The economy is in dire need of restructuring in Florida, and according to experts with the Florida International University of Miami, manufacturing will be key in building resilience in 2021 and onwards. This is not the dirty manufacturing of old, however. Using new technology and tools, exciting new industrial developments and manufacturing businesses will be able to tie together old processes with the new to create a high-tech and profitable new manufacturing environment.
Diagnostic tools
Florida has a very diverse manufacturing history, and this has lent itself to the need for technological upscaling. Business consultants SME note this: manufacturing encompasses everything from plastics, to tortillas, to motor vehicles. This makes the use of new technology that can be used to improve tech, new and old, very important, and can bring a high-tech tilt to manufacturing.
Industrial tech experts SPI Borescopes (www.spiborescopes.com) note this in relation to optical technology; pairing the simple use of newer optical tech in conjunction with older manufacturing processes and technology can help to upscale older equipment and make it more useful.
Upscaling old processes
Building new manufacturing resilience in South Florida is going to be important if the industry is to continue to develop and thrive. This is because Florida as a whole suffers a skills gap; despite there being over 500,000 unemployed Floridians, 260,000 jobs remain open due to a lack of appropriately skilled workers to place into these roles. Key technological advances that make new and old processes accessible to Floridians is crucial, as is education.
Technology-driven education
A positive result of the events of 2020 has been an upscaling of digital skills and education. Reuters highlights the current generation of newly digitally-able people as a promising change in the overall labor market. Nowhere will this be more beneficial than in the Florida of the future. Providing the skills for manufacturing workers in all sectors to be able to cross-skill and drive new industry is going to help the state create a new economic profile and uplift society in general.
In much the same way as other industries are experiencing, technology and digital skills are leading the way.
