A study released last week by The Manufacturing Institute reveals that while 71 percent of respondents view manufacturing as a national priority, but only 17 percent named manufacturing as among their top two industry choices to start a career.
The survey, Public Viewpoint on Manufacturing, also found that only 30 percent of parents would encourage their children to pursue jobs in manufacturing. For Harrisburg University of Science and Technology president Dr. Mel Schiavelli, the news isn’t exactly a surprise. It’s something he’s been trying to remedy at school and throughout Central Pa.
“Young people somehow think manufacturing is a dirty business,” says Schiavelli, who in October joined the national Education Council of The Manufacturing Institute, which is the research, education and workforce arm of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).
To counter that perception, Schiavelli cites several regional examples. While Central PA’s status as a manufacturing zone lost some zing with the departure of companies and jobs in the 1990s, it is regaining its might. Hershey Company has won numerous awards for having one of the best IT shops in the nation and for their food safety and food chemicals labs and has 80 interns a year.
Schiavelli’s plan for the school is to integrate industry-wide certifications NAM is developing into its curriculum. Universities don’t have to reinvent the wheel, he says. Increased education through certification will ensure graduates will enter the manufacturing workforce better prepared..
“Doing things with your hands and being smart about it, working in technology rich fields, these are gold-collar careers,” Schiavelli says. “Somebody’s got to make solar panels, and they’re not made by people in dirty overalls with greasy hands.”
Source: Dr. Mel Schiavelli, Harrisburg University of Science and Technology
Writer: Joe Petrucci