From working with Central Michigan Manufacturing Association, I've learned that there are many opportunities with a high school or college degree within the manufacturing world. Interesting enough, in chapter 8 of Who Owns the Future, Jaron Lanier points out the key question of the future of manufacturing, "How much will be automated?" In other words, how many jobs are going to be taken by technology as manufacturing progresses as a technological field? My guess: MOST. The CMMA is fighting to get people interested in the manufacturing field, while technology is slowly working against it. Similar to the medical field. There will always be people to program the robots, or what have you, but that eliminates a large percentage of employees. This is already in progress! Look at a milling programmer. In the past, that person carved out each piece of that part to form a part or mold. Now, a person sits in front of a computer and tells a machine what to shape. The benefit of this is the accuracy, and milling programmers are not in high demand. What happens when it continues up the line and the programmer isn't needed because the original draft can be updated without any assistance from a human hand? This is the vicious cycle.
In my opinion, we as a country need to think about where technology is going. But of course more important things like marriage rights are keeping the government busy. A whole story in itself, but point made. It would be a brilliant success if it was calculated out as to how the continuous elimination of jobs through the use of technology is going to effect our economy. Guarantee the percentage of the richest grows while the rest of us begin our journey to poverty. I honestly believe that these developers get caught up in having the next newest technology that they do not think twice on what it will do to society as a whole.
Yet again, we live in a world of "me, me, me!"
Fire Up!
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