Help Wanted, and Lots of It, on the Modern Factory Floor
Greg Scheu | IndustryWeekU.S. manufacturing is a growth business; and so robust that one of the biggest challenges for employers is finding enough people to fill these good jobs.
Help Wanted, and Lots of It, on the Modern Factory Floor
Robotics maker ABB has 24,000 employees in the U.S., and more job openings than people ready to fill them.
As the U.S. economy continues its long recovery from the Great Recession, one bright spot has been a sector that, to listen to the cynics, you might think had packed up and fled the country. I’m talking about manufacturing.
The truth is, U.S. manufacturing is a growth business. Since the end of the recession in 2009, manufacturing employment in this country has risen by nearly 1.3 million workers, to a total of more than 12.7 million jobs. 仅在过去的12个月里，制造业就增加了25万个就业岗位, according to the latest government employment report.
That’s why this week, in celebration of National Manufacturing Day, many of the 14,全国制造商协会的000家会员公司在全国各地举行公开活动，甚至向游客敞开工厂大门, to help spread the news: Manufacturing, powered by sophisticated digital technology, 已经在美国卷土重来，并为这个国家提供了一些最好的东西, and best-paying, jobs.
In fact, U.S. manufacturing – everything from making precision parts and electric motors, to building automobiles, 飞机和工业机器人——是如此强大，以至于雇主面临的最大挑战之一是找到足够的人来填补这些好工作. 最新的政府数据显示，目前美国可能有多达50万个制造业职位空缺.
Take Greenville, S.C.我所在的ABB公司和其他一些全球制造业巨头都在这里建有现代化的工厂. That includes General Electric, BMW, Michelin and Bosch Rexroth. In Greenville, all these companies and others are engaged in a continuous, spirited competition to recruit, train and retain the employees we need to run our sophisticated, highly computerized factories.
It’s a challenge faced all over the country for companies like ABB, which though based in Switzerland employs 24,在美国各地的50多个生产或研发基地，有5000名员工. At virtually all of our U.S. locations, we have more job openings than people ready and able to fill them.
尽管制造业的平均时薪比美国其他任何行业都高，为什么还有这么多的工作空缺?
我们认为部分问题在于公众对现代制造业的误解. And so, “制造日”的使命之一是帮助初高中学生——以及他们的老师、父母甚至祖父母——了解美国制造业发生了多么深刻的变化.S. factories from a generation or two ago. The old images of manufacturing work – dirty, dark and dangerous – no longer hold.
今天的工厂是干净、明亮、空调和高度计算机化的工作场所. 因为在这些工厂里完成的精密制造工作不是廉价劳动力可以完成的, unskilled labor, 它不容易受到“离岸外包”的影响，而“离岸外包”在一代人之前摧毁了许多美国制造业社区.
这就是我们的行业希望人们在本周的开放日活动中亲眼看到的. But raising public awareness is only the beginning of the educational challenge.
更重要的是支持教育和技能培训机会，使更多的人能够进入制造业，作为通往美国中产阶级的坚实途径. 这意味着创造一种工作文化，在这种文化中，终身学习和再培训不仅受到期待，而且受到鼓励——并得到雇主的支持.
A recent study of 25 industrialized nations, “The Automation Readiness Index,” 发现在机器人驱动的自动化和人工智能将增强人类工作的经济中，为未来的工人做好充分准备的国家太少了. The good news from the report is that, contrary to the scare-mongering headlines, the robots are not taking our jobs. 机器人和其他形式的自动化正在改变人类工作的性质.今天的自动化意味着，上一代人以前由美国以外的廉价劳动力完成的高度重复或体力劳动的任务，现在可以由机器来完成. What’s needed these days are the human skills of creativity, critical thinking and decision-making that only people – educated, trained people – possess.
We still need people, and lots of them, to design, program, operate and maintain the machines of modern manufacturing. 我们还需要有能力制造机器的人——就像我们位于底特律附近奥本山的机器人工厂的600名ABB员工所做的那样, Mich.
经济学人智库(Economist Intelligence Unit)和ABB今年早些时候进行的自动化准备指数(Automation Readiness Index)研究发现，在劳动力准备方面做得最多的国家是韩国, 德国和新加坡——正在将政府项目和企业倡议结合起来，更新学校课程, 提供职业培训，支持员工在整个职业生涯中持续学习. By such measures, the United States ranked only 9th in the Readiness Index.
但美国制造商并没有坐等联邦计划来解决这个问题. 我们中的许多人正在与当地社区的教育工作者合作，为人们提供现代制造业所需的技能，并鼓励他们继续学习和进步.In Greenville, for instance, 我们公司和其他公司与当地社区大学开发了联合项目, Greeneville Tech, to provide training and certification. 其中最成功的是一个150小时的课程，使一级机械师有资格操作CNC(计算机数字控制)机器，这些机器在今天的工厂里做了很多精密工作. ABB渴望从这个项目中招聘到最优秀的毕业生，我们所有的本地竞争对手也是如此. 我们还为想要攻读两年制、四年制或更高学位的员工支付学费.
U.S. 全国各地的制造商都在他们的社区从事类似的努力, 知道现在和未来的工人都在寻找涉及尖端技术的工作, continual on-the-job advancement and meaningful careers.
Together, as companies and communities, 我们可以拥抱现代制造业为美国人民提供的新的经济机会. 这是我们渴望传播和自豪地分享的信息-不仅仅是在制造日, but every day.
