Six out of 10 US manufacturers expect a leadership change in the next 5 years

Nearly six out of 10 U.S. manufacturers could have a new leader in the next five years - a five percent increase over 2009. This presents an opportunity for manufacturers to solidify leadership and direction for years to come by developing their next generation leaders now.    

• Sustainability is increasingly important to manufacturers, with 59.2 percent of manufacturers reporting that sustainability is important or highly important to their future, up from 35.1 percent in 2009. Many of these manufacturers are responding to customer demands for greener products, while others recognize cost-control opportunities such as reduced energy consumption and the re-use of materials.     

Few manufacturers have both talent and workforce development programs to drive world-class performance. Due to an aging workforce and gap in skilled labor, more professional training and development is needed to prepare manufacturers for the next generation.  

I've been in manufacturing my whole life, and it's been an exciting and rewarding career. It's enormously satisfying to work with the driven, creative and resourceful people I've come to know in manufacturing, and it's also exciting to be a part of creating the things that make people's lives better, safer and more fulfilling.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of 30-somethings and younger aren't even aware that they could be living a life that offers great personal satisfaction as well as a fair pay, great benefits and a solid career path. A career in manufacturing is bypassed because of a very common misconception - that manufacturing is dirty, hard, repetitive and dead-end.  It's a misconception passed down from their parents who encourage other career paths - career paths that have become much scarcer since the beginning of the great recession.

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