In part one of this four-part series about Manufacturing Day, you’ll learn about the incredible impact that the American manufacturing industry has on the U.S. economy and the history of National Manufacturing Day. Parts two through four feature interviews about the modern manufacturing industry with representatives from Festo, Red Lion Controls, and Eaton.
Manufacturing is vital component of the U.S. economy. The American manufacturing industry contributed $2.9 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2023, accounting for just over 10% of annual GDP, and drove 20% of the nation’s capital investment, 30% of productivity growth, and 60% of exports in 2022. The manufacturing sector is also central to a complex value chain that includes both upstream and downstream supply chains, extending from materials and services to logistics and retail, which further amplifies its economic impact. In fact, according to the National Association of Manufacturers, every $1.00 invested in manufacturing currently has a total impact of $2.69 on the U.S. economy, which makes it one of the largest sectoral multipliers in the economy. In addition, the American manufacturing industry employed approximately 13 million people in 2023, accounting for 8.3% of all U.S. jobs, and in 2022, those jobs paid an average salary of $98,846, including benefits, and an average hourly rate of $34.24.
The American manufacturing industry is also a significant driver of innovation and competitiveness, which is crucial for addressing national challenges ranging from reducing greenhouse gas emissions and our reliance on imported energy to ensuring domestic production capabilities for national security purposes. In 2022, the industry supported over 70% of national business research and development.
Unfortunately, despite its sustained and significant impact on economic growth, job creation, innovation, and national resilience, the American manufacturing industry continues to face various challenges ranging from policy failures and global competition, and this has led to steady reductions in the number of manufacturing organizations and jobs since the late 1990s. National Manufacturing Day is one of many nationwide efforts to turn the tide.
Manufacturing Day was conceptualized in 2011 as part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NIST MEP) program, which aims to help American manufacturers incorporate innovation, new technologies, productivity, and quality improvement techniques and develop their workforce. Ed Youdell, President and CEO of the Fabricators and Manufacturers’ Association (FMA), and Dileep Thatte of the NIST MEP initially discussed the possibility of a special day to get FMA members involved with the NIST MEP but soon realized that such a platform could extend well beyond the FMA and created Manufacturing Day to encourage manufacturers nationwide to invite their local communities in, demonstrate what modern manufacturing is, and showcase the value it provides.
The first Manufacturing Day, or MFG Day, was on October 5, 2012, and featured 240 events, largely in the Midwest, that showed the general public — and especially parents and schoolchildren — that modern manufacturing is a far cry from the labor-intensive, coal-covered depictions they’ve seen in movies to help minimize the perception gap that’s been contributing to the industry’s persistent skilled labor shortage. These events showcased the innovative technologies that underpin modern manufacturing, including computers, robotics, and automation systems, as well as the creativity, innovation, teamwork, technical skills, and salaries of the modern manufacturing workforce.
Manufacturing Day continued to be celebrated on the first Friday in October, expanding its influence with each passing year, and in 2016, the Manufacturing Institute, the workforce development and education affiliate of the National Association of Manufacturers, took charge of the initiative. Just three years later, in 2019, Manufacturing Day — now abbreviated to MFG Day — consisted of more than 3,000 events extending throughout all 50 states and Puerto Rico and welcomed more than 325,000 students, teachers, and parents. In recent years, the celebrations have extended to include the whole month of October, now informally deemed Manufacturing Month, and community leaders and legislators have also participated in building excitement about manufacturing careers to help their communities thrive. The influence of Manufacturing Day and Month and their efforts to fill the roughly four million high-paying, high-tech, and high-skill job gap currently projected over the next decade have expanded so far, in fact, that just last year, in 2023, President Biden declared the first Friday in October National Manufacturing Day.
To learn more about the skilled labor shortages affecting the American manufacturing industry, check out our three-part “Overcoming Industrial Market Challenges With Industry 4.0” Series. To learn about other challenges affecting the industry — including evolving industry standards, cybersecurity, IT/OT convergence, safety, traceability requirements, competing communication protocols, unplanned downtime, and IIoT implementation — and the product and service solutions that can help you overcome them, click the links embedded here. For expert insights into the modern manufacturing industry, click through to the next three installations in this series, which feature interviews with representatives from Festo (Part 2), Red Lion Controls (Part 3), and Eaton (Part 4), who, in the spirit of Manufacturing Day, aim to shift the industry’s perceptions and help close the skills gap impacting its continued success.
