The Culture of Makers

Recently, the term "maker" has become associated with an interesting slice of the modern population. Rather than being content with typical do-it-yourself projects, this culture uses advanced engineering principles in their DIY designs. Conversely, individuals in the manufacturing industry are culture makers. Newer materials and advances in modern industrial technologies have led to the creation of cutting-edge products and a lot of skilled worker positions, many of which remain unfilled. With a lack of qualified applicants available, your company may want to consider another source of talent: individuals in the maker culture.

Industry undeniably drives contemporary culture. Manufacturing techniques have advanced enormously in the last few decades—particularly since the year 2000. By stepping over the boundaries of conventional science, machines such as 3-D printers have effectively made science fiction a tangible part of the industrial world.

When the first three-dimensional printers were made, their creative capabilities were restricted to smaller objects and they weren't widely used in the manufacturing industry as a result. On top of that, printers often cost $175,000 or more, so many companies and entrepreneurial culture makers were unable to benefit from the prohibitively expensive technology.

Now, however, top-quality industrial devices can be purchased for less than $35,000. The decreased expense of 3-D printing technology has led to its increased application in various sectors:

• Parts fabrication in the automobile industry.
  
   
• Prototype creation in the toy industry.
  
   
• Portable electronics designs and other essential elements in contemporary culture.
  
   
• Bioprinting in medical settings: for example, artificial skin creation.
  
   
• Human joint fabrication—particularly in complex cases.

Brand new manufacturing techniques also include other advanced robotic technologies, all of which have become less expensive in recent years. Meanwhile, innovative materials—such as electro-active polymers and self-reinforced thermoplastics—continue to add functionality and performance to newly developed products.

While exciting, these technological breakthroughs have led to significant changes in the manufacturing industry. Since the turn of the century, many factory employees have been replaced by robot workers, some of which complete tasks ten times more quickly than their human equivalents. Opinions about the influx of robotics into manufacturing vary. As a culture maker, you might feel a sense of gadget overload; perhaps you worry that robots may replace the biological workforce entirely at some point.

On the other hand, perhaps you—like other industry experts and culture makers—feel that the robotics revolution has been responsible for the creation of a new variety of human jobs. As the twenty-first century has progressed, the number of factory worker jobs has fallen; however, the number of employment openings for highly skilled individuals in the manufacturing industry has risen over the same time period. In November 2012, for example, there were approximately 600,000 skilled worker positions available in the production trade, all of which were unfilled because of a lack of qualified applicants.

With that in mind, many industry pundits have called for an increased emphasis on technical and vocational education—in both high schools and colleges. Some former factory workers transition from their previous positions into more advanced roles easily; others do not. People already enmeshed in the maker culture may be particularly well suited to more complex manufacturing jobs, some of which require a skillset based on physical creativity as well as programming knowledge.

Innovation—whether technological, technical, or material—is likely to continue reshaping the manufacturing industry over the coming decades. Many factory worker jobs have been made obsolete in recent times by culture makers' increased use of robotics technology. However, this change has led to a dramatic increase in the number of skilled worker positions; robots need to be maintained, programmed, and supervised. As jobs in the production industry move away from the physical and into the technological, perhaps your company—and other culture makers—will find a new worker resource in the maker culture.

(Photo courtesy of Freedigitalphotos.net)