Ohio is enjoying a resurgence in the interest of manufacturing to the tune of a reported 49,000 new manufacturing job openings over the next decade. The news comes courtesy of the Cleveland Plus Economic Review, which reports on the state’s largest economic sector said to currently stand at 19.5 percent. Over the next decade, this is number is expected to increase to 22 percent of the state’s economy.

Not bad, but after years of so-so or stagnant growth in the manufacturing industry it can be helpful to examine why the growth is happening now. As to be expected, there is no one clear cut answer but one possible reason could point to the re-imagining of the manufacturing industry for a new generation of workers and their parents.

A Branding Initiative

Compared with previous generations, students today collaborate with their parents and peers on a number of decisions from their current educational path to future career aspirations. As a result, there’s been a collective effort throughout the industry to demonstrate manufacturing in its most modern applications. This includes an emphasis on taking STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) classes as early as elementary school, attending plant visits and the introduction of manufacturing within the applications of technology.

Attracting a new generation also means taking steps to re-educate the parents of these students, some of whom may still see manufacturing as dirty or monotonous work. While getting hands dirty will always be a part of this kind of work, many of the manufacturing jobs coming available in the next decade will also have an additional component of technology included. This next generation of manufacturers will include the recruitment of production technicians, scientists, engineers, IT people, lawyers, marketers and accountants, according to Ohio’s Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network (MAGNET).

The Importance of Collaboration

Certainly an initiative this big will require a significant amount of collaboration to not only get the word out but to also unite previously separate initiatives under a larger umbrella of manufacturing. The benefits of this level of cooperation are well-known to the designers and manufacturers at the Cleveland Deburring Machine Company. Each deburring application created by the CDMC manufacturers is dependent on technical collaboration with the customer, including the addition of alliances with other specialized metal finishing manufacturers.

Using our fact-finding manufacturing process, CDMC can evaluate and create a standard application or a custom deburring application. Customization can be dependent on the cycle time, application limitations and part sizes.