Apple-And-Microsoft-Computers

Is High-Tech Manufacturing Attracting Millennials?

April 15, 2014
The industrial tool today is no longer the screwdriver, says Helmuth Ludwig, CEO of Siemens Industry U.S.. "It is the iPad. And that is exactly what is starting to attract the next generation."

When Zack Gosney first walked into Mazak's Florence, Ky., machine tool plant back in 2011, he had no idea what he was in for. "I'd never really been in a factory before," he recalls. "I thought it would be dirty and hot and sweaty. I thought when I left I'd look like I hadn't showered in three days. I didn't really know what to expect."

Gosney is just one member of a steady march of millennials and young workers being lured back to manufacturing not by benefits or salaries, not by stability or futures or any of the motivators of previous generations, but because manufacturing has suddenly become sort of … cool.

Today's manufacturing environment is high tech; it's gadget filled; it's challenging and dynamic. Industry is -- all of a sudden -- exactly what this new generation is looking for.

It's just a matter of convincing them of it.

More on how the millennials are moving into manufacturing on IndustryWeek.  

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About the Author

Travis Hessman | VP of Content, Endeavor Business Media

Travis Hessman is the VP of Content for Endeavor Business Media. Previously, Travis was the Editor-in-Chief for Industry Week and New Equipment Digest as well as the Group Editorial Director for Endeavor's Manufacturing Group.

He began his career as an intern at IndustryWeek in 2001 and later served as IW's technology and innovation editor. Today, he combines his experience as an educator, a writer, and a journalist to help address some of the most significant challenges in the manufacturing industry, with a particular focus on leadership, training, and the technologies of smart manufacturing.