Be the Influence: How Manufacturing Can Win the Next Generation

For years, manufacturers have been talking about the same challenge: Where are we going to find the next generation of skilled workers?

We talk about the skills gap. We talk about retiring employees. We talk about the difficulty of finding machinists, mold makers, technicians, engineers, welders, programmers, and people who simply want to build things. But maybe the question shouldn't only be, "Where are we going to find them?" Maybe we also need to ask:

What are we doing to make them want to join us?

That idea is at the heart of this episode of the Manufacturing Alliance Podcast with Jacob Sanchez, an advocate for skilled trades, manufacturing, automation, and the next generation of our industry. Jacob brings more than 10 years of hands-on manufacturing and automation experience in industries including aerospace, consumer goods, and medical manufacturing. His work has also focused heavily on helping manufacturers embrace automation, build stronger communities, and bring new people into the industry.

The conversation goes beyond simply identifying the workforce problem. It challenges manufacturers, leaders, associations, and employees to think about what each of us can actually do about it.

Manufacturing Has an Image Problem—and an Opportunity

Manufacturing today looks very different from the picture many people outside our industry still have in their heads. Walk through a modern manufacturing facility and you'll find CNC machining, robotics, automation, lasers, CAD/CAM software, advanced metrology, additive manufacturing, artificial intelligence, data collection, and technologies that would have looked like science fiction only a generation ago.

The problem is that many young people never get the opportunity to see it. If their only understanding of manufacturing comes from an outdated stereotype, we shouldn't be surprised when they don't consider it as a career. That means our industry has to do a better job telling its story. And we can't wait for someone else to do it.

Manufacturers need to open their doors. Employees need to share what they do. Schools need industry partners. Associations need to create meaningful opportunities for connection. Parents need to understand that skilled trades and manufacturing careers can offer tremendous opportunities. Most importantly, young people need to see people they can relate to succeeding in this industry.

You can't become what you never see.

Industry Associations Need to Create Real Value

One of the topics discussed in this episode is the need to demand more from our industry associations.

Associations can play an incredibly important role in manufacturing, but simply holding meetings or networking events isn't enough. The greatest value comes when associations become a true connection point between manufacturers, educators, students, technology providers, community leaders, and the workforce.

Our industry's problems are too big for individual companies to solve alone. Workforce development is one of them. Instead of every manufacturer independently asking, "How do we recruit more people?" there is an opportunity to work collectively.

How do we introduce middle school and high school students to manufacturing?

How do we connect educators with local manufacturers?

How do we create internships and apprenticeships?

How do we help people understand the earning potential available through the skilled trades?

How do we give existing employees opportunities to continue developing?

The strongest manufacturing communities won't be built by companies working in isolation. They'll be built by manufacturers willing to share ideas, resources, experience, and opportunity.

Stop Protecting Problems and Start Solving Them Together

Community problem-solving is another major theme of the conversation. Manufacturing companies may compete for customers, employees, and projects, but many of the biggest challenges we face are shared.

Workforce shortages, training, automation,  technology adoption, knowledge transfer, leadership development, and recruitment, are issues facing the entire manufacturing industry. Instead of every organization reinventing the wheel, there is tremendous value in creating communities where people are willing to talk about what is working—and what isn't.

That's one of the reasons conversations like the Manufacturing Alliance Podcast matter. When manufacturers share experience openly, somebody else's five-year learning curve can potentially become a five-month learning curve. We all become better.

Have the Confidence to Innovate Before You Have To

Manufacturing has always rewarded problem-solvers. The challenge is that innovation can be uncomfortable. It's easy to continue doing something because that's the way we've always done it. It's much harder to invest in a new process, automate a task, give a young employee an opportunity, or try something before your competition proves that it works.

But waiting has a cost. The manufacturers who will lead the next generation won't necessarily be the largest companies. They'll be the organizations willing to learn faster, adapt faster, and empower their people to experiment.

Jacob's work around low-cost automation and Industry 4.0 reflects that philosophy: technology doesn't have to begin with a multimillion-dollar transformation. Sometimes innovation starts by identifying one repetitive problem and asking whether there is a better way to solve it.

Small improvements compound. And those improvements create an environment where employees learn that their ideas matter.

Delegation Is More Than Giving Someone Work

One of the most important leadership conversations in the episode centers around delegating the right way.

There is a major difference between assigning someone a task and giving someone ownership. If we want the next generation to become tomorrow's manufacturing leaders, we have to give them opportunities to make decisions today. That means allowing people to solve problems. It means asking for their ideas. It means giving employees responsibility before they feel 100% ready. And sometimes it means allowing them to make mistakes.

Manufacturing has decades of knowledge sitting inside the heads of experienced machinists, toolmakers, mold builders, technicians, engineers, operators, and business owners. Transferring that knowledge isn't accomplished simply by writing another procedure. It happens through relationships. Someone teaches. Someone watches. Then someone gets an opportunity to try. Eventually the student becomes the teacher. That's how an industry survives from one generation to the next.

The Next Generation Is Watching

Manufacturing doesn't have a shortage of incredible stories. We have people programming five-axis machines. Building injection molds capable of holding incredibly tight tolerances. Using lasers to repair components that once would have been scrapped. Automating production processes. Building medical devices. Creating aerospace components. Solving problems every single day that most people never know exist.

Our challenge is letting people outside the walls of our facilities see it. The next generation isn't going to discover manufacturing by accident. We have to show them. Invite students into the shop. Partner with a school. Mentor someone. Post the video. Share the project. Explain the technology. Give the new employee responsibility. Allow the apprentice to ask questions.

Let people see why you are proud of what you do. Because solving the manufacturing workforce problem isn't somebody else's responsibility. It's ours.

Be the Influence

The takeaway from this conversation with Jacob Sanchez is bigger than recruiting. It's about influence. Every manufacturer has the ability to change someone's perception of this industry. Every experienced tradesperson has knowledge worth passing along. Every leader has an opportunity to develop another leader. And every person in manufacturing can help show the next generation that this industry offers more than a job—it offers the opportunity to build, create, solve problems, innovate, and make a difference.

If we want a stronger future for American manufacturing, we have to be willing to help build the people who will create it.

Be the influence.