Nearly every day a news story is published that proclaims the U.S. manufacturing industry is dead and little if any manufacturing hiring is occurring. Take these claims with a grain of salt. U.S. manufacturers are thriving. But they are not the low tech, unskilled-labor businesses of twenty or thirty years ago. They have integrated so much technology into the manufacturing process that they require highly trained employees.

If a job seeker conducts some job research of the manufacturing industry, he will find that U.S. manufacturing employers are seeking job candidates with skills in four areas:

• Manufacturing degree (or a degree in mechanical, electrical or chemical engineering)
• Knowledge of Quality systems, such as Six Sigma, ISO 9001, TQM, Kaizen, etc.
• Manufacturing Robot Maintenance and Programming
• CNC Machining (set-up, operation and programming)

Most of the manufacturing conducted in the U.S. is high tech manufacturing, such as chemical, semiconductor, petro-chemical, pharmaceutical, among others. To understand the nature of the manufacturing processes requires background information. That's where a degree in engineering becomes so critical. Spending the time earning an engineering degree is worth it: many engineering jobs in this sector start around $50,000 and rise up to over $100,000.

Since manufacturing products in the U.S. is more expensive due to salaries, compliance regulations and cost of materials, it has to be high quality. This is why knowledge of quality systems is important. The goal of a quality system is to ensure that the manufactured product has very little variance from the design standard. It is based on statistical process control (SPC). Six Sigma, ISO 9001 or TQM are different kinds of quality systems. Knowledge of any of these systems would make a job seeker stand out from the other job candidates.

U.S. manufacturing is much more automated than it was thirty years ago. Automation equipment, such as welding robots, perform the manufacturing tasks. Human workers maintain and program the robots. This requires a lot of technical knowledge. The demand of robot programmers is high.

Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machining is another form of automation used in the U.S. manufacturing industry. CNC machines are typically lathes that machine parts used in automobiles, for instance. To operate a CNC machine requires not only machinist skills but programming skills. Just go to any online job board and search for CNC machinist jobs and a job seeker will find hundreds if not thousands of open CNC jobs.

Don't let anyone tell you that the U.S. manufacturing industry is dying. It isn't. But it's a high technology business that requires a high technology employee.