Lorrie Curtis

The Manufacturer's Outlook Survey was just released by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) for the fourth quarter of 2023. Once again and without surprise, one of the main concerns of the manufacturing industry as we work our way into the first quarter of 2024 is potentially demanding economic conditions.

Even with a decrease in manufacturers' confidence, over 66% of those surveyed see solid demand for their company's products. Workforce challenges continue to be a concern, with 71% of manufacturers having trouble attracting and maintaining qualified candidates.

2024 industrial manufacturing focal points include but are not limited to:

• Talent attraction and retention
• Digital technologies
• Supply chain strategies
• Sustainability and movement to the lowest carbon emissions possible

Three of these

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The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) released its Manufacturer's Outlook Survey for the fourth quarter of 2022. It comes as no surprise that one of the main concerns of the manufacturing industry as we work our way into the first quarter of 2023 is potentially demanding economic conditions. With unease regarding inflation, leftover supply chain disruptions from the pandemic, and the workforce shortage, manufacturers' confidence has declined.

Despite a decrease in manufacturers' confidence, there are bright spots in the 2023 outlook. Over 63% of those surveyed see a solid demand for their company's products.

Additionally, manufacturers plan to invest in:

• Capital spending on new equipment and technological investments
• Training for their existing workforce
• Hiring new employees
• R&D
• New buildings and improvements for existing structures

As business leaders move into 2023, three trends stand out as factors that could impact industrial business as we navigate through an uncertain economy.

In annual predictions, there is almost always a mention of the importance of employees and talent retention. In today's workforce, the need to actively manage a strategy for the development and retention of people is more critical than ever. With the tight labor market continuing, recruiting, and retaining the right people continues to be a challenge.

At American Cutting Edge (ACE), our people are the core of our business. And we hire our employees based on our core values. Curiosity and sharing knowledge is important to our organization. We encourage learning and promote an environment that encourages fairness, teamwork, and mutual respect among all colleagues. This mutual respect and fairness then naturally extends to how we treat our customers, shares Director of Human Resources Yolanda Evers.

Recent data from Google Search Trends indicates that demand for warehouse and factory jobs is still climbing. If the number of employees who leave their jobs continues to decrease and demand for manufacturing jobs continues to rise, employers should be able to make a move to reduce overhead costs with more balanced compensation packages. This will help employers gain leverage in employment offer negotiations and help reduce overhead via fairer wages.

Taking into consideration that manufacturing is constantly evolving, it's going to be critical for employers to continue to train new and existing personnel in new and expanded skills to keep up with industry demand. According to Evers, training and planning for our current workforce to expand their understanding of technology is an investment we're more than willing to make. We're constantly looking for ways to develop and attract talent. Finding programs that help us keep ahead of the technology curve as much as possible helps us develop and attract future leaders who will help take ACE to the next level.

The advancement of workforce skills helps employers reduce the skills gap while retaining valuable employees. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives will become increasingly important to get more people involved in the manufacturing sector. To help drive the DEI movement, the U.S. government has released The National Strategy for Advanced Manufacturing to Expand and diversify the advanced manufacturing talent pool.

Technology is the Key to the Future

Whether we're talking about Industry 5.0, advanced ERP systems, or technological progress in general, it's clear that there is no escaping the need for more advanced technology in manufacturing. McKinsey research predicts that by 2030, just seven short years from now, the share of physical and manual labor in the economy will have fallen by 27 percent. In its place will be skills that demand more technological and cognitive abilities.

According to a recent McKinley article, digital collaboration tools are poised to play an incredibly important role in enabling workers to tap into the collective knowledge and experience of the organization, effectively solve problems with experts remotely. Naturally, the ability to do these things translates to the effective use of internal resources to work more effectively both internally with each other and externally with customers.

At ACE, our mission is to make cutting effortless for our customers. In order

Engineering is a critical part of manufacturing operations. When it comes to industrial knife and blade manufacturing at American Cutting Edge, we would be lost without the expertise, knowledge, and commitment of our engineering department. Since it's Engineers Week, we thought we would tell you a little about how these mission-critical professionals add to our business.

Founded in 1951 by the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE), Engineers Week celebrates the difference engineers make in our world. The NSPE dedicates itself to ensuring the future engineering workforce is diverse and well-educated by increasing the understanding of and interest in engineering