Let’s Get Interactive!

Wikipedia defines a blog “(which is a blend of the term web log) as a type of website or part of a website that is supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Although not a must, most good quality blogs are interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments and even message each other. It is this interactivity that distinguishes them from other static websites. In that sense, blogging can be seen as a form of social networking. Indeed, bloggers do not only produce content to post on their blogs but also build social relationships with their readers and other bloggers.”

So for MMT’s Blog we want to focus on the interactivity. We want to create discussion and start conversations to continue building the community we’ve brought together through MoldMaking Technology magazine since 1998. And a hot-button topic that touches all of us is the continual number-one cited challenge to the moldmaking industry today: finding, hiring and retaining a skilled workforce for the present and future.

I’ve always felt that the manufacturing industry as a whole has gotten a bad rep. Growing up parents, family and friends did not talk about the trades. And tech schools were something “those other kids” did.  And the moldmaking industry has it even tougher because it’s hard enough to explain that the product that person is holding (and with which he could not live without) was designed and built by a person, let alone that one essential aspect of making that product involves the engineering and manufacturing of another critical component—a mold!

So while “those kids” were on their way to learning a valuable skill, we were pushed into—almost expected to enter—the world of academia. Now I am not putting down college, I am just asking, why weren’t we also pushed to explore the trades too??
 

I happen to think it is largely a marketing problem. This industry—as technology-driven, skills-laden, financially-rewarding, opportunity-rich, idea-provoking and problem-solving as it is—does not market itself that way to the generations to come. On this note, I want to share with you a video from an Austrian moldmaker that one of my editorial advisory board members shared with me. It does an excellent job of making this industry look and feel like an exciting and rewarding field to be a part of. Check it out!