Creators wanted to manufacture a resilient and sustainable future
As a National Sponsor for MFG Day, the manufacturing team at Microsoft is proud to join the #CreatorsWanted movement to fill the skills gap and inspire a diverse workforce with intelligent and data-driven manufacturing. Intelligent manufacturing is shaping our future in exciting ways that enable manufacturers to digitally transform to achieve growth and exceptional customer and social outcomes, helping create safer and more agile factories and resilient supply chains, unlocking innovation of sustainable products and services, and engaging customers and the workforce in new ways. Supporting responsible and sustainable manufacturing aligns with Microsoft’s mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Even with all the advancements intelligent manufacturing enables, manufacturers still have obstacles attracting, training, and retaining the first-line workers they need to realize this future.
The Manufacturing Institute and Microsoft aim to showcase the reality of modern manufacturing careers and address the skills gap that is leaving more than 2.4 million American jobs unfilled by 2028.1 This skills gap is in part due to a lack of awareness of the incredible career pathways in manufacturing, and the National Association of Manufacturers, The Manufacturing Institute and manufacturers across the country are proactively addressing this issue with MFG Day. MFG Day encourages thousands of companies and educational institutions around the nation to host virtual or safe in-person events for students, parents, teachers, and community leaders to learn more about the exciting field of modern manufacturing and to better understand the challenges of the skills gap.
This year’s MFG Day took place on October 2, and in many ways the virtual format made it easier for everyone to participate and engage. MFG Day is the official kick-off to MFG Month and I invite you to join Microsoft and the Manufacturing Institute on Wednesday, October 28 to continue the conversation and hear insights from this year’s MFG Day event and how Microsoft and the Manufacturing Institute are addressing the skills gap in manufacturing.
Creators wanted: empowering a diverse and sustainable manufacturing workforce
The session will feature Carolyn Lee, Executive Director at The Manufacturing Institute, interviewing Jacky Wright, Chief Digital Officer (CDO) at Microsoft US. The interview will include insights from this year’s MFG Day, how NAM and Microsoft are helping address the skills gap in manufacturing, and ensuring the benefits of technology reach people more broadly across society. A panel discussion will follow the interview featuring Microsoft manufacturing experts discussing digital transformation, the skilling required for a modern workforce, and sustainability.
Join us for the October 28 event, presented by Microsoft.
Transform your workforce
We’ve learned from our recent IoT Signals survey of more than 3000 business decision-makers, technical decision-makers, and developers that manufacturers are seeking employees who have a range of technical abilities, especially system architects and cloud developers, and who can implement IoT as they struggle to bridge the skills gap on their own.
Microsoft is committed to helping our customers redefine training and skills transfer to overcome skills gaps in manufacturing. Workforce transformation enables your organization to boost employee and productivity across the value chain, by augmenting people with team collaboration tools, mixed-reality devices, IoT-enabled machines, and AI-enhanced applications to keep pace with increased operational, maintenance and process complexity. In our e-book, The new Face of manufacturing: find, train, and keep the workers you need, we share insights on how your manufacturing enterprise can use modern technology to address the skills gap in a highly competitive environment and recruit, reskill, and retain your next-generation workforce, equipping them with the skills and tools to safely keep up with the new complexities and speed of digital manufacturing.
Creators wanted to manufacture a resilient and sustainable future
The power of technology can eliminate waste and engineer better outcomes for all your stakeholders, as well as help design for sustainability throughout the end-to-end value chain and lifecycle of your products and services. Closing the skills gap is critical to realize these goals enable by technology and build a stronger more productive manufacturing industry. Manufacturing is a major contributor to the U.S economy and has the highest multiplier effect of an economic sector: for every one worker in manufacturing, there are another four employees hired elsewhere.1 So, we celebrate future creators and those organizations that hosted virtual open houses on October 2 to help address today’s talent shortage while preparing the future workforce for success.
Learn more about how Microsoft is addressing the skills gap in manufacturing
- 3 Ways to Build the Modern Manufacturing Workforce
- Four key topics to enable your intelligent manufacturing transformation
- Download IoT Signals Edition 2 research
Additional Microsoft resources
To access additional resources and learn how manufacturers are transforming digitally using technologies from Microsoft and our solutions from our partners, visit our website.
1 “Facts about Manufacturing,” National Association of Manufacturers, 2020.
