In Donald, Ore., 24 miles south of Portland, GK Machine Company Inc., is manufacturing parts for heavy agricultural equipment such as harvesters, sprayers, tree diggers, and hose reels.

In a few short years, the Center for Manufacturing and Metrology at the University of Hartford has become a leading national provider of education, training and research in measuring technology for manufacturing.

The U.S. manufacturing industry has made major adjustments to stay in business and keep production moving during the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only have manufacturers adapted to major disruptions in all major markets, they have also reconfigured their production systems to keep workers safe.

2020 was certainly an unusual year—for SME, for our industry, and for the world. There is no question that these unusual times will carry over into 2021. Unusual does not necessarily mean bad; it just means different. Often hidden within those differences are opportunities.

Anyone who’s worked with wind turbine blades or just seen one up close can attest to the massive size of these clean-energy workhorses. Ever thought about what happens to that costly, high-tech material once the blade reaches the end of its lifespan in 20 years or so?

Imagine you wrote a masterpiece of literary fiction or a detailed plan for financial success. You can’t wait to share your work with the world. But there’s a problem. In this universe, in this reality, computers have no way to share documents with each other.

The key in other tooling applications is to find a space where our materials provide extra value beyond other printers.

This article is based on the Workforce Leadership Exchange at FABTECH 2019. It continues coverage that began with the Up Front column in ME, January 2020, page 6, and continued with “Workforce Pipeline” on pages 102-103 of the April issue and “Workforce Pipeline” on pages 86-87 of the October issue.

In 2020, most manufacturers focused on mitigating the impact of COVID-19, but mitigation is too little too late. Many companies learned that lesson after seeing how COVID-19 outbreaks affected either their own facilities or other manufacturing firms.