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Economic recovery will be shaped by automation solutions

Packaging World Contributing Writer Keith Campbell is spot on when he warns that as the economy recovers, the jobs that will become available will not be the same jobs that were lost when the economy declined. Reproduced here from Campbell’s On The Edge Blog are his thoughts on a truly significant workforce development challenge we face today. If you want to reach Campbell, he’s at [email protected].

If workers have been sitting at home collecting unemployment checks without retooling their skills, they will likely be left behind for some time or find that their new job won't pay what their old one did. For companies hoping to expand, this also creates a challenge. First mover advantage will go to those companies that acquire skilled talent and develop employee loyalty before a bidding war breaks out. Companies that defer, will face the prospect of having to attract new employees with higher compensation, having to foot the bill for accelerated training programs, or having to sit out the recovery.

Thursday's Wall Street Journal once again commented on the jobless recovery in an article by Theo Francis "Why Hiring Lags Even as U.S.. Factories Hum". The article cites automation as a leading, but not the only factor in this trend. Many smaller plants have gone without automation or only experimented with it before the downturn. With interest rates relatively low and with government policy discouraging adding new hires, owners will increasingly turn to automated systems as they add capacity. Traditional factory jobs will be replaced with engineering jobs to design automated systems. The building of these systems will be done with skilled labor, too often overseas. Systems integrators and skilled contractors will install and set up these new lines and multi-skilled mechatronics technicians will maintain them at peak efficiency. Significantly fewer but more computer-savy operators will turn out products of higher quality and lower cost in an expanding economy.

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