Manufacturing 200306

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Manufacturing. Back after World War-2 most of the world's manufacturing was decimated in Europe, Japan, China, India, Germany and so on. The factories in the United States that won the war were still in full swing with no damage. With the war over, times were not just good, but very good. We were making goods and shipping around the world. Workers made good money as did companies. That lasted through the fifties and sixties. And then Japan came back on line with their manufacturing in the seventies. This reporter does not blame them, they were just the first to begin taking jobs away. Later it became south Korea, then Mexico, then India, then China, now Vietnam. The thing is while workers here have always done a good job and deserve good pay, the captains of industry here sold them down the river. I suppose that was good business sense for them, but for American workers, not so much.	Litton. From 2001 to 2007 layoffs were a regular event. I can't speak for everyone, but every day for 7 years I expected to see the security guard turning people away because the plant had closed. It was a tough time for everyone. The writing was on the wall, but no one wanted to look. The odd thing about it was roughly a year before the closing the then head of the circuit board factory and the Interpak facility called everyone together and said that the acquisition of the government contracts meant the circuit factory workers were finally safe in their jobs. If only that were true it would have been a very good thing.	Change The fact that change will happen is perhaps the only constant in the universe. The change that happened when Litton closed was tough for everyone. So many of us were, to put it kindly, advanced in age. The engineers seemed to have no problem finding another job as far as I know, but those who graduated from high school, worked for 30-40 years at Litton and were over 50 had a rough time for the most part. Back in those days when people left high school and went to work in a factory, they had a good steady job and it was a smart thing to do for someone who did not want to go to college or just as likely had no way to afford it. I believe I can safely say that manufacturing jobs will never come back. The factories that may start here will be automated, requiring perhaps 10% of the jobs that once were here. Non college job opportunity's are returning these days in welding, plumbing, electrical work, nursing home work, solar panel installation; and there are more.