Workforce News

The manufacturing skilled talent shortage is likely to worsen before it gets better, Manufacturing Institute President Carolyn Lee said at Google and MIT’s recent AI for the Economy Forum in Washington, D.C.

What’s going on: Lee was on the panel “Industry Case Study: AI Adoption in Manufacturing,” moderated by Day 2 Media Founder and CEO Poppy Harlow, to discuss the impact of artificial intelligence on manufacturing.

• “[Here’s] the challenge we have in manufacturing on the talent front … by 2033, we’ll need to fill 3.8 million jobs,” Lee said. “Think about all of the [manufacturer investment] announcements that have come. … We think that number is only going to go higher.”
• While AI will help workers do their jobs, Lee continued, “we [will] still need a whole lot of skilled people at the center.”

Critical to growth: While manufacturers were some of the first in AI adoption, there’s been a change of late, Lee told Harlow. Manufacturers now “see that while AI is critical to the growth of their business,” some 82% “are saying that their people don’t have the skills necessary to put it fully to work.”

• “[R]ight now, we aren’t ready,” Lee went on. “We don’t have the change systems in place and the skills and the people in place. … [P]eople are really still at the heart of it.”

How it will help: AI will be instrumental in improving worker safety, Lee said.

• “[I]t will be able to, with vision systems, scan to say, ‘OK, you are too close to this machinery, this swinging distance, this forklift, this [personal protective equipment] isn’t in place, the safety systems are not in place.’”

Part of a trusted culture: Rather than take people’s jobs, as has long been feared, AI will also be able to aid in attracting and retaining workers, Lee said.

• If “you have a trusted culture where then workers can say, ‘Oh, you’re bringing in technology that’s going to make my job better, safer and improved,’ it helps feed [the notion that you’re a desirable employer], and then it will continue to grow.”

Perceptions of manufacturing: Public perceptions of the manufacturing sector have changed for the better since the global pandemic, according to Lee.

• Prior to COVID-19, about 27% of parents said they would encourage their children to pursue careers in manufacturing. That figure is now at 49%, she said.

Parting words: But manufacturing isn’t just one type of career; it has something for everyone.

• “This is my main message when I’m out talking about this,” Lee said. “We need to make sure that people are getting the skills they need for the jobs they want. We need to show them what those paths are.”