Jack, your observation that large manufacturers used to define the educational process that supplied them is right on the money. Right now, no educator, from middle school to university, can possibly steer a child or a curriculum toward the manufacturing world of the next generation. The chain is broken, and restoring it takes a full generation, even if we knew how. As long as it is in the best financial and corporate interest of a large company to manufacture elsewhere, there is absolutely no reason to exert the necessary pull on the educational system here. My own feeling is that this is one area where the workings of our ‘system’ are inadequate, and we unfortunately need national initiatives, and defined national goals to get back on track. But nobody’s asking for my opinion!
Richard Stein, President
Cooke Vacuum Products
I cannot agree more with your recent article entitled, "Manufacturing Needs the Support of Manufacturers." To resolve the challenge in finding "critical job skills," we need to work from both ends. There must be an initiative in our schools to inform students of the lucrative manufacturing careers available to them in their own backyard. We also need to ensure that those individuals already within the manufacturing industry are receiving the appropriate training needed to understand such new technologies and methodologies. With continual support from state agencies and the partnering of small to large companies, the manufacturing industry here in Massachusetts can prevail to produce a new era of skilled labor.
