Manufacturing and innovation - tied together

Detroit is synonymous with the US auto industry and as such, experienced the worst of the industry's downturn over the past 30 years. So you may be excused for thinking an article on manufacturing from The Detroit News may carry baggage, but the author Mark Benvenuto uses the past troubles as a good example of the importance of an intrinsic link between innovation and manufacturing.

The most salient point for me was the theory that didn't work - namely the practice of shipping production overseas, whil hoping to retain the idea factories locally.

"To believe that is to misunderstand something fundamental: many of the most valuable innovations happen close to production, where scientists, engineers and researchers have tangible problems before them to solve."

He also mentions an admirable initiative from the American Chemical Society, which is awarding chemical scholarships to encourage innovation and job creation in the chemical sciences.

There are plenty of lessons we can learn from Detroit.

Click here to read the full article.

Mature aged workers - an unrealised resource?

An article from the AMMA - the Australian Mines and Metals Association ran a discussion on mature age workers on LinkedIn. Our MSQ General Manager Erik Salonen replied with the following points, which were then used on the AMMA site. Here is the article.

Last week The Australian ran an article about the economic benefits of having older people in the workforce. While Australia struggles with a skills shortage, many other countries are tapping into a particularly rich vein of talent, the over 50 market.

Erik Salonen, General Manager at Manufacturing Skills Queensland, wasn’t one bit surprised at the report. He believes mature aged workers play an important part of any organization, particularly because of the vast amount of intellectual property they take with them when they leave.

Flexible work options

Mr. Salonen advises a key method of attracting and retaining mature age workers is providing flexible work options to accommodate caring responsibilities, health issues or a desire for a different work/life balance. Mature age employees can often be encouraged to stay on when offered:

• phased retirement
• part-time work
• job sharing opportunities
• work from home arrangements

"In particular, phased retirement enables mature age employees to continue to participate in the workplace, allowing employers to retain employees - and their skills and knowledge - for longer than they would otherwise."

“Many options are available for phased retirement, depending on the needs of employees, as well as business and operational requirements.”

Options for Phased Retirement

Mr Salonen shares the following options employers can provide to mature age employees:

• Transition from full-time to part-time work in their current job
• Take alternative job opportunities on either a full-time or part-time basis
• ‘Retire’ from the organisation and contract back
• Work full-time with additional flexible leave and flexible hours entitlements

Business benefits of phased retirement

• Retention of skilled employees in the workforce for a longer period of time
• Preservation of organisational and/ or corporate knowledge
• Provision of a system for effective succession management
• Creation of a flexible and responsive workforce
• Increased return on investment in training and development

Help for mature age workers

Employers are being encouraged to hire and train older workers under a Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) government scheme called Experience +. Over the next three years, 7500 workers aged 50 years and over with trade relevant skills but no formal qualifications will have the opportunity to have their skills assessed and formally recognised. Assistance is available for workers needing an apprenticeships or traineeships. Industries given priority include Construction, Manufacturing, Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services. These grants are also available for small business owners.

For more information, check out:

• Experience +
• More Help for Mature Age Workers

It’s all good news for older workers looking for jobs in mining, energy jobs or oil and gas jobs. As the global resource industry feels pressure to find skilled workers, the biggest source may well be the people who have powered the economy for the past 40 years.

What is your experience with mature age workers?

Click here to see the webpage or comment below.

Stemming the flow - the reluctance of youth to pursue STEM careers

A Reuters article recently points to an ASQ Survey results stating that youth in the US are reluctant to pursue careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) for a number of reasons, perhaps the most disturbing of which is that too much work is involved.

There were 713 respondents surveyed from grades 6-12 who offered the following insights:

• STEM careers offer the most opportunities
• STEM degrees cost too much
• their grades aren't good enough
• too much work is involved
• teachers aren't preparing students well enough for STEM careers (with girls feeling underprepared x4)

I'm not sure if these results for US students translate to the rest of the world, but let us assume they do. So there is a major paradox present here. There is recognition of the opportunities offered by STEM-related careers, but (leaving cost aside) students feel underprepared, disinclined or insecure about pursuing these careers.

Of course, it is probable that a section of those surveyed have not been aligned to STEM careers no matter what the circumstance. However, what seems to be lacking is a passion and drive for STEM careers and visibility of a pathway towards that career.

Certainly from any engineering perspective, there are a number of programs on offer to ignite that passion. See the F1inSchools program that we have been specifically involved with, but also a list of engineering programs for schools is available at the Australian National Engineering Taskforce website.

Such programs ignite the interest, the passion and the drive for students to prepare themselves to take advantage of STEM opportunities.

Click here to read the results of the STEM survey.

Social media for innovators

A blog from the Innovation Excellence site about the importance of social media when it comes to building personal brands. No real surprises there. But author Stefan Lindegaard talks about social media in the context of providing and promoting innovation offerings and constructing the strategy and innovation eco-system supporting this.

Click here toread the full article. 

The disappearing of exports

An opinion piece in the New York Times explores and compares the world of a politician and that of the CEO. Politicians see the world as dominated by voter geography, while CEOs see the world as a global supply chain where anything can be sourced, made and sold.

The author, Thomas Friedman, quotes a Hong Kong manufacturer who says, “Source everywhere, manufacture everywhere, sell everywhere. The whole notion of an ‘export’ is really disappearing.”

But until we vote a one global community, the tension will still exist. So the focus of our elected officials is as key enablers; immigration for the skills, protection of ideas, funding research and provision of logistical infrastructure.

Freidman also alludes to the long-term debt problems of the US, which is not enabled by the four year election cycle. One way around this may be a long-term (longer than four years anyway), bi-partisan, debt-reduction strategy committee - my 2 cents worth, not Freidman's. That is, only if debt-reduction strategy is an important goal for governments.

Click here to read the full article.