CLusTEr PrOfiLE
From
Plan
To
Product
in Manufacturing careers, you must pay attention
to both the big picture and the smallest details.
Texas
ranks first
M
anufacturing means creating a finished product from into a larger product, so
as an exporTer
raw materials. It turns ideas into reality. Careers in the ability to see both the
of manufacTured
manufacturing require the ability to picture in your big and the small picture
mind what has to happen, and the practical skills to get projects is important.”
producTs and second In
completed as efficiently and effectively as possible.
facTorY producTIon.
“People who can move between the world of physical reality The importance
and abstract thinking will do well in this field,” says John of Technology
Hansen, director of the University of Texas at Tyler’s Ingenuity UT Tyler’s Ingenuity Center is dedicated to promoting the
Center. “Visualization skills and strong analytical skills are vital. technological education of Texas’s middle and high school
Manufacturing is about many, many small steps that accumulate students. The center’s interest in the manufacturing cluster
reflects the increasing importance of technology in the
manufacturing process.
10
Fast-Growing Careers
Advances in robotics and computerization are boosting
productivity and changing what workers in manufacturing careers
do and how they prepare for their jobs. “Manufacturing is not only
Occupation
% Growth New Jobs Created
(2002–2012) (2002–2012)
about the production itself,” Hansen says, “but about jobs that
environmental engineer 40.0% 900
require higher levels of education and a higher order of thinking. It
is all about productivity and innovation in today’s market.”
painter, Transportation equipment 26.6% 850
manufactured building and mobile Home Installer 21.1% 200
Creative skills
packaging and filling machine operator and Tender 20.8% 4,900
Michael Bryant, a professor of mechanical engineering at the
painting, coating, and decorating worker 19.1% 400
University of Texas at Austin, says, “There’s a lot of creativity in
maintenance and repair worker, general 18.8% 19,150
this field, because you’re literally creating the things that are going
to be used all over the world. Your technical skills are like a bag of
general and operations manager 18.8% 30,700
tools that you have.”
medical equipment repairer 18.2% 500
Within that general profile, manufacturing offers many
welder, cutter, solderer, and brazer 15.1% 6,200
different opportunities for different employees. A single product,
cabinetmaker and bench carpenter 13.5% 1,050 for example, has designers, engineers, factory workers, safety
This is a projection of 10 fast-growing careers in manufacturing in Texas from the year 2002 to 2012 and
technicians, salespeople, public relations experts, and managers
the number of new jobs created in each occupation. Note that while the percentage of growth in jobs may
associated with it in one way or another.
be high, the actual number of jobs created may be low. For example, there will be only 200 new jobs for
manufactured building installer created in Texas during the decade that the data covers. Source: Texas
Workforce Commission.
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