Northwest Indiana has long been proud of its industrial might, and deservedly so. That muscle must not be allowed to atrophy.
We must pay attention to manufacturers' future workforce needs.
Here in Northwest Indiana, the expectation once was that many high school graduates would become steelworkers, just like their fathers and uncles. Then the pendulum swung and all students were expected to get four-year college degrees. But don't discount the value of training to work in a factory.
U.S. Steel Corp. CEO Mario Longhi and others said at a recent World Steel Association conference in Chicago that the steel industry technology is becoming increasingly automated. That’s eliminating the low-skill jobs that many associate with heavy manufacturing but opens opportunities for skilled jobs to support that infrastructure of automation.
This is a message that must be told, repeatedly, to students, their parents and educators. There will still be low-skill jobs available, but the number of those is shrinking — and those should be seen as temporary jobs, not a permanent career.
A recent Manufacturing Day event highlighted Northwest Indiana’s heavy reliance on manufacturing jobs to support the local economy.
Manufacturing jobs traditionally pay well, higher than most jobs in the region.
We mourn the loss of steel jobs in Northwest Indiana, and for good reason. There were about 70,000 steel jobs here in the 1970s, and it's down to 20,000 today, said NIPSCO Director of Economic Development Don Babcock. Losing that many jobs hurts.
But rather than focus on the past, look to the future.
Roughly 11 percent of the region's workforce is the manufacturing sector, which supports about 40 percent of the region's jobs. The Northwest Indiana Forum estimates every dollar spent on manufacturing adds $1.48 to the workforce.
Manufacturing isn’t just good for the employees and their families; it’s at the heart of who we are in Northwest Indiana.
U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind., said what many of us believe: "I grew up in the Glen Park neighborhood of Gary, and I believe in the bottom of my heart we need to make stuff. When we stop making stuff, we become stupid."
Not all jobs can be service-based. "We all can't just be each other's bankers. Someone's got to make something," said Mark John, director of the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Manufacturing Office.
We also must continue to develop new technologies and processes that allow U.S. manufacturers to remain competitive in a global economy. ArcelorMittal, for example, houses a global research and development facility in East Chicago that develops new steels and new ways to make them. Purdue University Calumet's Center for Innovation through Visualization & Simulation and others help support manufacturing in the region, too.
We need to produce producers, but also thinkers who can retool our production lines and create new products.
Manufacturing is at the heart of who we are and who we will continue to be. We need to ensure the future workforce continues that tradition.