Vietnam, 27/09/2021. ManpowerGroup and MxD USA recently released the research “The Future Factory: Mapping The Skills That Will Power Manufacturing”. The workforce analysis describes the impacts of the digital transformation on the manufacturing sector and highlights the roles of innovation culture and other leadership skills to the business transformation’s success.
Digital transformation with breakthroughs in advanced technology is taking place in every sector globally, including the manufacturing. As the vanguard of the digital transformation, the industry’s transition to full digitization is already well underway and accelerating daily. In tandem with that process, new roles appear with advanced digital skills demanded while others become obsolete. According to the research, nearly 50% of all roles in manufacturing will need to change within the next three-to-five years as the industry transitions to become fully digital.
Since the early days of its history, Manufacturing has undergone and evolved through four technical generations – Generations Zero to Three. Each generation is aligned to different eras of manufacturing tools, technologies and work. Today we are on the cusp of the third generation, characterized by the transformational power of radical improvements in connected systems and machine learning, and we expect to be fully immersed in Gen Three by 2020.
The groundbreaking workforce analysis identifies 165 new and evolving roles across 7 areas of technical expertise in manufacturing, including: Digital Manufacturing, Digital Thread, Digital Enterprise, Digital Product, Digital Design, Supply Network, and Omni. The impact of transformation differs for each domain with the greatest shift occurring in the Digital Manufacturing – 28% of the 165 new or evolved roles are in this domain. Within the seven domains above, specific roles can be mapped by the impact they make on the organization and the way they connect to each other.
“In order to develop the talent they need to remain competitive, manufacturing companies need new approaches for training, that is, to up-skill and re-skill people at speed and at scale. It is now or never”, said Le Thi Kim, Head of Staffing and Outsourcing Services, North, ManpowerGroup Vietnam. From the researchers’ findings, the most effective skills development and retention are achieved through certification programs of six months or less or on-the-job training.
The manufacturing’s technological transformation also proposes a need for leadership roles to change. Managers and leaders should follow the 80/20 rules to stay relevant and competitive. While foundational leadership skills keep playing an integral part, effective leaders must also nurture the additional 20 percent – an innovation culture & risk management, learnability, adaptability, and optimizing opportunities.
The key to catching the shift of digital transformation and skills revolution in manufacturing is a connected workforce strategy at the soonest. Besides investing in internal talent via development program, helping people transit to new roles when necessary, employers should cultivate and connect communities of talent beyond the organization, especially going to the labor market or workforce solutions providers to attract the talent that can’t be built in-house.
Particularly, based on ManpowerGroup’s workforce analysis of 165 new and evolving roles across seven “domains” of technical expertise, manufacturing organizations can identify future talent needs in short, medium and long term.
About the research
The groundbreaking workforce analysis was jointly developed by ManpowerGroup and MxD (formerly the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute) with the purpose to find practical solutions to the skills shortage and ensure up to 2 million new manufacturing jobs in the U.S. do not go unfilled. ManpowerGroup and MxD convened more than 30 academic, government and industry partners including Siemens, Microsoft, Caterpillar and General Electric to create an industry-recognized taxonomy that defines digital manufacturing roles of the future, serving as a practical toolkit for manufacturing organizations.
About ManpowerGroup
ManpowerGroup® (NYSE: MAN), the leading global workforce solutions company, helps organizations transform in a fast-changing world of work by sourcing, assessing, developing and managing the talent that enables them to win. We develop innovative solutions for hundreds of thousands of organizations every year, providing them with skilled talent while finding meaningful, sustainable employment for millions of people across a wide range of industries and skills. Our expert family of brands – Manpower, Experis and Talent Solutions – creates substantial value for candidates and clients across more than 75 countries and territories and has done so for over 70 years. We are recognized consistently for our diversity - as a best place to work for Women, Inclusion, Equality and Disability. In 2021, ManpowerGroup was named one of the World's Most Ethical Companies for the twelfth year - all confirming our position as the brand of choice for businesses, partners, and in-demand talent.
Nguyen Dinh Hoang Yen – Marketing and PR Manager – email: yen.nguyenhoang@manpower.com.vn - Tel: +84 28 3911 0950 (ext. 125)