All through Q4 of 2022—during which the U.S. economy grow at a 2.9% annualized rate, which is “about normal”—we were treated to the doom and gloom report that said recession was just around the corner.
The layoffs: Here we are in January, and it seems like there are signs that the negative nattering was accurate. Here are the biggest layoffs in 2023 thus far:
- Amazon got rid of 18,000 workers;
- Alphabet (Google’s parent company) laid off 12,000 people;
- Microsoft reduced its force by 10,000; and
- Salesforce.com nixed 8,000.
The questions: Interestingly, the only manufacturer to experience high layoffs was 3M Corp., which got rid of 3,500 workers. Nothing in the manner of metal manufacturing was mentioned in the news this past month. Are fabricating, machining, metalworking, and its allied industries safe? Anecdotal reports say everyone is busy with a long backlog.
Another question is this: do you need someone who is really tech savvy? If so, this might be your lucky month. Many of the people laid off from the companies mentioned (and of the other 20 or so major layoffs, all were either tech or biotech companies) are on work visas, and need to get a job quickly to fulfill the requirements of their visas and stay here. It’s a good time to make a dream come true and gain a highly educated technologist to help bring your company into the future.
Inventory: The supply chain has been as tight as a piano string, but it is loosening now. A predictable reaction has happened in many places: now that parts and supplies are available again, companies are buying a couple of years’ worth of them. Lean was too mean, and at least for the short term, supply chain pros just might ban kan ban. If you are a small company, your bigger brethren are not easing your position as they buy up every available thing. After the inventory is caught up and bought up, it could be a very quiet six months or so in terms of orders for parts and steel.
People and automation: Universal Robots’ Joe Campbell pointed out on LinkedIn this week that there are 750,000 jobs open in manufacturing right now. In 2022, there were 35,000 robots installed. If there is some plot to replace humans with robots, we’re all doing a spectacularly lousy job at it. Instead, companies are giving the dull, dirty, and dangerous jobs to the robots. Often the person who used to have one of those jobs learns how to manage the robot (or three of them) doing such tasks that are eventually harmful to endoskeletals like us. Additionally, people are finding ways to incorporate robots into tasks and teams doing things that humans did not do, because they couldn’t have done so in the first place.
If you’re interested in how to employ robots and controls in your workplace, we’re starting to amass a collection of videos that show how to operate and deploy and program (in 10 percent of the time!) robots in your business. Come to https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6fd0R3weZKehp4YsJJzUiQ.