The future of manufacturing roles in digital era

The global manufacturing sector is estimated to grow millions of new job over the next decade. At the same time, millions of manufacturing workers are set to retire by 2025, while digitization and automation are changing skills at unprecedented rate. The manufacturing jobs of today will be different compared to yesterday.

​Our workforce analysis indicate that there are future roles that include both the technical and soft skills for in-demand roles such as collaborative robotics specialists, manufacturing cybersecurity strategists and enterprise digital ethicists. Organizations need to identify people with adjacent skills - those skills that are connected and can be adapted easily, developed and applied to these new roles. This is how manufacturing organizations can source a talent pipeline for existing and future factories, put new technology into practice and remain globally competitive.

In exhibit 1 below, we are exploring the manufacturing roles today, and how it evolves to new manufacturing roles tomorrow.

Manufacturing Roles Today	Manufacturing Roles Tomorrow
Assembler	Digital Manufacturing Engineer
Technician	Predictive Maintenance Systems Specialist
Molder	Manufacturing Cyber Security Strategist
Welder​	Collaborative Robotics Specialist
Caster	Digital Manufacturing Biomimicry Specialist
Fabricator	Change Management Strategist
Heat Treater	Enterprise Digital Ethicist
Inspector	Virtual Reality System Specialist
Machinist	User Experience Architect
Operator	Digital Twin Architect

Exhibit 1


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Organizations must now assessing for current capabilities and future skills adjacencies. People perform at their best when their role is the right fit for their natural capabilities and their strengths are understood. The most valuable way of understanding human potential and matching people to the right role is by assessment. This is how organizations can identify skills adjacencies - the skills people have that can be easily adapted and applied to new roles.