The IndustryWeek 2007 Salary Survey was conducted over the Internet via e-mailed invitations to subscribers. The survey took place in January 2007. A total of 1,394 people responded to the survey, and of that number, 1,113 completed the entire survey. Respondents were not compensated but were offered the chance to provide candid comments regarding their salaries, occupations and employers. All responses were anonymous.
Is a job in manufacturing management the greatest job in the world, or is it a black hole that sucks the life out of you faster than you can say, "Made in China"? Do the good days outnumber the bad days? And what is it exactly that keeps manufacturing managers motivated to continuously improve themselves, their staffs and their companies despite a constant drumbeat telling them that "manufacturing is dead"?
We set out to learn the answers to those questions in
IndustryWeek's 2007 Salary Survey. This year, nearly 1,400 readers weighed in (anonymously) with their candid opinions of their personal work experiences and manufacturing industry in general, and provided us with a deep data pool that not only indicates how much you're earning, but who you are, where you are, how long you've been doing your job, and even why you do what you do.
Our goal, then, isn't merely to note the size of your paychecks. As Patricia K. Zingheim and Jay R. Schuster, authors of
High-Performance Pay (WorldAtWork Press, 2007), observe, "The role of pay and other rewards is to help create a true high-performance organization -- one where the workforce is fully engaged in acquiring and applying critical skills and competencies to produce results and add value to the business for which they share responsibility." So we hope, through this annual feature, to tell the story of manufacturing through the eyes of those who know it best: you.
So, who are "you," anyway? Nothing about manufacturing managers is average, of course, but when we crunched the numbers, we discovered that the "average manufacturing manager" is male, between 50 and 59 years old, has worked in the manufacturing industry for more than 26 years, lives in the North Central region of the United States (i.e., the Midwest), has been with his current company for six to 10 years, has a graduate degree, works for a manufacturer of industrial products or machinery, and earns $106,588.
"Companies within the manufacturing industry need to look inside their own four walls to make sure that they are doing everything they possibly can to produce their product as fast and accurately as possible with the least amount of overhead before blaming the market, or the increase in foreign competition." -- lean manager with a metals manufacturer, with 6-10 years of experience, living in the North Central region and earning $40,000
"The instability of all manufacturing jobs in the U.S. combined with the tremendous amount of work, time, effort, worry, etc. required to meet ever-present challenges, and the constant pressure to reduce costs (including wage/salary costs) make me wonder why anyone would want to work in a manufacturing environment any more!" -- production manager with an industrial machinery manufacturer, with 26+ years of experience, living in the Middle Atlantic and earning $90,000
"Manufacturing is in dire straits in this country due to corporate management greed, governmental inaction for a manufacturing policy, governmental overregulation, and the general don't care attitude of the American citizen toward what actually builds wealth in this country." -- safety manager with a furniture manufacturer, with 26+ years of experience, living in the South Central and earning $57,600
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