And the beat goes on

One of the most enduring issues in the metalworking world is finding and retaining skilled workers, and the 10th annual Metalworking Trends Survey from LoSasso Integrated Marketing, Chicago, showed that this challenge continues. 

“Finding qualified labor remains far and away the most challenging part of running a metalworking operation, with 56 percent calling it extremely challenging,” stated survey authors Scott LoSasso, the marketing agency’s president, and Sean Griffin, public relations manager and technical writer. “However, that percentage is down from last year by 5 percent.”

Finding qualified workers is particularly critical, as 70 percent of the 777 respondents forecast business will be up substantially (10 percent), up somewhat (33 percent) or be steady (27 percent) for the next year or two. “This year’s results are slightly less optimistic, with 17 percent forecasting business to be down compared to 11 percent in last year’s survey,” the authors wrote.

Possibly as a result of the difficulty in locating workers with the required skills and the less-optimistic business outlook, hiring by manufacturers was the lowest in 2015 since the Great Recession. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, of the approximately 2.7 million private-sector jobs that the economy added over the course of 2015, manufacturing added only about 30,000. In addition, manufacturing is expected to add only about 10,000 jobs through the end of 2017.

Some might argue that the continual implementation of automation equipment by metalworking shops and other manufacturers is reducing the need for human labor. The Robotic Industries Association reported that North American companies ordered 31,464 robots, valued at $1.8 billion, during 2015. Compared to 2014, that represents an increase of 14 percent in units and 11 percent in dollars. 

That doesn’t mean all these robots are replacing humans. Some are collaborative robots ("cobots") that function side by side with production workers. Sales of these are also brisk, as demonstrated by cobot manufacturer Universal Robots, Odense, Denmark, which said its revenue grew 91 percent last year, compared to 2014. 

Based on anecdotal evidence, I’ve found that companies that employ automation and other advanced manufacturing technologies tend to be more successful and grow and hire more workers than those that don’t. 

“Automation is not something to be feared, but it is something that merits understanding,” former CTE Editor James B. Pond aptly wrote in his October 1963 editorial, which he probably penned in early September of that year, around or possibly at the exact time of my birth on Sept. 3. “Put in its proper perspective, it is not a monster at all. It is a means to an end that benefits all of us.”

For more about how automation technologies are impacting metalworking jobs, see the Industry News article on page 12. To download the executive summary of the Metalworking Trends Survey, visit www.losasso.com/metalworking-trends.