Manufacturing: America's New Comeback Kid

Manufacturing has an image problem.

It trails technology, energy, healthcare, and communications in career preferences for Millennials entering the workforce. The same perception study found only 1 in 6 parents encourage kids to pursue a manufacturing career.

Despite cutting edge technology and a pipeline awash in great paying, high-skilled jobs, manufacturing in the US the sector treads water in attracting talent.

This image problem is hardly surprising. As the US transformed from a production to a knowledge economy over the past 30 years, manufacturing employment fell by over 40%. But when the economy emerged from the Great Recession – something profound happened.

The sector started to rally. Soaring worker productivity, energy abundance and investments in factory automation helped swing the pendulum in favor of US manufacturing.

I am optimistic about the staying power of the recovery – which my colleague Helmuth Ludwig and I discuss in depth in America’s Real Manufacturing Advantage.

But today – I’d like to take a slight detour from the numbers to put a human face on why we need to create more innovative partnerships that prepare our youth for the rising tide of opportunity.

Meet Hope Johnson: Dreamer, Pioneer, Machinist and Apprentice.

"My name is Hope Johnson.

I have been working at Siemens Energy in Charlotte, North Carolina since 2011.

Siemens Energy in partnership with Apprenticeship 2000 started an Apprenticeship program that took in High School students and provided a college education and on the job experience.

I am one of the first participants in this program.

During my life I had set goals for myself. I was going to go to a four year college, I was going to travel the world, start a family. All goals that were ambitious and costly.

The recession hit while I was in the eleventh grade. I started working and helped support my family. I helped pay for bills, helped put food on the table.

I was receiving opportunities to travel to other countries on scholarship but things like that were hard to agree to when you were an intricate part of providing for your family.

Then Siemens came along.

Siemens and the Apprenticeship 2000 program did a presentation at my High School. The program showcased that the company would pay for my college and give me a job making good money. I thought the opportunity was too good to be true, and when it talked about “Machining” and “Engineering” it really had me worried. I knew nothing of either subject. I went out on a limb and signed up to visit the plant.

That was it - that was all I had to do. As soon as I set foot into the Siemens facility I knew this was where I belonged. The factory was breath taking. It was shiny, clean, everything I never expected a factory to be. It was incredible.

I decided to take part in the six week internship where I got to experience the life of a Machinist at Siemens. I met great people, and was taught so much in so little time. In just six weeks I felt like I was part of a family and I knew I never wanted to leave.

I have been at Siemens for three years now ready to start my fourth and final year of the Apprenticeship. I have been through so much that most kids my age could never imagine. Siemens has allowed me to grow into a strong Machinist and even more important into a strong young woman.

This opportunity has allowed me to find a passion in machining and engineering that I never knew I had.

I never lost my goals that I started out with. I am getting my college education and will graduate the Apprenticeship with an Associate’s Degree in Applied Science. I will get the chance to travel the world; Siemens is a German based company with roots all over the world. I can start a family, first with me being able to properly take care of my parents like they had for me for so many years.

None of my dreams would be possible without the help of Siemens Energy and Apprenticeship 2000. I can never express how and grateful I am for this opportunity and can’t wait to see what my future holds."

Hope Johnson is one reason why I’m bullish on the future of American Manufacturing – and why our work to create stories like hers must continue to fuel a sustainable comeback.