Modern Manufacturing – Embracing the Cool of Technical Careers
By Alex Batty, MHI Marketing Communications Coordinator |@mhi_alex
So there’s this stereotype that supply chain, material handling, and manufacturing is just a field for the old boy’s club. That it’s just running heavy machinery and moving boxes around.
While there still is that, it is so much more now. Supply chain adapts to the customers’ needs and they need it better, faster, stronger all around the world. Supply chain does some great stuff with some cool stuff.
But the stereotype remains and, culturally, it has been determined that Millennials don’t want to work in a dusty warehouse. And it’s mostly true. We tend to want to work with the shiny new things that we’re used to; the things we know can make a difference if used properly. The thing is… supply chain and shiny tech? Not mutually exclusive.
I, frankly, have been exposed to more cool new tech since I started working here than I ever found while surfing the web (do people say that anymore? Am I old in a young body???) or doing research for my personal tech toys.
For example, did you know that many supply chain companies employ smart autonomous vehicles to pick inventory? They move around the warehouse totally on their own, find inventory, pull it off the shelf and drop it at the packing station (and honestly, look really pretty and shiny while doing so. These ain’t your momma’s industrial robots). It’s like the Jetsons (again, is that too old of a reference? Am I an old soul? What is pop culture?) Or wearables, with smart glasses like Google Glass giving live updates, data, and instructions as you work (Minority Report anyone? I know you get that reference).
Millennials want jobs. Period. Gotta pay off them student loans. But we dream of cool jobs. And guess what? They’re hiding in supply chain. You wanna work high tech? Work in supply chain. Are you a woman? Come kick butt in our field.
We believe in the future of supply chain so much we started an entire campaign around it. The #IWorkInTheSupplyChain program allows supply chain professionals—or prospective professionals—to tell their story, to explain why supply chain is a hip and happening (okay, now I need help. I promise I’m a real Millennial; I’m under 30) place to work.
You can enter to win the 2017 Face of the Supply Chain contest and the winner will be presented an award at ProMat 2017 in Chicago and become the face of the campaign in the industry for the upcoming year. You can read more about the contest at iworkinthesupplychain.com and submit your story today. The deadline is March 17.
Now that you’ve wandered through my existential crisis, come check out this field. I know Silicon Valley is pretty and shiny, but supply chain does just as much innovating, requires the same sorts of skills (technology, programming, problem-solving, innovation, cloud-based data processing, analytics, design, marketing, etc., etc., etc.,) and on top of that, supply chain is not going anywhere. People will always need goods moved from point A to point Z. Job security. The holy grail.
Want to make something, make an impact? Supply chain can do that. Come play.
