Newspaper: Skilled Work Force Still Needed In Manufacturing

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (July 21, 2008) – Even as the number of overall manufacturing jobs declines in the United States, manufacturers continue to be in need of highly skilled manufacturing engineers and that trend is projected to continue, according to a recent article in the Western Michigan Business Review.

Shabbir Choudhuri, a faculty member at Grand Valley State University, says in the article: "The job of manufacturing engineers hasn't gone anywhere, and those jobs are not going to go anywhere. The only thing is: They're going to require much more (and) finer skills."

The article goes on to state that "the level of technology in contemporary factories demands math and computer skills, and the way products are made demands business and interpersonal skills at high levels. People with the whole package face a limitless horizon of job opportunities."

It's these skills that are the focus of the Quality and Manufacturing Management Program at Penn State.

Administered jointly between the Smeal College of Business and the College of Engineering, the QMM Program integrates business, leadership, communication management, technology, and engineering into a two-semester master's degree curriculum, conferring on its graduates the Master of Manufacturing Management (MMM).

The program produces graduates who can communicate effectively, understand both management and engineering issues, and are up-to-date with lean and six sigma methods—the types of skills identified in the news article that are needed in today's and tomorrow's manufacturing industry.

For more on the QMM program, visit www.mmmdegree.psu.edu.