path forward for manufacturers. They must choreograph collaboration between people and technology to advance an agile, efficient plant floor with skilled and retainable workers. Connecting workers with visibility, augmentation and optimized quality solutions empowers them with the data, insights and skills they need for the more meaningful work they want.