A recent article by Pradeep Amladi, Vice President of Discrete Manufacturing Industries at  (a software corporation that makes software to manage businesses and customer relations) .

Here are the issues that Pradeep identified:

• Negative perception of manufacturing: According to a study conducted by , “52% of U.S. teenagers have little or no interest in a manufacturing career.” Those teenagers see manufacturing as a dangerous field with low-quality jobs.
• An aging workforce: Older employees are leaving the workforce faster than new, qualified workers are replacing them. This is part of the reason that the skills gap has gotten worse over the last few years, and is something that needs to be addressed if we want to keep making manufacturing a prosperous industry.
• Quantity vs. quality: The last point that Pradeep makes is that people just don’t have the skills needed to keep up with current manufacturing techniques. Manufacturing today is cutting-edge, and many workers don’t have the skills necessary for a career in manufacturing.

The article, which was , highlights the problems with manufacturing that we talk about so much. But as you can see, the problems don’t have to do so much with the industry itself–they have to do with the workforce.

And that’s where you come in. Are you a part of the 52% of teenagers who have little to no interest in a manufacturing career? Check out our Cool Stuff Being Made section, or our post about 4 examples of cool up-and-coming manufacturing technology. There’s a lot of great stuff out there, you just have to want to see it!

We won’t deny the issues that Pradeep discussed in his post for SAP–we actually embrace them. But we want to use this article as an opportunity to remind you why we’re here: to give students, educators, and parents the information they need about manufacturing in this day and age. There’s a lot more to it than you might think, and our blog is packed full of examples of why this industry is a great place to be.

If you’d like to learn more about the opportunities available in manufacturing, let us know in the comments or ! You should also feel free to poke around our site–we’ve compiled some of the best information around on manufacturing, and would love for you to take a look.

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photo credit: via