To today’s youth, manufacturing jobs don’t carry the caché that they may have had years ago − they’re boring, repetitive, and dirty. General Motors is trying to change that perception and make manufacturing something that the next generation of workers can embrace.
While gathered at the Center for Automotive Research management briefing seminars this week in Traverse City, Mich., GM vice president for North American manufacturing, Cathy Clegg, noted that over 70,000 manufacturing jobs remain unfulfilled in Michigan at this moment.
To counter this, GM has been playing around with new ideas and tools, such as Google Glass. Automotive News reports that GM is “trying out the Internet-connected eyeglasses at its Orion Assembly plant” to see how they can complement the manufacturing process. Another experiment involves using 3D scanners “to analyze and improve factory layouts.”
As long as sales volume grows, filling manufacturing jobs will be a challenge. “It’s our ability to attract people back to manufacturing. I can assure you that our team is up for that challenge,” said Clegg.
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Maybe they should try a 1 tier pay system.