The global manufacturing space has largely recovered in the wake of the Great Recession. The industry continues to grow at an annualized rate of more than 2 percent, according to research from the World Bank Group. American producers are performing particularly well. In 2016, the latest year for which data is available, U.S.-based firms produced goods with a total valuation of approximately $5.8 billion, analysts for the Bureau of Labor Statistics found. That figure is expected to surpass $7 billion by 2026. Despite this seemingly sunny outlook, the manufacturing sector has one significant problem peeking over the horizon: a widespread skills shortage.

Producers are expected to add more than 3.5 million new jobs by 2025, according to projections from Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute. However, industry experts believe 2 million of these positions may go unfilled due to a lack of candidates with the requisite skills needed to succeed on the shop floor and in the back office. Manufacturing CEOs are already finding it difficult to hire skilled production professionals and advanced research positions, spending an average of 70 days and 94 days searching for qualified employees to fill these respective roles, Deloitte reported. What can manufacturers do to address this growing problem? Innovators in the space have suggested that enterprise resource planning technology could help address the skills gap and prevent widespread marketplace regression, according to Manufacturing and Business Technology.

Embracing a technological solution
ERP platforms are, at their cores, data collection and distribution engines. They give businesses the power to gather accurate operational insights and share such information with multiple parties, from internal stakeholders in the accounting and shipping and receiving departments to external enterprise partners and even customers. These brands of ERP knowledge sharing are well-documented and lie at the center of deployments designed to bolster the bottom line. However, ERP solutions can also support internal information distribution efforts that empower manufacturing workers to reach new heights and overcome knowledge gaps. It is this use case that could prove useful for producers hoping to successfully navigate the expanding skills gap.

Some industry analysts have suggested that manufacturers could address the shortage of qualified technicians by upgrading their legacy ERP systems to newer externally-managed models and moving valuable technical personnel to projects that more directly affect production, Industry Week reported. This strategy allows firms to get the most out of their existing workforce and keeps them from having to enter the increasingly competitive and skill-deficient labor market.

Pinpointing the right partner
Both of these ERP-centered solutions to the growing skills shortage in the manufacturing space require support from a trusted software partner like Accent Software. Whether your organization intends to upskill workers via a reliable ERP solution or swap legacy software for a more modern alternative in hopes of freeing technical talent, Accent Software can help. As a certified Microsoft Business Solutions partner, we provide vendor-vetted Microsoft Dynamics NAV implementation services, giving manufacturers the power to future-proof their operations with cutting-edge ERP software.

Connect with us today to learn more about how our offerings can help your firm address the skills gap.