The Boomer generation continues to retire at a significant rate. Millennials, Gen X and Gen Z show limited interest in manufacturing. The demographics of the manufacturing labor situation are not pretty, and the challenges continue. Learn more about how cobots help increase productivity, improve quality, and address the labor shortage by allowing employees to focus on more skilled and valuable tasks.

Justifying automation has never been easier. The Covid pandemic, coupled with a severe worker shortage, a widening skills gap and the "great resignation," has increased demand for automated guided vehicles, conveyors, robots and other types of equipment.

Alabama is home to a variety of manufacturers that employ thousands of people, including Airbus, Austal, Boeing, Daimler, GE Appliances, Honda, Hyundai, Lear, Polaris and Toyota.

The COVID-19 pandemic has propelled a national movement to strengthen domestic supply chains and reshore. Recruitment of the next generation of skilled manufacturing talent is paramount to this effort, but there is a widening gap between the skills needed by industry and the skills of job candidates.