Manufacturing Perceptions Surveyed

It’s been a crusade for many manufacturers for years: the battle against an out-of-date public perception of manufacturing as dirty, repetitive work that’s possibly unsafe and probably a dead-end career path. Two recent surveys show that there’s still a lot of work to do in dispelling that myth—but a third offers some hope.

A national survey conducted by Opinion Research Corporation was commissioned by digital manufacturer Proto Labs late last year. The survey of more than 1,000 adults in the U.S. specifically examined public perceptions of manufacturing and found:

• More than two-thirds (71 percent) of respondents do not view manufacturing as a high-tech career choice.
• The routines that people most commonly associate with manufacturing jobs are working among machines (55 percent) and on assembly lines (50 percent) - not robotic technicians managing automated machines (20 percent) or software developers in front of computer screens (10 percent).
• About one-third (31 percent) of respondents think a career in manufacturing is high paying.

Another survey—of more than 2,000 adults, by Harris Poll and commissioned by Kronos Inc.—revealed that  

• Only five percent of employed Americans work in the manufacturing industry today and more than 50 million Americans (21 percent) have limited to no knowledge of the industry.
• Less than a quarter of Americans (23 percent) know that the manufacturing industry offers well-paying jobs.
• Only 14 percent of Americans believe that the manufacturing industry is a fast-growing industry.

The public’s misperceptions about U.S. manufacturing come at a cost: According to The Manufacturing Institute, nearly 3.5 million manufacturing jobs will likely need to be filled over the next decade because of baby boomer retirements and U.S. economic expansion—but an estimated 2 million of those jobs could go unfilled.

“The manufacturing industry must do better,” stated Vicki Holt, CEO of Proto Labs. “Highly skilled, well-paid and technology-driven jobs are thriving in manufacturing. We need to ensure that we have the talent needed to reach our full growth potential.”

The battle to update the perception of manufacturing takes place most visibly on the first Friday of each October, National Manufacturing Day, when numerous companies all over the U.S. throw open their doors to students for a public show-and-tell about what a 21^st-century manufacturing career offers. In late December, The Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte released a survey of their own—one that offers some hope. The survey was distributed to more than 2,700 Manufacturing Day 2016 hosts, who reported that after Manufacturing Day,

• 89 percent of students surveyed were more aware of manufacturing jobs in their communities.
• 90 percent of educators were more convinced that manufacturing provides careers that are both interesting and rewarding.
• 71 percent of students were more likely to tell friends, family, parents or colleagues about manufacturing.

It’s a start.