Page 31 - The City of Greensboro Conditions and Trends

CITY OF GREENSBORO COMPREHENSIVE PLAN CONDITIONS & TRENDS

Economic Trends & the Future of Manufacturing

The Trend

In 1970, manufacturing made up 20% of the overall US workforce. Today, only 9% of American workers are employed in
manufacturing. Most of the manufacturing job losses in the US over the past 25 years are related to automation and state
and federal regulations. Overall, manufacturing represents 12% of the economic activity in the United States. The
Economics & Statistics Administration reports that 76% of job gains in 2015 were from three durable goods industries:
Transportation Equipment, Fabricated Metal Products, and Machinery. The United Nations Industrial Development
Organization (UNIDO) has set industrial development goals for each member state, emphasizing technological
development, creation of new industries, and national security in the US.

Background

In 2013, manufacturing shipments exceeded production levels prior to the Great Recession. In more recent years however,
the numbers have begun to fall. The manufacturing industry points to environmental regulations and high corporate taxes
as the reason for America’s decline in this area. As a response to these challenges, several programs and partnerships at NC
State University are working with national experts to “uncover new innovations and apply them directly to the industry.”
The goal of these efforts is to help manufacturers be more efficient, safer, and more profitable. According to Phil
Westmoreland, who leads NC State’s work in this area, “When people think of manufacturing, they usually think of things
like cars and large equipment. But in North Carolina especially, manufacturing also means using processes to make
pharmaceuticals, biofuels, and food products.”

The “maker movement,” a rapidly growing trend, involves manufacturing on a smaller scale with respect to facility size,
production quantities, and/or product size than the traditional heavy manufacturing. The term refers to the design and
fabrication of objects, often using new technologies, alongside traditional technology and skills, with an emphasis on
tinkering and innovation.

“Making” often takes place in locations accessible by the general public like public libraries, schools, and community
centers, and in some cases, smaller “incubators” and factories. The authors of “The Maker Movement and Urban Economic
Development” state “the significance of the maker movement to economic development planning, however, lies principally
in the emergence of new small-scale manufacturing enterprises that integrate design with production.”

Larger manufacturers are seeing a “skills gap” as they move to more automated, technologically advanced equipment. The
term refers to a shortage of workers with the necessary technical skills to handle machinery, perform service on the
equipment and use advanced technology. In a 2017 Charlotte Observer interview, Michael Lamach, the CEO of Ingersoll
Rand, which employs 2,000 local residents of Davidson NC, says they have 1,000 job vacancies attributable to the skills gap.
He and others say the US needs to refocus the emphasis on four-year degrees to training programs that utilize STEM
(science, technology, engineering and math) skills and vocational skills acquired through two-year training and company
training programs.

What This Means for Greensboro

To reduce the skills gap in Greensboro, colleges and universities will need to provide flexible continuing education for
working students. They may need to partner with corporations to stay abreast of training needs and guide students to
future employment opportunities. Industry-specific certifications could reduce the amount of time needed to train new
hires or retrain current employees for new assignments, and increasing graduation rates of students focused on STEM fields

DRAFT -31- March 15, 2018