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Employer Quotes

The quotes below are from employers in this industry: Manufacturing

They are talking about this topic: Industry Trends

 

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With skilled workers in short supply, the manufacturing industry is moving towards automation and robotics; therefore, the demand for qualified maintenance specialists is increasing.

Employer Quote Region
"As much as we'd like to hire better and more skilled people—you know, we have a lot of those jobs we'd like to fill—really the path that I feel like I'm being forced down is to invest a lot in technology. We made large investments last year. And now we're kind of looking at machines that are made in Germany. Their main sales pitch is, 'Does anybody here have enough skilled machinists?' Nobody said 'Yes.' So, they're saying that they can help you—through technology—to eliminate the need for more people. And that's what we're doing as a manufacturer—trying to utilize the equipment we have and invest more in high-caliber, highly-automated equipment. We won't need as many people. And the people that we do need are going to need to be a lot better.

Question: So, MnSCU and the higher education system can help you by producing even more highly technical and highly skilled individuals to run that kind of a program?

Employer: Right."		 Southwest
"We're going to lose a substantial number of people in the next five to ten years. And we're going to be looking for people who are within those system automation technology pieces. Because the concept of `you put it on a press and you run the pass,' is basically very antiquated. It's not going to be the way to do it in five years. So, we're going to have to start looking at the types of things that we're going to have to be ready for in five years. In part, it's a question of how much of a percentage of each business unit will we be losing? And which skill sets will we be losing? And, for us, we're looking at that next five to ten years, not just the immediate five years." Southwest
"Everything is going to become more automated and more connected, and there's going to be more human/machine interaction. So, software engineering will be important. And, the way we're handling that is—our electrical engineers—we're sending right now for software capabilities. And I can see that we're going to lose them to another company because they'll be fabulous." Southwest
"We're looking at a capital project to put in more automation and more robotic technology. So, we'll have less and less people on the lines. So, I see a huge swing toward automation." Southwest
"We heard that also in Brainerd—that they can't find production people to stand on the lines and do these kinds of things. And when they do get them, they don't last very long. So, to the extent they can automate, they're doing that. But you can't automate everything." Southwest
"Question: Is there demand for maintenance?

Employer: Absolutely. It's my number one problem area.

Question: You can't automate maintenance, can you?

Employer: No. As a matter of fact, the more automation you have, the more maintenance you need. Do you know what the national average is for maintenance? I think it's about $42,000 a year for good maintenance people. And I'm paying way over that. I mean way, way over that. So, I'm willing to pay for the right people because I know that automation is the future."		 Southwest
"We're looking at a capital project to put in more automation and more robotic technology, which means we'll have less and less people on the lines. So, I see a huge swing toward automation." Southwest
"And part of the trend toward automation is because of the [lack of] availability of labor in southwest Minnesota. I mean, we just don't have the numbers to keep throwing people at the labor. It's cheaper eventually just to move to robotics." Southwest