This is an original article from NIST Manufacturing Innovation Blog.

While Fridays have always been a reason to celebrate, the first Friday of October is one that is near and dear to the MEP National Network^TM, as this year, Friday, October 1, is Manufacturing Day (MFG Day)!

Organizing your MFG Day events may have changed quite a bit in the last 18 months. Prioritizing safety, venue capacity constraints, and reduced corporate travel have presented real challenges for organizing manufacturing expos, conferences, factory tours, and other in-person traditional events.

How important is it to bring Millennials into your workforce? Let’s put it this way: Like an unstoppable speeding train, the future is coming up fast. Couple that with the fact that the future belongs to those who adapt advanced manufacturing technologies. Will yours be the company running to catch the train after it has left the station?

“I can’t find people!"

This is without a doubt a common challenge for companies today. Challenges do not go away on their own. As leaders we must develop strategies to use available tools and resources to overcome the challenges. In most key areas of business there are strategic plans. The activities are planned, monitored, and managed to ensure the best results and minimize business impacts.

On the heels of the global pandemic comes yet another challenge for manufacturers to face: The coming of the “smart factory”. The factory that requires you to upskill your workers just to stay afloat and will leave you and your employees behind if you don’t start planning now. Right now.

This is an original article from JFF’s Center for Apprenticeship & Work-Based Learning.

What Is Work-Based Learning?

Work-based learning refers to meaningful training that takes place at work, usually under the direction of employer coaches and managers, and has been shown to produce high value for both companies and workers.

People are an organization’s most valuable, variable, and rewarding resource for managers in any business. Developing this resource in a positive workplace environment to create a culture of excellence is not magic, but... when it clicks, it is magical, and the rewards can be majestic. OUR people, OUR Team.

I remember my mom would make sure I had a quarter in my pocket in case I had to make an emergency call while out with friends. The quarter obviously for the payphone. Do you remember using the payphone? How about when watching your first music video? MTV was a big thing back in the early 80s. Some of us can remember those firsts in our culture yet for some of our colleagues, that transition from “how it was” to “how it is” did not happen. It just always was.

The days of traditional and organic relationship building stopped abruptly in 2020, and the effects are still lingering in 2021. In person meetings were canceled, and virtual meetings took place. Casual run-ins with coworkers at the water cooler stopped, and the way we meet new customers has been altered dramatically.

I grew up in the best place ever. My neighborhood was diverse, just like my family. We are Mexican, Puerto Rican, Black, and all American. I had no idea that I was different or that I was a minority. I believed that what we practiced in our home was the same as every other American.