January 18, 2022, Dispatches from the Plant Newsletter

Published: Tue, 01/18/22

Good morning. Here's a big batch of fresh content from our team of RAM pros. We thank you, as always, for reading and sharing. Stay safe!

Dispatches From The Plant

January 18, 2022

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Some In The Press Are (Again)
Needlessly Beating Up
On Manufacturing

By Bob Williamson, CMRP
CPMM, MIAM, Edito

I grimace when major-newspaper editorialists beat up on manufacturing because of workers leaving, excessive job openings, and an overall decline in jobs. They are looking at data. What do they know about how manufacturing works? And what do they really know about this major economic machine that produces 10.9% of the gross domestic product (GDP) here in the U.S.? Let’s go beyond those numbers and look at manufacturing pre- and post-COVID-19.

“The manufacturing workforce is shrinking,” a recent headline screamed. When we look at the peak of manufacturing (July 1979), there were 19,531,000 employed. As of Dec. 2021, there were 12,580,000 employed in manufacturing. That is clearly a HUGE decline (by the numbers). But what really happened?

This is what happened: a total of five, yes five, economic recessions since 1979, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Manufacturing employment declined in each of them. In 2020, COVID-19 curtailed much of our economy, reduced the need for consumer goods (durable and non-durable manufactured goods), and led to manufacturing layoffs, furloughs, and quits.

After those economic recessions, manufacturing kicked into high gear (again) at some of the highest rates in recent history. A 2014 Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) report update said it best: “Manufacturing is growing, even when manufacturing jobs are not. What is the explanation? A prime candidate is productivity growth.” And this continues to be true today.

So, how does productivity grow in manufacturing? Manufacturers have learned, after going through multiple recessions and rebounds, that their productivity is about more than improving skills and hiring people.

Among other things, manufacturing productivity must flex to suit consumers demands. And as RAM professionals know all too well, productivity is also about new levels of automation. More equipment-reliability-improvement efforts. And lean initiatives.

This statement in the newspaper article also got my attention: “Manufacturing has weathered the biggest surge in workers quitting, a nearly 60% jump compared with pre-pandemic.”

Employees who “quit” their manufacturing jobs in Nov. 2021 (the latest figures available at this time) was 2.3%. Think about it. Some workplaces were reeling from a COVID-19-response roller-coaster of accommodations. Some workers found more financially rewarding “incentives” where they could work less. Jobs opened in new and expanding manufacturing facilities. Others were fed up with things like masking, vaccinations, overtime work, and long hours. Others may have grown frustrated with new technologies and decided retirement was the next best bet. So, they moved on.

Let’s compare. In the same period (Nov. 2021) when manufacturing quits were 2.3% of the employed workforce, (retail) Trade, Transportation, and Utilities reached 3.6%, Professional and business services reached 3.7%, while Accommodation and Food Services sector reported the highest number of quits at 6.9% of their workforces.

Supply-chain bottlenecks are impacting manufacturing on both ends, I.e., receiving and shipping. When raw materials are not available and workarounds are slim to none, manufacturing slows. Transportation is an issue because of the number of job openings (8.2% of the workforce). That should explain why the industry is aggressively exploring intermodal transportation and self-driving trucking where reliability of equipment will be an emerging issue.

The good news: Manufacturing jobs are still rewarding, and there are plenty of openings to be filled by talented people willing to learn. But let’s not beat up on manufacturing job loss, quits, and high numbers of openings. That’s a continuing post-COVID trend across the board. Let’s do our job and keep manufacturing strong, sustainable, and reliable.

bwilliamson@theramreview.com

MORE FRESH FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Lagging Metrics For Asset Management:

By Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP
Principal, T.A. Cook, Editor

Poor performance on Quality can be quite costly. This article, the final installment of a 12-part series, discusses the problem and solutions in terms of real-world Overall Equipment Effectiveness.

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When Machines Fail, More Than One
Problem Could Be At Work

By Heinz Bloch, P.E., Editor

Taking chances with process machinery can be costly. Very. As the author points out, allowing deviations to exist, accumulate, and become the “new normal” is a risk few plants can afford.

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Agile Maintenance: The Next Best Practice

By Ken Bannister, MEch (UK)
CMRP, MLE, Editor

Most businesses (and maintenance departments) have had to adapt to a new reality over the past few years. The difference between flourishing and perishing may boil down to an organization’s agility.

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Unexpected Vibrational Sources: Beware

By Randall Noon, P.E.
When attempting to identify causes of vibration in plant equipment, it may pay to look beyond the usual suspects. If not recognized, some less-common sources of apparent unbalance can be quite vexing.

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A Novel Approach To
Physical-Asset Management
By Howard Penrose, Ph.D., CMRP

General practice, even among some reliability and maintenance pros, is to hold physical-asset management as a separate entity. There can, however, be real benefits in tying it to other plant programs.
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BY T.A. COOK

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BY T.F. Hudgins, Inc.

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READ LOTS MORE ON
theramreview.com

LEST YOU MISSED IT

Here's a "must read" from The Manufacturing Connection: It's Gary Mintchell's recent post, "Intellectual Discipline." In it, he reviews The Data Detective: Ten Easy Rules To Make Sense Of Statistics, a book by Tim Hartford. (It doesn't require a math background.) As Gary writes, "We all get suckered in by statistics that are incomplete or misleading. And we all can miss those numbers that tell us something important. We should stop and consider when we see numbers thrown around in the news or across the dining table." In his opinion, Hartford's book will help you not be fooled.
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