Automation = Opportunity: How Robots Create More Careers

Guest: Jake Hall, The Manufacturing Millennial

In this episode, Jake Hall, known as The Manufacturing Millennial, joins Sean to challenge outdated views of packaging and processing. He highlights how robotics, automation, and digital skills are reshaping the industry, why robots save jobs rather than replace them, and how manufacturers can use social media and community outreach to attract the next generation of talent.

Sean: Hi, and welcome to unPACKed with PMMI. In this episode, Jake Hall, known as The Manufacturing Millennial, joins Sean to challenge outdated views of packaging and processing. He highlights how robotics, automation, and digital skills are reshaping the industry, why robots save jobs rather than replace them, and how manufacturers can use social media and community outreach to attract the next generation of talent.

So with all the fancy introductions out of the way, welcome to the podcast, Jake.

Jake Hall: Oh man, Sean, it's great to be here. Thanks for having me.

Sean: The pleasure is all ours. So you're the Manufacturing Millennial, and you talk about manufacturing constantly, and you talk about its need to rebrand itself. So what are the biggest misconceptions out there that young people have about careers in packaging and processing, specifically in the manufacturing sector, and how do we start changing that narrative?

Jake Hall: There are a couple of things that come to mind. One thing that I always hear about coming from especially parents is that manufacturing and packaging, where all the products that we consume every day are made and produced, it's this dark, dirty, dull, dangerous environment that parents out there say, "We don't want our kids to go in and do this because this is what we remember it being like 30 years ago." And when you look at what packaging is today, it's so different from what it was; there's automation, there's skilled jobs, there's a lot of technology that's evolved today. So being able to go out there and really showcase, hey, this is what this industry has to offer, really matters, and I think the perception that it's just this old industry just really isn't the case in both big companies and small.

Sean: Yeah, I expected that answer, and it still surprises me, as we've been having this issue with the workforce for years, and people joining the workforce, that there is still that misconception out there that it's 1920 up in Sinclair or something like that, where processing and packaging plants are these unsafe dingy places.

Jake Hall: And it's one of those things, too, where it's a constant... I don't want to say it's a battle, but it's a conversation. So I'll give you an example of one. So I have these robot dogs that I bring around to go in and have parents and kids be able to drive them around. It's a great way to have conversations.

Sean: Sure, very cool.

Jake Hall: So we do an event with Chick-fil-A right down the road from us, it gives a great opportunity for me to talk to local parents in the area and say, "Hey, why do you have these robot dogs?" It's a great question you ask. I've either talked to parents about what your kid could do when they get older, when they get into high school, the programs that they can be involved with, and they go out there and say, "My father used to work in this industry," and being in Michigan, it's very heavy automotive, a lot of tier two, a lot of tier three. And I say, "Listen, manufacturing can be automotive, but did you know right down the road from us is where they make Pop-Tarts? Or just down south of us, hey, there's one of the largest cereal manufacturers in the world, which is 35 minutes from us. Or you go right by the airport, that's where we're making a lot of products for a lot of vaccines and medicines. Or right down the road, here's a manufacturing facility that makes the invisible liner braces that go in your mouth." And it's one of those things where even parents still have this misconception that only manufacturing is this, when they don't realize the breadth of what industries have to offer, and packaging can be for... Yeah, it could be automotive, but it could be consumer goods, it could be healthcare, it could be food. There are just so many different industries, and until you have that conversation with the parents and start talking with them, "This is the changes that have happened," they still don't understand, unless you have that one-on-one conversation.

Sean: Very interesting, okay. Then another thing that we hear a lot, which feels the opposite of what we were just saying, is that there's this skills gap. What specific skills are we talking about that companies are struggling to find operators and employees who can do these things? Because we're telling this manufacturing is a great career and this job that everyone can have, but then at the other end, we're saying there's this skills gap, so is it that there aren't people with the skills or the people with the skills aren't coming?

Jake Hall: Yeah, it's both, it's both. When you look at the industry and what it was, for decades, it was a very manually processed industry. There was a lot of work; there were a lot of generations that worked in that industry throughout their entire career. You look at the average Gen-Xer, you've got the 40s to 60-year-olds, they're going to have three different jobs throughout their entire lifetime. The average millennial will have 11 different jobs by the age they're 30. So when you look at how different the older generation used to work in an industry to the newer generation, you have a lot more turnover in that newer generation, so therefore, the value that an older generation brought with tribal knowledge, continuously learning that then they could be applied for years and years and decades to come within that facility are no longer there anymore. So companies are now turning to automation to alleviate their pain when it comes to the labor shortage and the skills gap that exists. But now, all of a sudden, as the skill gaps exist, we're adopting automation. Now, what’s happening... It's not even the new workforce; it's the existing workforce that's currently in packaging and manufacturing right now that doesn't have the proper skill sets for when going in and then handling new technology. So you had a very manual process line, where maybe you were doing some sort of automated end-of-line palletizing system. Now, you go out there and you deploy a collaborative robot to do end-of-line palletizing, great. Now, you created a new skill set that your existing workforce doesn't have when it comes to maybe making adjustments or doing a product changeover or going from a different type of SKU box to do that palletizing, now you need a new skill. And so, either you're going to get that skill by retraining your employees or you're going to get that skill by bringing in a new workforce. And so, when you look at the skill sets, it's one of those things, as we bring new technology in, we need people who understand the technology, whether it be robot programming, machine vision, automated traceability when it comes to barcodes or RFID or vision, robotics is a massive thing, going out there and implementing even a PLC on the floor now. Now, there are a lot more control-based and digital solutions. And speaking of digital, now, as more companies bring digital solutions to their floor, okay, how are we driving an OT solution and collaborating with our IT, where IT for so long was this idea of outside of the manufacturing floor data, now we're putting new manufacturing data on the floor? There are so many different skill sets, new jobs, and new demands that manufacturers need.

Sean: Interesting. Does that then possibly position some manufacturing in a way that might be intimidating to some of the younger workforce because they need these skills?

Jake Hall: I don't think so, I think it creates excitement. I'll give you an example. So I'm in West Michigan, and I went to Granville High School. It's a phenomenal program, did FIRST Robotics, Science Olympiad, and a bunch of stuff there. They have 600 kids, starting in second grade and continuing through their senior year, who are involved with robotics programs. Their robotics programs are larger than their marching band and sports programs in the school district. It's a big school district; it's probably 700, 800 kids graduating per class, so it's a big school district. But when you look at the largest extracurricular activity, which is also in-curricular, it’s robotics, which is saying something about this next generation. My nephew is there, they're making little battle bots that they're 3D printing, and learning how to program robotics. So when you go out there and you're graduating with the skill sets of, oh, I know how to program, I know how to work with manufacturing processes, even if it be automated, even if it has to be out of manufacturing, but now he knows how to work with CAD, with Fusion 360. Oh, by the way, this guy's 13 years old. So when you look at the skill sets that this younger generation has, and then they say, "Hey, these jobs exist in packaging," it's a road now, because all of a sudden, when one of the biggest deployed use cases for collaborative robots is end-of-line palletization, which is predominantly in packaging, it's one of those things where kids see that, oh yeah, I programmed robots when I was in middle school and high school, I could totally do that. And you know what? I might not even have to go to college for that anymore, it could be one of those things where you pull up just a technical degree or you go to a local associate's school and get a two-year associates in robotics, a technician or a mechatronics, it really creates a lot of new high-tech, but also higher paid skill sets that this industry needs.

Sean: Yes, that's fantastic. And this is something that you've already touched on, and there was always this belief, especially going back a ways, I'm much older, a little bit older, that automation and robotics were going to come in and replace workers. But actually, the way that it's playing out now, tech isn't really necessarily filling in for people; it's enabling the people that you have to work better. Would you speak to that?

Jake Hall: I would even go to the point where I have direct examples of how robots are saving jobs and keeping jobs local with local manufacturers. As we create a global economy of competition, we're no longer competing with the company down the road; we're competing with the company, in a lot of cases, across the ocean. And so, when you look at what robots can do, the boring, repetitive, dangerous tasks that people don't like to do, maybe it's not a direct packaging example, but it's a machine tending application. At one point in time, you would have had to have humans take this and put it into a box, or if I were CNC-ing out a metal part, I would have to take that out of a fixture, put it inside my CNC machine, then press go. You would have an operator doing that over and over again, and that costs money. In a lot of cases, like right here in West Michigan, there was a company that implemented three collaborative robots to do machine tending, and that kept them going and that kept them to win that job because then they were able to run more of a lights-out operation, they were able to set up a collection of parts that could then run for four or five hours after everybody went home. And so, robots then create these opportunities, where for the jobs that people don't want to do, and a lot of cases, are those repetitive, those dangerous, those, hey, you're working at a food processing facility and if you're doing end-of-line packaging, a lot of times, you're working in a freezer or something that's around 30 to 50 degrees in temperature, and you know what? Working in there 10 hours a day is not fun. But by the end of the day, those boxes of meat that were just produced need to go on a pallet to get them shipped to a distribution center or directed to stores. Those are high-turnover jobs people don't enjoy. People think it's easy, but honestly, when you're lifting 40-pound boxes in a freezer for eight hours a day, there's no joy to it. Those companies, like Tyson and JBS, and a lot of these big food producers, those are the big turnover jobs. And so, if you can go out there and you can take those jobs, get people a better quality of life with what they do, they're going to enjoy working in a job where people can be creative and work with things, rather than people, what I say, being robots. Let robots do robot tasks; don't let people try to do robot tasks.

Sean: I like that, I like that a lot. As we've been talking, you've rattled off some big names, some big companies, and it makes me think of the smaller manufacturers and how they are having these same problems with needing workforce solutions. Is there any advice you can give to those who are competing with these larger companies that might have robotics and automation but don't have it? What can they do to recruit and retain talent?

Jake Hall: The first thing that I would say is get involved with your community. When you look at the stats, when you look at a local or small to medium-sized business manufacturer, which represents 98.6% of manufacturers in the United States are classified as a small to medium-sized business, when you look at the workforce within those businesses, on average, 75% to 84% of those workers are within the 30-mile radius of where that business is, where they live, where they grew up.

Sean: Makes sense.

Jake Hall: So one of the things that I always push is if you are struggling with workforce, what are you doing as a local manufacturer, as a local packaging company, as a local company that’s trying to drive workforce, how are you engaged with your local community? If those students who are graduating from high school don't know what they want to do when they graduate... You know what? I'm part of this new Gen Z generation, which they saw from us millennials, where we graduated with $30,000, $35,000, $40,000 in student debt. I don't want to go to college and get a four-year degree that I don't know what I'm going to do with when I graduate. We need to do a better job of educating them and making them aware of the opportunities that exist within these industries, and a lot of them have to do with apprenticeship programs. Look at what manufacturers do really well and what is creating these opportunities for kids to get paid while they learn, while they get educated, to walk away with some degree or certificate, and while those are great, those companies do a horrible job telling what they offer to students when graduating, and more specifically, parents. Parents, for so long, put pressure on students to go to college, go to college, go to college, because that Gen X generation basically said, hey, the four-year degree was not as common 25 years ago, where if you had that four-year degree, you're right, you were put on the fast track to get promotions. But now, when you look at the United States, I don't want to say they're being handed out a dime a dozen, I would still recommend, parents, if you're going to go get a STEM degree, go get a STEM degree, if you're kicking being an engineer, go become an engineer, those are great. But for a lot of what I call Gen Ed liberal arts degrees out there, they're not as valuable as what they once were, and getting that $40,000 in student debt or more, depending on if you go to an out-of-state or a private school, in many ways, I would say sets your kid back rather than pushes him forward. And so, if you can go out there and you can say, "You know what? Not great with math and science, but man, they're really good with design and working with their hands," send them to become a welder, have them become an electrician, or work as an HVAC tech. Go out there and get a degree or a skill set in PLC programming. We need PLC programming. It's one of those things where you can go on YouTube right now and you can learn how to program PLCs, you can learn how to program robots, you can learn how to deploy SCADA and MES solutions on a manufacturing floor. The most powerful, highly paid skill sets that are out there right now can be self-taught, in many ways.

Sean: That's a great answer. To put a button on our conversation, you're well-known out there, you have a massive following on social media, and you've made manufacturing relatable and exciting. Do you think there's anything companies in manufacturing can learn from that approach that you've taken when it comes to attracting the next generation? What can they do out there in the social media sphere?

Jake Hall: In many ways, social media should not be a platform for you to talk about your product. Social media should be a platform for you to highlight your people, and I think what is really important for manufacturers is that people relate to people. If you want to attract a workforce, if you want to attract future employees, you need to showcase the people and the culture that work there, you need to showcase the opportunities that exist within your company, how you can start off as an entry-level position, and there's resources and opportunities in place for you to start off here and create growth opportunities to grow within that company. Of course, things aren't going to be handed to them; they've got to work for it, they've got to put in the time, they've got to be able to invest and want to learn, but those resources are available to showcase the success that manufacturers can offer. And I think the big thing as well is that social media is a great way to showcase what you manufacture, what you produce, what you package, which directly relates to people. I think a lot of times, people don't realize how those products get on the shelf at a grocery store, how those products get on the shelf when you're buying makeup or deodorant or toiletries or all this other stuff. That's why I love social media is because I get to bridge that gap and drive more awareness and pull the curtain away on what's happening behind the scenes, and I think more companies should do that. If you can go out there and you're a packaging company and you're making products that people buy every day, show them, "Hey, this is why what we do is important." It could be food, it could be CPG, it could be pharma, it could be MedTech. For me, that's why I love going to Pack Expo every year. I'm super excited to go to Vegas again this fall, because you walk in there and you walk and see, oh, that's how Oreo cookies are packaged, that's how Chips Ahoy! is made. That's how, when I'm going out and I'm buying those open case items at Costco, when I go in there to buy $25 and then my bill's $450 at the end of the day, because who could buy anything at Costco for $100, at the end of the day, that's how all those open case stuff is packaged. And I think it creates a sense of pride when you realize what we do, how it affects the millions of people every single day who eat, and I don't want to say take things for granted, but what they do allows them to give them the opportunity and what we do really matters and affects a lot of people's lives. I think that's one of those things, too, why I always encourage young generations to go into packaging and manufacturing automation is because what you do makes the quality of life not only better for you, but better for the people around you as well.

Sean: That is a perfect way to sum up our discussion; I love that. I want to thank you for taking the time. I know you're a very busy man and had to slot us in, so I want to thank you, Jake, for taking time out of your day to come on our little podcast.

Jake Hall: Sean, always a pleasure, and we'll see you in Vegas.

Sean: Absolutely.

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