On Manufacturing in the 2020s: Please, I beg you… get your sons and (even) daughters into the machine and fabrication trades. I realize my shop is a singular example. But word from all my customers is one or more versions of the following… 1- We are beginning to job out most of our parts to vendors. It is too difficult to keep our machines staffed; and as we grow, it’s becoming less and less likely that we’ll even keep any in house 2- We are trying reshore many of our perishable items and wear items (this means high volume) because overseas production is slowly increasing in cost that the benefits of cheap labor are becoming negligible 3- We need a more local source for specialty items. The leadtime for overseas or even cross-country sourcing is too long. We find that when we receive bad parts, we then have at least another 3 months delay, where as a local supplier can get thru the problem by being on site in 24 hours, analysis and solution is next day, and they can have replacements in our hand within two to three days 4- So many shops closed during Covid and so many of the small shops are closing because the owners don’t have so a going into the trade and the ones who do, their sons didn’t learn actual manufacturing, they just learned the office side. So when there is an issue with the actual parts, they’re lost and typically making excuses My point is, for young men and women, the need is there. And it is so desperate, that starting at $30 an hour with 1-2 years of experience is not even in question. What is $30 an hour annually? $62,000. And that’s not bad for a 20 year-old. If you’re stick with it for 5 to 10 years, and prove yourself, you are going to be more in the $45 an hour range. We need to stop stigmatizing blue collar work.