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Let’s move on to the next ‘flavor;’ the Manufacturing career cluster covers the planning, managing, and processing of materials to create a final product. It also involves technical support, as well as maintenance and engineering. Whew! That’s a doozy of a definition. Basically, you can think of manufacturing as the people who work together to create something. They build, much like builders, but they create pieces and items. Manufacturing differs from building because it involves building items and components not large structures. Have you ever stepped inside a factory? A factory is a large space where manufacturing happens. Examples for a factory might include manufacturing car parts or packaging for food.

A man in a blue hard hat and coveralls works at a milling machine in a factory with another man looking over his shoulder.
The Manufacturing cluster presents careers that make components that are smaller than a building.

Let’s think back to Xavier again. Xavier looked into a company that built (or manufactured) different parts of a home for him. People who work in the Manufacturing career cluster would put together all of the separate parts needed for Xavier’s home, and Xavier would do the actual building or constructing of those parts to build the structure of his house.

Pathways in the Manufacturing Cluster
The Manufacturing career cluster has many career pathways that fall underneath it. We are going to scoop into those flavors one by one to get a better look at what falls into each.

Production Pathway
The first pathway we are going to discuss is the Production pathway. The Production pathway includes jobs/careers that work directly on the shop floor making or assembling parts. Remember, we discussed that many of these jobs and careers are in a factory. Working on the shop floor means they are working on the main floor of the factory where they assemble and create parts and materials. For jobs and careers in this cluster, you need a keen eye for detail, the ability to work with precision (or a high level of detail), and knowledge of how pieces and parts fit together. Jobs in this career pathway typically require a high school degree or apprenticeship if you are working on simpler projects, but if you are making and assembling very complicated parts (like technical parts for electronics), you may need a higher degree such as an associate, bachelor’s, or master’s.

Manufacturing Production Process Development Pathway
A person sketches out designs for cardboard boxes with several prototypes littering the drawings.
The Manufacturing Production Process Development pathway holds exciting careers like product design.

This pathway is a mouthful. The Manufacturing Production Process Development pathway includes employees who are responsible for product design and design of the manufacturing process. You can think of this pathway as architects, in a way, as they are the creative (and technical) force that puts together the product design (or how the product will look) and the process needed to make it look that way. Essentially, they decide how things get created and assembled. People in this pathway work with customers as well, bringing their visions to life. If the customer wants to package their new product in blue boxes with an orange ribbon tied around them, people in this career pathway will give an example of what this finished project will actually look like and how they will create them by the masses so all look identical. When designing packages, people in this pathway will usually work in an office, but others in this career cluster work on the factory floor, watching and tweaking the packaging process as it happens. Some jobs and careers in this pathway include design engineers, electronic technicians, electronic engineers, manufacturing engineers, manufacturing technicians, etc. Most jobs in this career cluster require at least an associate degree or higher depending on the types of designs and processes they are creating.

Maintenance, Installation & Repair Pathway
The Maintenance, Installation & Repair pathway is another mouthful. This pathway covers jobs and careers that perform preventative maintenance procedures on machines, tools, and equipment. They make sure that any machines and tools that are being used for a particular project are always up and running their best. They perform routine and regular checks on machines, as well as troubleshoot and repair electrical, electronic, and mechanical systems. People in this pathway are problem solvers. They are good at going in, seeing what’s not working, and fixing the problem ASAP. They also know how to best prevent problems before they even happen. Some jobs and careers that are included in this pathway are computer repair people, facility electricians, industrial maintenance workers, technicians, and mechanics.