A recent study from Accenture and The Manufacturing Institute highlights a growing need for skilled workers in the U.S. manufacturing industry.
According to the research, U.S. manufacturers may be losing as much as 11 percent of their annual earnings because of increased productions costs that result from this shortage.
Other highlights of the study, which included a survey of 300 U.S. manufacturing executives:
- 39 percent said the shortage of skilled applicants was “severe”
- 60 percent said it was difficult to find the skilled applicants they need
- 50 percent said increased production of at least 5 percent was expected in the next 5 years
- 70 percent reported a 5 percent increase in overtime costs
- 32 percent reported a 10 percent or more increase in overtime costs
- 61 percent said downtime increased by at least 5 percent because of a lack of skilled workers to operate and maintain equipment
- 66 percent said cycle times increased by at least 5 percent
The increased overtime, downtime and cycle time is attributed to manufacturers being unable to fill production jobs.
The industry is desperate for workers trained in today’s advanced machining centers, like CNC indexing rotary tables that are computer operated.
“It’s getting harder to tell the workers from the managers in today’s plants. Production workers, engineers and managers all spend a significant part of their day using advanced technology to configure, control and monitor processes,” said Blake Moret, senior vice president of the Control Products and Solutions business at Rockwell Automation, and chairman of The Manufacturing Institute’s Board of Trustees.
The report notes that more and more companies are spending money to train new hires to combat this issue.
CNC Indexing & Feeding Technologies offers some of the most advanced CNC rotary tables on the market. Learn more about our products today.
