Labor, automation, and productivity were the top three priorities of manufacturing executives interviewed this fall prior to the Top to Top Summit, followed by issues such as growth, supply chain, cost, flexibility, and sustainable packaging. Top to Top Summit is an annual three-day networking event of high-level executives in the packaging and processing industry, who meet to discuss industry problems and solutions with the aim of improving industry outcome. Sponsored by PMMI, this year’s meeting (the 15th annual) was held in conjunction with PACK EXPO Las Vegas.
These issues aren’t surprising, as they had been prominent prior to the pandemic, and were exacerbated or sped along during 2020 and 2021.
LABOR
The U.S. has suffered an “unprecedented” labor shortage across the board, heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic. In manufacturing, an additional problem has been the lack of skilled labor and retaining employees. To change the perception of manufacturing careers, conversations are taking place around the need to re-shore manufacturing because of its strategic importance and introducing new tech-related capabilities such as the industrial internet of things (IIoT) and Industry 4.0 as good ways to ‘sell’ manufacturing careers to young people.
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