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R U Ready

 

Manufacturing

MORE INFO
On the Web:
- Biotechnology Industry Organization
- American Apparel Manufacturing Association
SPOTLIGHT ON CTE

Luke Buzzard took Precision Machining Technology as a 10th grader.

“I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I thought I would take something different…and somebody suggested I might like being in the machine shop. I enjoyed it…so the next year, instead of one hour, I took two, and two in my senior year. As a senior I completed in a [Vocational Industrial Clubs of America] competition and won state, then went onto nationals. Before the nationals, I had to go to a company to learn CNC programming (because we mostly had manual machines at my high school). The company I trained at ended up hiring me!”

The manufacturing sector covers a broad array of occupations from food processors and boilermakers to metal workers. Electronic equipment and drug manufacturing are expected to experience strong growth in the next few years, and technology continues to increase demand for computer literate employees in most occupations in this career cluster.

Job outlook
Job growth should vary widely among manufacturing occupations. For example, textile and apparel manufacturing employment is expected to decrease by 46 percent through 2014 because of increasing imports and advanced technology. Pharmaceutical and medical manufacturing should grow 26 percent between 2004 and 2014 because of the increased demand for prescriptions as the population ages and advanced medical treatments become available. Some manufacturing jobs, such as welding, should have a slower than average employment growth, but jobs will be plentiful because a small number of workers have the skills needed for the occupation.

What They Make
Occupation
# Employed
in VA
Average
Salary
Chemical plant system operators
1,220
$28K - 65K
Industrial engineering technicians
1,340
$24K - 81K
Industrial engineers
3,810
$41K - 93K
Industrial machinery mechanics
6,180
$28K - 61K
Industrial production managers
2,780
$46K - 130K
Machinery maintenance specialists
2,960
$21K - 56K
Machinists
7,820
$23K - 48K
Materials engineers
200
$46K - 122K
Millwrights
1,170
$27K - 59K
Packaging, filling machine operators
10,290
$14K - 39K
Production, expediting clerks
9,300
$23K - 62K
Sheet metal workers
6,570
$20K - 55K
Structural metal fabricators, fitters
2,640
$20K - 43K
Team assemblers
17,370
$17K - 36K
Tool and die makers
730
$30K - 59K
Welders, cutters, solderers and brazers
7,600
$22K - 46K


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