Over the past year, we have seen manufacturing, supply chain, and logistics companies have a heightened focus around efficiencies when it comes to the creation and distribution of their product lines. This has caused companies to ensure optimization is a key focus whenever possible when it comes to their IT platforms. We’ve also seen an uptick in the development space, especially when it comes to application development in the manufacturing space.

There has also been an increase in focus around Cybersecurity as companies continue to explore better ways to manufacture their products and keep the information of how that product is being processed secure. The heart and soul of a manufacturing company is their people and their products, so protecting vital internal information and communications is key in both areas.

Key Findings in the Manufacturing Industry Include:

• Top six job titles requested were:
  • Business Analysts
  • QA Engineers
  • Project Managers
  • Agile QA Analysts
  • Application Developers
  • Business Intelligence
• Of all placements made in the past year, contract roles were the most desirable and made up 68% of jobs.
• 84% of manufacturing jobs over the past year were remote, while 16% required some sort of in-office work.
• 19% of candidates said that growth potential would sway their decision when considering a new job.
• A quick survey of our network revealed some insight into what’s keeping employees at their current place of work. 17% said the ability to work remotely was their top priority, followed by compensation, flexibility, and the projects they are working on.
• We recently conducted a poll for manufacturing clients asking them what the most important Cybersecurity practice is in their organization. 36% said employee training is their top priority, followed by conducting risk assessments at 28%, regular software updates at 22%, and forming a cybersecurity policy at 13%.

It seems as though any discussion around AI is increasing and it will be interesting to see how companies first learn and then leverage AI. I think most will agree with me when I say that AI has the potential to improve all that organizations do today as well as in the future. With that in mind, we feel strongly that AI is going to play a big part in both the continuation of how organizations manufacture existing products as well as exploring new products in order to help their business grow.

Nate O’Keeffe, Executive Vice President, Planet Technology

About Planet Technology

Specializing in Information Technology, Cybersecurity, Software Technology and Development, Technical Support and Quality Assurance, and led by a team of experienced Tech recruiting experts, Planet Technology team is the ideal partner to help you with your talent needs.

Our Core Technology group was born after The Planet Group acquired WinterWyman, an award-winning talent acquisition firm, and Interactive Business Systems, a well-known provider for IT staffing. Post-acquisition, WinterWyman and IBS joined Planet121, an enterprise solutions expert, and Planet Interactive, a creative and digital recruitment specialist, to form Planet Technology. They were joined by I.T. Works Recruitment, Inc. and OmniPoint Staffing in 2021.

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