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The future of work in manufacturing

by Paul Wellener, Ben Dollar, Heather Ashton, Luke Monck, Aijaz Hussain
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13 April 2020

The future of work in manufacturing What will jobs look like in the digital era?

14 April 2020
  • Paul Wellener United States
  • Ben Dollar United States
  • Heather Ashton United States
  • Luke Monck United States
  • Aijaz Hussain United States
  • See more See more See less
    • Luke Monck United States
    • Aijaz Hussain United States
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  • Reimagining manufacturing jobs
  • Explore the personas

Job rules and the nature of work are changing in what’s called the Fourth Industrial Revolution. We examine what future manufacturing jobs will be like in the digital era.

(Originally published October 1, 2018. Updated with new persona, Smart QA manager.)

The manufacturing workforce has been absorbing new technology for more than two centuries. Today, the industry finds itself in the midst of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which is poised to transform work at an unprecedented pace through exponential technologies such as artificial intelligence, advanced robotics and cognitive automation, advanced analytics, and the Internet of Things (IoT).1 And, contrary to some predictions, technology is likely to create more jobs than it destroys—as it has done historically.2 This is evident in the tight manufacturing labor market conditions prevailing both globally as well as in the United States.

Learn more

Explore the personas

View the 2018 Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute skills gap study

Visit the Industrial products collection

Subscribe to receive updates on Industry 4.0

Additionally, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is creating a mismatch between available workers and the skills necessary for open jobs. In fact, Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute anticipate the shortfall in US manufacturing during the next decade to reach the highest levels ever recorded, higher than the earlier estimates of 2 million unfilled jobs during 2015–2025.3 Part of the challenge the industry faces is understanding how today’s jobs and associated skills are morphing into new jobs and career pathways that continue to evolve along with advanced technology. How can the manufacturing industry prepare for this future workplace and ready its workforce to work beside robots and advanced technologies? What are the skills that will become “must-haves” in the future workplace? What are the pathways for training and education to enable these skills? We begin by exploring what’s possible for future jobs in manufacturing.

Reimagining manufacturing jobs

To help manufacturing leaders and workers visualize the possibilities of the future, we’ve developed a series of personas that describe what jobs could look like in 2025. We have chosen to describe these 2025 jobs from the vantage point of the workers themselves, exploring how their work has changed, what kinds of skills and career pathways they have, the types of digital tools that assist them in their work, and what a normal day on the job looks like.

Bringing these future jobs to life can help business leaders, workers, educators, and policymakers shape their vision and spark conversations around what needs to change to make this happen. These future personas represent our ongoing research on skills gaps and the future of work in manufacturing, and reflect several important themes:

Putting humans in the loop. As Deloitte’s 2018 Global Human Capital Trends report explains, leading organizations are working hard to put humans in the loop—rethinking work architecture, retraining people, and rearranging the organization to leverage technology to transform business. The broader aim is not just to eliminate routine tasks and cut costs, but to create value for customers and meaningful work for people.4

Expanding digital and “soft” skills. The rise of automation in the workplace has brought with it an interesting corollary for skills needed in human workers. As technology replaces many of the manual or repetitive tasks many jobs entail, it frees up space for skills that are uniquely human, often called “soft” skills. A recent World Economic Forum study found that the top 10 skills for the next decade include essential human skills such as critical thinking, creativity, and people management.5 Companies need workers that can exhibit these skills as well as the digital skills necessary to work alongside automation.

Leveraging the digital toolbox. Along with the move toward automation, robotics, and artificial intelligence, manufacturing workers are increasingly relying on digital tools to effectively complete their work. As the 2018 Global Human Capital Trends study shows, tools such as collaboration platforms, work-based social media, and instant messaging can increasingly support the communication necessary for higher productivity.6 We have created a “digital toolbox” for each of the personas to exemplify the types of tools a future worker can leverage to perform their daily work.

As digital transformation and the Fourth Industrial Revolution continue to redefine manufacturing jobs of the future, leaders and workers alike need to embrace a work environment that is expected to blend advanced technology and digital skills with uniquely human skills, to yield the highest level of productivity. Understanding how work might change can help the industry as a whole prepare for a future that promises to be transformative.

Explore the personas

The digital twin engineer

Predictive supply network analyst

Robot teaming coordinator

Digital offering manager

Drone data coordinator

Smart factory manager

Smart scheduler

Smart safety supervisor

UAM flight controller

Smart QA manager

 

This series is part of Deloitte’s fourth skills gap study with The Manufacturing Institute to understand the depths of today’s talent shortage in manufacturing, how jobs are changing due to technology and automation, and what measures manufacturers could take to solve today’s shortage while preparing their future workforce for success. Through this research, we are engaging with business leaders, educators, and policymakers to explore how the manufacturing industry can prepare for a future that will likely require a markedly different skill set to remain competitive.

Authors

Paul Wellener leads Deloitte Consulting LLP’s US Industrial Products & Construction practice. He is based in Cleveland, Ohio.
Ben Dollar is a principal in the Human Capital practice of Deloitte Consulting LLP. He is based in Boston, Massachusetts. 
Heather Ashton Manolian is the industrial manufacturing research leader with the Deloitte Center for Energy Solutions. She is based in Boston, Massachusetts. 
Luke Monck is a senior manager in the Human Capital practice. He is based in McLean, VA. 
Aijaz Hussain leads the aerospace and defense sector research for the US firm and serves as the principal advisor to the A&D national sector leadership and the practice. He is based in Dallas, TX.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Aijaz Hussain of Deloitte Services LP and Luke Monck of Deloitte Consulting LLP for their significant contributions in shaping our research.

We would also like to thank the team that helped us tremendously in developing this series of reports, including Ankit Mittal and Kruttika Dwivedi of Deloitte Support Services India Pvt. Ltd.; Joe Mariani, Center for Integrated Research; Amrita Datar, Center for Government Insights; Rithu Mariam Thomas, Junko Kaji, Emily Moreano, and Mike Boone, Deloitte Insights.

Cover image: Luice Rice

Endnotes
    1. Robert Libbey et al., Exponential technologies in manufacturing, Deloitte, 2018. View in article

    2. Deloitte, Technology and people: The great job-creating machine, August 2015. View in article

    3. Craig Giffi et al., The jobs are here, but where are the people?, Deloitte Insights (joint study between Deloitte and Manufacturing Institute), to be published in November 2018. View in article

    4. Deloitte, 2018 Deloitte Human Capital Trends, March 28, 2018. View in article

    5. Alex Gray, “The 10 skills you need to thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” World Economic Forum, January 19, 2016. View in article

    6. Deloitte, 2018 Deloitte Human Capital Trends. View in article

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Topics in this article

Industrial Manufacturing , Future of Work , Internet of Things (IoT) , Talent , Digital Transformation , Energy, Resources, & Industrials

HR Transformation

The increasing penetration of new emerging technologies in manufacturing production and distribution environments has created a demand for professionals who excel in this evolving technologies and manufacturing landscape. These professionals are key enablers of smart factories and developers of a collaborative human-machine workforce. They are an evolution of typical site managers, who are expert in process engineering and change management in manufacturing enterprises, and often come from a variety of backgrounds, including many that are in the technology industry. What sets them apart is their ability to understand the new technology and manufacturing landscape.

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  • Victor Reyes
  • Managing director
  • Deloitte Consulting LLP
  • vreyes@deloitte.com
  • +1 571 766 7433

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Paul Wellener

Paul Wellener

Paul is a principal within the US Industrial Products & Construction practice with Deloitte Consulting LLP. He has more than 30 years of experience in the industrial products and automotive sectors and has focused on helping organizations address major transformations. Paul drives key sector industry initiatives to help companies adapt to an environment of rapid change and uncertainty—globalization, exponential technologies, the skills gap, and the evolution of Industry 4.0.

  • pwellener@deloitte.com
  • +1 216 830 6609
Ben Dollar

Ben Dollar

Principal | ER&I Smart Things Leader

Ben is a principal in the Global Supply Chain practice of Deloitte Consulting LLP. He focuses on organization design, talent management, and process improvement in manufacturing companies. He holds a BA from Vassar College and an MA from University of Texas at Austin.

  • bdollar@deloitte.com
  • +1 617 437 3264
Heather Ashton

Heather Ashton

Research Leader | Deloitte

Heather Ashton is the industrial manufacturing research leader with the Deloitte Research Center for Energy & Industrials, and has delivered compelling insights on major enterprise business and technology trends for more than 20 years. Her expertise includes developing thought leadership at the intersection of business and technology, and covering emerging technologies from cloud to blockchain and augmented reality.

  • hashtonmanolian@deloitte.com
Luke Monck

Luke Monck

Luke Monck is a senior manager in Deloitte's Manufacturing practice with a background in human capital. He has over 13 years of experience leading large-scale organizational transformation initiatives for Fortune 100 companies–focusing on automotive, A&D, and chemical manufacturers. Monck designs and delivers the operating model/organizational design, talent, and change management solutions that business transformations require to be successful and also leads the Women to Watch program for the manufacturing sector. 

  • lmonck@deloitte.com
  • + 571 512 1617
Aijaz Hussain

Aijaz Hussain

Aijaz Hussain is a research and insights leader with over 20 years of experience in thoughtware and business strategy. During his 16-year tenure at Deloitte, he led Deloitte’s aerospace and defense, chemicals and specialty materials, and engineering and construction research, and other major research campaigns (global executive and consumer surveys, etc.). Hussain has also authored several high-impact thought leadership pieces on business strategy, advanced technologies, digital transformation, sustainability and the future of mobility and work.

  • aijaz.hussain@gmail.com
  • +1 615 718 5515

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