Manufacturing Momentum: Day 1
August 6, 2025That’s a wrap on day one of the Manufacturing Momentum Summit! CREC and the Upjohn Institute brought more than 200 industry experts in Detroit to discuss barriers, opportunities, trends and real-world stories from the advanced manufacturers tackling their talent and workforce needs. Special thanks to our partners at the Upjohn Institute and our speakers and partners, including Manufacturing USA, SME, AMCC, RTI International, and NIST.
While advanced manufacturing across the defense industrial base is anything but one-size-fits-all, we saw common themes emerge from today’s more than 20 speakers and participants:
- While there is a lot of uncertainty about AI, manufacturers recognize its opportunities and understand how AI and other leading tech can keep humans at the center while streamlining processes and easing some job functions.
- We need to better understand the customer and who the worker is. This means rethinking what we mean by awareness. Paul LaVoie and others pointed out that many young people don’t necessarily have a negative perception of manufacturing; they have no perception of it. Employers need to adapt to a new generation of workers and leverage technology as a resource to address the gender gap. This includes thinking about gamification, AI, and AR/VR—for both building momentum and for training and gaining interest from young people.
- We need a national conversation about manufacturing being about making things for a higher purpose!
- The federal government needs to be better coordinated and more strategic in its leadership, which will help the industry to adapt and will help state, local, and systemic systems to support workers entering and succeeding.
We are looking forward to continuing these conversations during another packed day!