Manufacturing:
Skills & Job Outlook for this Career Cluster
On The Job:
- Manufacturing assemblers and other workers are needed to produce all types of products, including cars, computers, appliances, airplanes and electronic devices.
- Many manufacturing workers do not work the traditional 9-5 shift. Some work a series of 12-hours days in a week, with several days off. Evening and night shifts are common.
- The industry is moving away from traditional assembly lines. Workers are more likely to work in teams and rotate tasks.
- Manufacturing workers who work in hazardous conditions must wear protective gear like earplugs, gloves or safety glasses and follow precautions. In most jobs, they need to be capable of standing for long periods of time.
What Skills Do You Need?
- Accuracy to perform repeated actions precisely during a shift.
- Dependability to do quality work and be committed to each task within a project.
- Flexibility to be willing to learn new technology and production techniques.
- Manual dexterity to complete labor by hand.
- Problem-solving skills to troubleshoot when machinery break downs or find a solution when a job runs longer than expected.
- Visual-color discrimination for jobs that involve color-coded electric wires or printing documents.
Job Outlook: GOOD
Employment growth in manufacturing is slower than average, however experts say that job opportunities in Minnesota are good.
Machinists, for example, are seeing more job openings available than the number of qualified people to fill these openings. And just like other occupation groups, many manufacturing openings will be the result of replacing retired workers.
Jobs in manufacturing have changed dramatically because of technology. Robots and machines now complete work previously some done by precision assemblers. But humans are still needed for tasks that robots can't do like assembly in hard-to-reach places.
In order to compete with offshore production, manufacturing workers will need computer knowledge and related work experience.
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