WKSU Stories

Despite Growth, New Survey Finds Northeast Ohio Manufacturers Still Face Challenges

Ideastream Public Media | By Abigail Bottar,

Published February 17, 2020 at 7:10 PM EST

Northeast Ohio's manufacturing industry has seen growth but needs to adopt new technology to reach its full potential according to MAGNET.

Northeast Ohio manufacturers are facing two main challenges—finding skilled workers and adopting new technology. That’s according to an annual survey of nearly 700 Ohio companies.

Team NEO and manufacturing advocacy group MAGNET found 56 percent of those who responded to the survey reported increased revenue last year. Nearly three quarters expect revenue growth this year.

But MAGNET President and CEO Ethan Karp believes the industry has been slow to adopt technology, such as robots or artificial intelligence, that could help it grow further.

“And if it is that technology that’s really going to make the next generation of manufacturing soar, we’ve got a long way to go.”

By 2025, the survey predicts more than 46,000 annual manufacturing-related job openings.