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How do you attract and retain a manufacturing workforce in the era of artificial intelligence? If you ask Blake Moret, it’s through lifelong learning.

What’s going on: “[A]s I talk with manufacturers around the country—of all sizes and in different industries—I think there’s a common thread in the jobs of the employees,” the Rockwell Automation CEO and NAM board chair said during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last month.

• “[Employees] want to know what they do is important. They want to have the training and the support to be able to do a good job, and they want to be able to progress. They want to know that there’s a prize there.”
• Moret was joined by other political and manufacturing leaders, including Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and ManpowerGroup President and Chief Strategy Officer Becky Frankiewicz, at Davos for the public launch of a new initiative, SmartStart USA, which aims to train 1 million young people for manufacturing and supply chain jobs by 2035.
• “That’s what SmartStart is all about,” Moret told the audience at Davos. “It feeds this concept of lifelong learning.”

A program for all stages: But SmartStart—which seeks to address both the workforce shortage and forecasts that the majority of job skills are expected to change in the next four years—isn’t just for those starting out in manufacturing, Moret said.

• “This is for high school kids, to acquaint them with the type of applications and the cool technology, including artificial intelligence and robotics, all the tools today that help manufacturers in the U.S. … compete and win against the best around the world,” he said.
• “And it’s also lifelong learning that can start in high school and move into later stages of life, whether [someone] plans to get a college degree or not. And then, finally … we see this in programs that are already existing for workers who are a little bit further along in their career.”

People still needed: While AI will continue to be important and present in manufacturing, human workers will remain critical, too, Moret said in another recent interview.

• “[P]eople are still central to our success and having people who are not only engaged in our activities and like our mission but also feel empowered with the best tools, such as artificial intelligence, to be able to do their jobs better is really important,” he said at the Conference of Paris.

From the MI: “Rockwell Automation continues to set the standard for how manufacturers can invest in workforce development at every stage of a career,” said Carolyn Lee, president and executive director of the Manufacturing Institute. “By focusing on skills and intentional workforce training, manufacturers can ensure their workforces are adaptable to compete and grow in a rapidly changing industry.”