Industrial engineers design, develop, test, and evaluate integrated systems for managing industrial production processes. Functions include quality control, human work factors, inventory control, logistics and material flow, cost analysis, and production coordination. These and other facets are usually part of the job description when being hired.

Although the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates a 10-percent growth rate among industrial engineers from 2019 to 2029, the attrition rate is anecdotally just as high; that equates to 100-percent attrition in a decade. Nowhere is the dissatisfaction and attrition of industrial engineers as great as in the engineer-to-order manufacturing space.

(ASM: Suwanee, GA) -- With its ASM Factory Equipment Center, ASM is now offering a powerful, integrated software-based solution for companywide asset and maintenance management. You can plan, control, execute, support, and document the maintenance and repairs of all ASM and non-ASM machines, feeders, production tools, and placement heads centrally, including equipment in areas that are not part of your SMT production.

Since you control the software via an approved browser, access is extremely easy and possible from most mobile devices. ASM is also forging new paths in terms of licensing with a demand-based rental model instead of having to purchase the software. Since the rental fee for ASM Factory Equipment Center is based on the number of assets being managed, transparent operating expenses replace investments and their complex depreciation calculations.

(Exact Metrology: Cincinnati) -- Exact Metrology, a comprehensive 3D metrology service provider and hardware sales company, sells Raytech Measuring Systems.

These are shop-floor dimensional measuring machines like the single-axis and the three-axis table for industrial manufacturers. The company offers machines for measuring parts for cutting, bending, punching, waterjet cutting, laser cutting, drilling, and tapping. Custom machines are also available.

It’s a new year, with a new president and new opportunities to boost modern apprenticeship programs in the United States that can help get people back to work and stimulate the economy.

Getting people into apprenticeships has never been more vital, as job losses caused by the pandemic continue to affect millions. Young people in particular have been hit hard, as they’re most likely to be employed in retail and hospitality, two sectors essentially shut down during the Covid-19 crisis. Speed is vital. We can’t risk losing an entire youth cohort to sustained joblessness that could affect their entire lives. Funding new apprenticeships not only provides jobs now, but also generates high, long-run gains in skills, productivity, and earnings for young workers and companies.

Luckily, there are proven strategies for creating apprenticeships and getting young people employed. We just need to look abroad: Australia and the United Kingdom have strong apprenticeship programs and moved quickly to protect apprenticeships when pandemic-related job losses hit last summer. Their experience highlights four strategies that could be adopted by the Biden Administration and funded through the next stimulus program.