Manufacturing continues to suffer from a lack of qualified workers despite the efforts of associations, businesses, educators and public organizations to attract more employees.<\/P><\/p>\n
Hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs have gone unfilled each year in the United States since 2011, and Deloitte estimates that number will skyrocket as 2.7 million workers from the Great and Boomer generations retire through 2025. By then, researchers project 3.4 million new manufacturing workers could be needed.<\/P><\/p>\n
This crisis is happening during a critical time for many manufacturers, as Industry 4.0 technologies disrupt processes and open new revenue opportunities from product design to service fulfillment. It\u2019s a digital transformation that not all manufacturers have fully embraced, often for reasons that make good business sense in the short term.<\/P><\/p>\n
What these companies don\u2019t realize is that they\u2019re setting themselves up for double the setbacks. First, they will fall behind in general as competitors pull ahead on efficiency, quality and innovation through technology investment. Second, they will continue to scramble to competitively secure top talent<\/A>.<\/P><\/p>\n Next-generation employees demand modern applications<\/A> that work as seamlessly and intuitively as consumer applications. They also expect technology to enable widespread collaboration, ongoing learning and new discovery or betterment of the status quo.<\/P> According to a Deloitte and Council on Competitiveness multiyear study, key attributes of an innovative company<\/A> include:<\/P><\/p>\n \u2022 Thinking like a venture capitalist to adopt a risk-tolerant portfolio approach; being open to disruptive ideas, such as crowdsourcing; allowing people to try new things without punishing them for failure.<\/EM><\/P><\/p>\n To provide this environment, it\u2019s important to have technology in place that facilitates a rapid-yet-stable testing and learning environment. Digital twins<\/A> make this possible because simulation of products, machines and processes can happen in a low-risk, digital environment.<\/P><\/p>\n \u2022 Operating outside of traditional walls to take advantage of collaboration opportunities across the innovation ecosystem.<\/EM><\/P> \u2022 Understanding there is no singular solution. Every manufacturer will have a unique path.<\/EM><\/P> These attributes can be uncomfortable for manufacturing companies that are traditionally risk-averse and like to follow rather than lead when it comes to change. But operating as an innovative organization that keeps pace with change is critical for manufacturing success today and in the future.<\/P> The good news is that innovation is not out of reach for manufacturers. In fact, manufacturers comprise more than half of the Forbes Top 10 most innovative companies in the world<\/A> \u2014 including three pharma\/bio\/life sciences companies, one materials company, one consumer products company and one auto company.<\/P><\/p>\n Among Forbes\u2019 list of innovators is Keurig Green Mountain, which started out disrupting the coffee industry by designing and manufacturing a new type of coffee maker and now is set to disrupt soda stalwarts<\/A> like Coke and Pepsi. Keurig is developing a consumer appliance to make cold beverages and recently acquired Dr. Pepper Snapple Group to solidify its new direction and strategy.<\/P><\/p>\n Keurig shows that manufacturers don\u2019t have to be high-tech producers to be innovative. Coffee and soda are not new, but the company has still managed to innovate around them.<\/P><\/p>\n Like Keurig\u2019s consumer electronics, all products are becoming more complex<\/A> as digital capabilities are integrated with electrical and mechanical systems. This trend, called mechatronics<\/A>, is another area where the right level of technology investment is crucial to attracting skilled talent.<\/P> By not having the best-possible software to embed efficient mechatronics development<\/A>, not only are manufacturers falling behind on the technology curve, but they could also be scaring off the very people who are poised to excel in mechatronics innovation.<\/P><\/p>\nWhat next-gen workers want from technology<\/H3>
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That is, they expect an innovative culture.<\/P><\/p>\n
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Technology is disrupting supply chains, as well as process and product, and there will be new opportunities for partner collaboration. To facilitate this collaboration, manufacturers must be able to seamlessly share files and concurrently iterate with new partners. They\u2019ll need to invest in technology that integrates real-time data and workflow transactions for everyone who touches a part of the product lifecycle<\/A>.<\/P><\/p>\n
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This is why technology needs to be integrated, flexible and configurable, as well as scalable for when needs change.<\/P><\/p>\nChange is non-negotiable for success<\/H3>
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Think about once-dominant brands that didn\u2019t move swiftly enough in response to market disruption and digitalization, and how they\u2019ve suffered or are suffering for it. There are numerous examples across the manufacturing world, including photography, office equipment and printing press companies.<\/P><\/p>\nSimplifying complexity to make room for innovation<\/H3>
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Mechatronics-enabled products and processes are breaking new ground in manufacturing all the time and require highly integrated data and systems to design, produce and service. No one wants to work in an environment where they can\u2019t find important data, where mistakes are made because information hand-off is manual and where collaboration is limited because software programs can\u2019t talk to one another. This isn\u2019t an innovative culture.<\/P><\/p>\n
![\"Digital](\"http:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2019\/09\/Digital-Transformation-1.png\" "\\"Digital")
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