On Friday, October 2, manufacturers across the country open their plants to students, parents and neighbors. For one day, the plant is the marketing department. Here is the reading list.
What Manufacturing Day is
Manufacturing Day is run by The Manufacturing Institute, the workforce development and education affiliate of the National Association of Manufacturers. It falls on the first Friday in October, with events continuing through the month. Manufacturers open their doors to students, educators, parents and community members through plant tours, hands-on activities, career conversations, classroom visits and community events. This year that Friday is October 2.
The reading list
1. Manufacturers need as many as 3.8 million new employees by 2033
The study puts the need at as many as 3.8 million additional employees between 2024 and 2033, and warns that 1.9 million jobs, as many as five in ten of the skilled open positions, could go unfilled. Carolyn Lee, the Institute’s president, says companies must prioritize technology, training and talent development. Read it at The Manufacturing Institute →
Source: The Manufacturing Institute, “Manufacturers Need as Many as 3.8 Million New Employees by 2033,” April 3, 2024. Research: Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute.
2. More than a third of manufacturing executives say skills are their top concern
Of 600 manufacturing executives surveyed for Deloitte’s 2026 outlook, more than a third named equipping workers with the skills and knowledge for smart manufacturing as their top concern. 80% plan to put at least 20% of their improvement budgets into smart manufacturing. 22% expect to use physical AI within two years, against 9% today. Read it at Deloitte Insights →
Source: Deloitte Insights, “2026 Manufacturing Industry Outlook,” by Steve Shepley, John Morehouse, Kate Hardin and Kruttika Dwivedi, November 13, 2025.
3. 54.9% of manufacturers call the workforce a primary business challenge
Of 220 manufacturers surveyed by the National Association of Manufacturers in August, 54.9% named attracting and retaining a quality workforce as a primary business challenge, behind raw material costs (80.8%), health care costs (72.3%) and trade uncertainty (62.4%). 44.2% expect to add full-time employees in the next 12 months, and 78.9% are positive about their company’s outlook. Read it at NAM →
Source: National Association of Manufacturers, “NAM Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey, Third Quarter 2026,” September 14, 2026.
4. After a plant tour, 84% of students see manufacturing differently
This is the most recent published measurement of what an open door does. After the 2016 events, 84% of student attendees said they were more convinced that manufacturing provides careers that are interesting and rewarding, 64% were more motivated to pursue one, and 71% were more likely to tell friends and family about manufacturing. About 600,000 people attended that year, 267,000 of them students. Read it at EMSNow →
Source: EMSNow, “Manufacturing Day Activities Do Move the Needle, Says Deloitte Survey,” October 4, 2018. Research: Deloitte for The Manufacturing Institute.
5. IndustryWeek is publishing manufacturers’ own Manufacturing Day stories all month
IndustryWeek is running essays of 300 to 1,000 words from manufacturers throughout October, alongside profiles of the people who work in plants. It is a way to put a company’s name in a national trade publication for the cost of a page of writing and a photograph. Read it at IndustryWeek →
Source: IndustryWeek, “Manufacturing Day 2026: Help IndustryWeek Tell the Stories of Manufacturing,” September 2, 2026.
Why it matters at the top of the house
A plant tour is the most credible marketing a manufacturer will do all year, and most of it goes unrecorded. The employer brand and the customer brand are the same brand: the student on the tour, the teacher who brought her and the parent who reads about it in the local paper are the community that decides whether a company is a good place to work and a good company to buy from. The question for a president on October 2 is who is holding the camera, who called the paper, and who follows up with every teacher on Monday.
Every entry above links to the original and names its publisher. The Marketing Table shares the links and a note on why they matter; the articles and their copyright belong to their publishers.
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