Changing Misperceptions About Manufacturing Jobs

Changing Misperceptions About Manufacturing Jobs

The manufacturing sector is showing a job creation trend and economists expect that it will do so for the next decade, but people question whether there will be workers to fill those jobs. People complain of a skills gap in many business sectors, including manufacturing, but the manufacturing industry has unique barriers to fixing the problem.

Manufacturing jobs have a negative connotation. Many view them as dirty, dangerous jobs that require little skill and pay badly. Recent surveys state that parents of teens wouldn’t encourage their children to pursue a manufacturing career, and teens show little interest in doing so. The good news is that parents and teens are agreeing on something. The bad news is that they’re wrong! 
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Returning an Employee to Work After an Injury

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Let’s face it,  no one wants an employee to sustain an injury on the job. All other considerations aside, a person is hurt, and the only real focus should be on him or her recovering from that injury.

Bringing an injured employee back to work too soon can be disastrous, but at the same time, making sure he or she comes back to work as soon as they’re able to is important to the company’s bottom line. Why? Glad you asked. 
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The Future of 3D Printing and Its Impact on Workers’ Safety

The Future of 3D Printing and Its Impact on Workers’ Safety

Imagine an entire community – an infrastructure of homes, buildings, and even roads – constructed in a matter of hours by one single machine. This may sound like something out of a science fiction novel, but it’s actually one of many very real applications currently in development that utilizes 3D printing technology. Of course by now you’ve heard of 3D printing, but what is it exactly? In the most basic sense, 3D printing is the process of taking a computer-aided design of a three-dimensional item, pressing “print”, and having the real thing created right before your eyes. For the past decade, 3D printing has been an exciting medium for artists and makers, plus the occasional manufacturing application of prototypes or model parts. But as 3D printing technology becomes faster, higher quality, and more competitively priced, it has become a staple not only of product development and testing, but of first-run manufacturing and even construction.

That’s right: construction. Jumbo-sized 3D printers, filled with materials like self-setting cement or synthetic stone, are being introduced into the construction industry to create scaffolding, walls, and even entire homes. 3D printed structures are still largely in the testing phase, but there are solutions already underway for low-income and emergency housing, and commercial applications are not far behind. Manufacturers and construction companies alike won’t have to look hard to see the advantages of 3D printing. After all, companies who are currently using them say the process already minimizes construction waste and lowers production time. But could 3D printing also be making the future of the industry a safer place? Or perhaps more dangerous? 
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Transgender Rights in the (California) Workplace

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There’s been a lot of discussion recently, probably more than at any time in history — about people who identify themselves as transgender. Transgendered people have been part of society for decades, but only within the past few years have many of them felt safe in identifying themselves as transgendered.

While there’s has been a great deal of positivity toward the transgendered community, some people are still uncomfortable with, or confused by, the idea. If you are unsure how you should treat a transgendered person, it’s very simple — with respect, just like everybody else. 
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