A Great Life in Manufacturing

The manufacturing industry is starting to see more interest from students who want to consider a two-year technical degree as an alternative to the typical four-year college. The case to be made is compelling. Graduates with four-year degrees might be fortunate to get a job that starts at $40K, $50K or $60K, but they may also be facing years of payments on student loans. Those graduating from a two-year technical school will likely start with a lower salary, but the demand for their skills is so great, the opportunity exists where they can quickly increase their earnings. In five years, they can be making a significant annual income.

A Variety of Career Paths

Job opportunities in manufacturing are not limited to just the technical areas. People tend to think about the operator who pushes the button, but there are many other fulfilling career paths that one can take in manufacturing, from programming to operations, supply chain, quality, and IT support for IoT/visualization/data analysis. Not to mention more traditional roles in areas like contract administration, human resources, finance and marketing. Many of these jobs don’t involve being in a plant on a daily basis and are quite similar to typical corporate positions.

Manufacturing Day 2019

In order to increase the number of students who are pursuing a manufacturing career path we must start with education and awareness of the possibilities. On October 4, 2019 Okuma will participate in Manufacturing Day, which is designed to do just that. We’re currently in the final stages of preparations to host a group of 200 students and faculty from local high schools on that day. Our theme this year is “The Digital Age of Manufacturing” and attendees will visit a variety of stations (some of which are hands-on) including a live machine tool demo, software engineering, an interactive robot, 3D printing and a tour of Okuma America’s facilities.

A Great Life in Manufacturing

Okuma has been hosting Manufacturing Day events for many years now, and we can feel growing acceptance of manufacturing as a desirable career path. We need to keep pushing this agenda, and we will. I’m more optimistic than ever that there’s a large pool of promising talent out there looking to move into a stable career environment that offers significant growth opportunities. We look forward to showing this next group of students that they can create a great life for themselves in manufacturing.

About Jim King

Jim King is President & COO of Okuma America Corporation, a world-leading builder of CNC (Computer Numeric Control) machine tools founded in 1898 in Nagoya, Japan. Okuma is the industry’s only single-source provider, with the CNC machine, drive, motors, encoders, and spindle all manufactured by Okuma. The company also designs their own CNC controls to integrate seamlessly with each machine tool’s functionality.

Company: Okuma America Corporation
Website: www.okuma.com
Connect with Jim on LinkedIn.