Building the Manufacturing Talent Pipeline

Jabil was honored to host Jennifer McNelly, president of the Manufacturing Institute, as part of the Jabil Joules Power Hour series.

The mission of the Jabil Joules is to educate, mentor and encourage networking and dialogue about diversity.

Jabil Joules champions the business benefits of gender balance, challenges organizational barriers and endeavors to expand the representation of women in leadership and operations.

McNelly presented to Jabil employees on why manufacturing still matters to global economies and how to improve the talent pipeline.

With every $1.00 spent in manufacturing adding $1.37 to the economy is important to ensure the right people are helping build the future of this important industry.

From 2007 to 2008, the Manufacturing Institute stepped back to take an in-depth look at the state of manufacturing.

Since then, they’ve been in the process of using their insights to help guide and shape the industry.

McNelly opened her presentation with what she has encountered as the most prevalent problem with the perception surrounding manufacturing, the “3 Ds: Dark, Dirty, Dangerous.”

But, manufacturing today couldn’t be farther from that. “It’s the intersection of people and technology and that’s what makes us competitive and productive,” said McNelly. “Manufacturing is innovating, and people are the innovation.”

Since people are behind innovation it’s essential to fill necessary roles with the right talent. But, that’s proving difficult. Eighty-four percent of executives surveyed agree that there’s a talent shortage in U.S. manufacturing and six out of 10 open skilled production positions are currently unfilled.

This means that, today, there are 600,000 jobs in manufacturing open. Without major changes to manufacturer’s skills pipelines, that number will grow as people retire to two million in the next ten years.

So how do manufacturers change public perception of manufacturing and help nurture a healthy labor pool? McNelly’s suggestions began with where she thinks companies need to look for talent. Rather than starting with word of mouth, staffing agencies or online job boards, she says manufacturers should look to community colleges and technical programs.

She also advocated the need for support around programs, like Manufacturing Day (MFG Day), apprenticeships and internships to help open the doors of manufacturing to the world and show what it’s really like to work in this high-tech, exciting industry.

In the effort of increasing the labor pool and developing a more inclusive workforce, McNelly also thinks manufacturers need to look to three distinct groups: the youth, veterans and women.

She highlighted the fact that veterans possess unique skills surrounding decision making and technical knowledge that manufacturers can align with their processes to have skilled workers right in the door.

Women are currently another missed opportunity, as women make up 47 percent of the labor force but only 27 percent of the manufacturing workforce.

Diverse organizations are more competitive and innovative, which supports them being more profitable. And profitability in the manufacturing segment helps support greater economic prosperity.

Over The Next Decade Nearly 3 1/2 Million U.S. Manufacturing Jobs Likely Need To Be Filled - The skills gap is expected to result in 2 Million of those jobs being unfilled

CEOs and manufacturing executives around the world identify talent-driven innovation as the number one determinant of competitiveness.

Yet, manufacturing executives report a significant gap in their ability to find talent with required skills. More troubling…the skills gap is expected to grow substantially over the next decade. What impact could the gap have on company performance and how large is the gap likely to grow?

The Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte conducted a study to understand the impact and extent of the skills gap, and the study results are as follows: