In a column for the SME, Cardooa cited a survey Kennametal conducted in 2011 gauging the American public's perception of manufacturing.
It reported that only 11% of people in the US believed the manufacturing industry is growing, and more than two-thirds thought that the problem was a lack of jobs, rather than the lack of skilled talent to fill the jobs.
Over 70% of Americans said they wouldn't recommend manufacturing as a career for their children.
"If we know "manufacturing" is a dirty word to the majority of Americans, why not consider a new name that defines today's reality?" said Cardoso. "A better label is industrial technology. Positioned as the "new IT", industrial technology is digitally-driven, smart production. It is the future of America, ripe with opportunities for a new generation digital-savvy talent."
He called on industry to be the change and serve as a catalyst by partnering with high schools, career centers, technical institutions and community colleges to match young people with training and education.
"We also must advocate for policy change, to coordinate and leverage federal, state and interagency workforce programs that are accountable for results; to overhaul an education system that blindly promotes the conventional four-year college path, when it is driving more kids to arts and sciences programs than we have careers to support them," said Cardoso. "We cannot sustain a system that leaves jobless graduates (and parents) holding a ballooning bag of college-loan debts for which they don't have means to repay."
