(SME: Dearborn, MI) -- While there has been a significant loss of repetitive manufacturing jobs, workers with engineering and high-tech skills remain in demand and are vital to keeping manufacturing and the economy going.

A recent survey conducted by Deloitte, Oracle, and the Manufacturing Institute revealed that more than half of U.S. manufacturers reported significant shortages of “high-skilled workers.” But who will fill these high-skilled jobs when, according to The Manufacturing Institute, “half of the manufacturing work force will turn over in the next decade as Baby Boomers retire”? Who will be there to innovate job-creating products?

Doug Mitchell, development engineer at Ford Motor Co. Design and a member of the Rapid Technologies & Additive Manufacturing Community (RTAM) of SME, is concerned about the future. “Not enough engineers are being trained in the U.S. That’s one reason work is being outsourced,” Mitchell says.

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