Reports

The Manufacturing Institute, in partnership with global consulting firms, produces leading market research on the manufacturing sector.

The Multiplier Effect Case Study

This case study examined the impact of WMA’s award and mentorship initiatives on individual women and their networks to see if programs like these can help create a “multiplier effect”, whereas investing in women helps manufacturers attract and bring more…

Transitioning Military-Affiliated Talent into Manufacturing

With their unique set of skills and experiences directly applicable to manufacturing, military-affiliated talent are well-positioned for success and are an attractive target for recruiters. To provide guidance for manufacturers who wish to incorporate military-affiliated talent into their recruitment efforts,…

Improving the Frontline Employee Experience

The Manufacturing Institute and PwC conducted a survey in Q3 2023 to explore the workplace needs and preferences of frontline manufacturing employees, how they’ve changed and what organizations are doing to help improve the overall employee experience of their frontline…

Flexibility Approaches for Manufacturing Production Workers

From March to July 2023, the Manufacturing Institute convened a series of working groups with 17 manufacturers to discuss providing flexibility for production workers. The MI’s unique positioning as an insightful expert of emerging trends within the industry and effective…

How Firms Would Invest a Marginal Dollar with Their Company

The Manufacturing Institute, in partnership with Cognizant, conducted a study to explore different approaches manufacturers take in making investment decisions with their marginal dollars. The study was conducted from June to August 2023. As manufacturing continues to evolve, the nature…

The Role of Culture and Employee Engagement

The Manufacturing Institute, in partnership with Colonial Life, conducted a study on culture and employee engagement from March to May 2023. This project identifies key aspects of company culture, impacts of culture on attraction and retention and methods of engaging…

Wooden Pallet Industry Workforce Challenges

The Manufacturing Institute, in partnership with the National Wooden Pallet and Container Association, conducted a study on the workforce challenges facing this industry from March to May 2023. This project aimed to identify the key issues that wooden pallet companies…

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Benchmarking in Manufacturing

To support companies with their DE&I efforts and amplify best practices to multiply impact, the MI has built on its inaugural D&I benchmarking survey in October 2021 with a second round of data collection in October and November 2022. Manufacturers…

The Manufacturing Experience: Closing the Gender Gap

By embracing the diversity of its employee base, companies can positively shape their company’s culture, which can be attractive for identifying and retaining workers. In addition, by highlighting successful women at their companies, their female employees have become important role…

Future Skill Needs in Manufacturing: A Deep Dive

The Manufacturing Institute, in partnership with Rockwell Automation and PTC, released a forward-looking study on where the manufacturing sector will be headed over the next 5 to 10 years and how those changes will impact the necessary skills that will…

Seven Steps to a More Resilient, Agile Manufacturing Supply Chain

The last two years have rocked global supply chains. The global COVID-19 pandemic triggered worker shortages and supply chain snarls. Even as manufacturing activity remains resilient overall, these challenges could dampen the possibilities of a larger recovery. This paper—which was…

Competing for Talent: Recasting Perceptions of Manufacturing

In updating previous research on perceptions, The Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte found that significantly more respondents believe that manufacturing jobs are innovative, and more respondents are likely to encourage their child to pursue a career in the industry. Further, the…

Multigenerational Teams in Manufacturing

The manufacturing industry is experiencing a pressing, double-edged problem: it struggles with filling new positions and many current employees will reach retirement age within the next decade. To address this double-edged challenge, manufacturing companies need to ensure that knowledge transfer,…

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Benchmarking in Manufacturing

The Manufacturing Institute gathered data regarding current industry D&I policies from manufacturers across the country to create a baseline for current practices and attitudes around D&I topics, such as hiring, diversity-related reporting and employee resources.

Manufacturing Engagement and Retention Study

The Manufacturing Institute’s Center for Manufacturing Research partnered with the American Psychological Association to examine best practices for retention among manufacturers and explore the motivating factors that affect worker retention. This paper highlights the best practices and findings observed from…

Cost of Manufacturing Operations Around the Globe

The competitiveness of the manufacturing sector in the United States has been discussed extensively in the press and economic literature in recent years. This joint study by KPMG and the Manufacturing Institute provides a current assessment of how the U.S.…

hands working on intricate electronics

The Manufacturing Institute Training Survey 2020

Manufacturers have consistently cited the inability to attract and retain talent as their top business concern. We fielded a first-of-its-kind survey of member manufacturing companies in order to examine how manufacturers are employing innovative programs to train new workers and…

older worker running large machinery

The Aging of the Manufacturing Workforce

According to the National Association of Manufacturers’ most recent outlook survey, attracting and retaining a quality workforce constitutes one of the top challenges facing the manufacturing industry.

photo of older workers being retrained

Training to Win

Best estimates are that more than 350,000 manufacturing jobs are unfilled today. Through 2025, that number is expected to total 2 million unfilled positions. We must act now to meet the demands of today and to prepare for the job…

Women in Manufacturing Report 2017 Cover

Women in Manufacturing, 2017

Many outstanding women leaders are making huge strides in building and promoting the manufacturing industry and are demonstrating what modern manufacturing offers – rewarding and fulfilling careers with limitless opportunity for growth.

Earth with travel routes illustrated

SOARING DEMAND: Meeting Talent Needs in the Aerospace Sector

With global air travel at record levels, there is an expected demand for more than 35,000 new aircraft between 2013 and 2032. This growth poses opportunities and threats for U.S. aerospace manufacturers to keep up with the innovation and expansion…

students in technical training

Attracting the Next Generation of Students

The Manufacturing Institute, in partnership with SkillsUSA and the Student Research Foundation, have conducted an annual survey to identify the characteristics of experiences that impact student career choices.