Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Women with STEM degrees are more than twice as likely as men to work in manufacturing

Survey finds 82% of women are likely to recommend a career in manufacturing, but leadership roles lag, Women in Manufacturing (WiM) and Xometry say.

xometry Screen Shot 2023-04-21 at 11.31.50 AM.png

Women who graduate from STEM programs are more than twice as likely as men to pursue a career in manufacturing, according to a survey from the trade group Women in Manufacturing (WiM) and Xometry, an on-demand manufacturing marketplace.

Studying courses in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) prompted 38% of women intentionally to seek a career in industry, compared with just 18% of men with that same background, the two groups found in their third-annual “Career Advancement for Manufacturing Report.”


The annual survey released today also found that an overwhelming majority of women (82%) are likely to recommend a career in manufacturing, up from 75% in 2022, yet actual representation of women in the manufacturing industry has remained relatively unchanged. Since 2020, only one in four manufacturing leaders are women, a persistent sign that more can be done to help advance women in key leadership roles. Still, the number of women who believe they have made significant progress in manufacturing has nearly doubled in the last three years – up from 17% in 2020 to more than 30% today.

“While we are pleased to see the continued optimism from women in the manufacturing sector, the fact that actual representation has remained largely unchanged in all levels of the industry shows that more needs to be done to ensure inclusion and proper representation,” Kathy Mayerhofer, Xometry’s chief sales officer, said in a release. “The manufacturing industry of today is more high-tech and offers more leadership and entrepreneurial opportunities than ever, and we’d like to bring more women into an industry that is so pivotal to our global economy.”

By sector, the areas having the highest percentage of female leaders in manufacturing are agriculture (28%), electronics (27%), and environmental (27%), the survey showed.

The study was conducted online over a 13-day period from March 1 to 13. The research surveyed 1,170 North American suppliers and industry professionals who work at companies with revenues spanning from less than $1 million to more than $1 billion.

 

Recent

More Stories

chart of number of containerships off east coast ports

East Coast ports work through hefty backlog of containers

Shippers and carriers at ports along the East and Gulf coasts today are working through a backlog of stranded containers stuck on ships at sea, now that dockworkers and port operators have agreed to a tentative deal that ends the dockworkers strike.

The agreement between the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance Ltd. (USMX) hinges on a compromise deal on wage hikes and returns both parties to the negotiating table to hammer out a remaining debate over automation by a new deadline of January 15, 2025.

Keep ReadingShow less

Featured

Logistics activity expanded in September
LMI/CSCMP

Logistics activity expanded in September

Economic activity in the logistics industry expanded for the 10th straight month in September, reaching its highest reading in two years, according to the latest Logistics Managers’ Index (LMI) report, released this week.

The LMI registered 58.6, up more than two points from August’s reading and its highest level since September 2022.

Keep ReadingShow less
logo images ILA dockworkers union USMX ports

Strike ends: East Coast dockworkers return to work

Dockworkers at dozens of U.S. East and Gulf coast ports are returning to work tonight, ending a three-day strike that had paralyzed the flow of around 50% of all imports and exports in the United States during ocean peak season.

In identical statements posted to their websites, the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA)—the union representing some 45,000 workers—and the United States Maritime Alliance Ltd. (USMX) said they had struck a deal.

Keep ReadingShow less
team collaborating on data with laptops

Gartner: data governance strategy is key to making AI pay off

Supply chain planning (SCP) leaders working on transformation efforts are focused on two major high-impact technology trends, composite AI and supply chain data governance, according to a study from Gartner, Inc.

"SCP leaders are in the process of developing transformation roadmaps that will prioritize delivering on advanced decision intelligence and automated decision making," Eva Dawkins, Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Composite AI, which is the combined application of different AI techniques to improve learning efficiency, will drive the optimization and automation of many planning activities at scale, while supply chain data governance is the foundational key for digital transformation.”

Keep ReadingShow less
manufacturing job growth in US factories

Savills “cautiously optimistic” on future of U.S. manufacturing boom

The U.S. manufacturing sector has become an engine of new job creation over the past four years, thanks to a combination of federal incentives and mega-trends like nearshoring and the clean energy boom, according to the industrial real estate firm Savills.

While those manufacturing announcements have softened slightly from their 2022 high point, they remain historically elevated. And the sector’s growth outlook remains strong, regardless of the results of the November U.S. presidential election, the company said in its September “Savills Manufacturing Report.”

Keep ReadingShow less