2016 IW SALARY SURVEY

READY,
STEADY,
GO (SLOW)

Manufacturing salaries hold their own, and

so does optimism, as conditions for doing
1 iw • 2016 Salary Survey business get tougher. By Laura Putre
• induStryweek.com

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 2016 Iw Salary Survey
T
he results from the latest Industry Week Salary
Survey have been collected, tallied and parsed,
and the responses reflect the current state of man-
ufacturing: reliably profitable, but not growing by leaps and
bounds. Pay is holding steady and job satisfaction remains
high, but economic challenges including a strong dollar,
cheap imports and low oil prices are tempering optimism a
bit from previous years.
“This has been a very difficult year for the metals industry,” said a
C-Suite executive in her 40s, with more than 20 years of experience
in the sector. “Several factors have affected us: Oil prices, nickel de-
crease and the strong dollar.” A purchasing/procurement manager in
his 30s from the industrial machinery industry remarked that “manu-
facturing is changing rapidly with new technology, e.g. IoT. Compa-
nies that manage talent well and give their employees the freedom to
explore and grow will do better.”
The more than 900 U.S. manufacturing managers who re-
sponded to the survey made, on average, $114,528 in 2015. This
was down a hair from 2014, when the average was $114,615. C-
Suite-level respondents took a decent hit in their paychecks, re-
porting an average salary of $164,209, compared to $193,644 last
year. But some levels of management—for instance VPs of op-
erations and lean/continuous improvement managers fared better,
showing slight increases over last year.
Salary increases were down slightly from last year, with 9% re-
porting their pay up by more than 5% in the past year, compared
to 12% in the 2015 survey. Twenty percent saw a 3 to 5% increase,
compared to 22% last year.
Despite the overall downturn in the U.S. manufacturing economy
in the last four months of 2015, job satisfaction remained high. Sev-
enty-three percent of respondents said that they were “very satisfied”
or “satisfied” with their current jobs, compared to 74% the year prior.
“I’m extremely satisfied with being in the process
industrial world,” wrote an engineering manager in
his 50s who works in the petroleum and coal sector.
“There’s no place I’d rather be.”
“Manufacturing has been a great way to spend my career,” said a
VP of operations in his 40s, working in the automotive/transporta-
tion sector. “Challenging work, cutting-edge technology and the
satisfaction of making something tangible that benefits society
and my employees is very rewarding.”
Downsides included long hours, upper management embracing
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Average Salary by Job Responsibility
Position (% of response) Salary
Corporate/Executive Management (CEO, COO, CFO, President,
GM, etc.)(13%) $164,209
VP, Supply Chain/Manufacturing/Production (2%) $163,278
VP, Operations (3%) $162,328
Director, Manufacturing/Production (5%) $152,417
Consulting/Education (2%) $135,196
VP, Director, Purchasing/Procurement/Sourcing (2%) $128,406
R&D/Product Development Management (3%) $119,617
IT/IS Management (1%) $118,556
Sales/Marketing Management (7%) $117,371
Financial Management/Controller (2%) $116,216
Human Resources Management (2%) $105,986
Lean/Continuous Improvement Management (7%) $102,995
Engineering Management (15%) $101,643
Plant/Facilities Management (5%) $99,794
Supply Chain/Logistics Management (4%) $97,144
Operations Management (5%) $93,339
Manufacturing/Production Management (8%) $92,361
Quality Management (7%) $92,078
Environmental, Health or Safety Management (2%) $86,652
Purchasing/Procurement/Sourcing Management (5%) $85,940
Administration (1%) $50,833
Average Salary by Industry
Industry sector (% of response) Salary
Chemicals (5%) $135,411
Pharmaceuticals/Health Care (1%) $130,959
Medical Devices/Lab Equipment (3%) $124,846
Consulting/Education (4%) $124,536
Industrial Machinery (16%) $124,504
Electronics/High-Tech/Telecom Equipment (8%) $121,496
Construction/Building Equipment (5%) $115,116
Paper/Printing/Publishing (3%) $113,835
Petroleum & Coal (3%) $113,731
Food & Beverage (3%) $112,812
Aerospace & Defense (7%) $112,451
Metals (10%) $110,822
Consumer Goods/Durables (6%) $108,361
Automotive/Transportation Vehicles & Equipment (14%) $107,739
Computer Equipment/Peripherals/Software (<1%) $107,378
Apparel/Textiles (2%) $105,424
Stone, Clay & Glass (2%) $104,705
Wood Products/Furniture (3%) $100,368
Plastics & Rubber Products (5%) $93,117
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 2016 IW SALARy SURVEy

Average Salary by Staff Size

Number of employees you manage (% of response) Salary
0-10 (68%) $110,691
11-25 (13%) $119,502
26-50 (7%) $114,464
51-100 (5%) $110,110
More than 100 (7%) $146,095

Average Salary by Gender Average Salary by Ethnic Background

Male (88%) Female (12%)

Ethnic background (% of response)
Asian or Pacific Islander (3%) $127,623
Black/African-American (3%) $109,798
$117,662 $90,482 Hispanic/Latino (3%) $99,868
Native American or Alaska Native (<1%) $153,129
White/Caucasian (91%) $114,146
change at sloth speed and scant year-over-year pay increases.
“More and more salary jobs are demanding 50 to 60+ hours/ Average Salary by Experience
week and to be on call 24/7,” bemoaned an engineering manager years in manufacturing (% of response) Salary
working for a $1 billion+ company in the metals industry.” The ex- 1-2 (2%) $81,500
pectation is for life to revolve around the job. In the long run, that is 3-5 (4%) $88,737
not good for individuals, families or companies.” 6-10 (7%) $87,930
“In over 20 years of doing my job, I always have to ask for a raise,” 11-15 (6%) $101,632
lamented an administrator in her 50s in the paper/printing/pub- 16-20 (12%) $112,898
21-25 (14%) $112,142
lishing sector. “I get the same answer every time—we can’t afford a
26+ (55%) $123,579
pay increase. Hard work, dedication, commitment and skills don’t
seem to mean much. Why do I have to beg for compensation?”
Average Salary by Seniority
years with current company (% of response) Salary
Average Salary by Age 1-2 (16%) $117,727
Age (% of response) 3-5 (14%) $116,052
21-29 (2%) $74,409 6-10 (19%) $101,484
30-39 (8%) $91,918 11-15 (11%) $113,284
40-49 (20%) $117,090 16-20 (11%) $119,919
50-59 (44%) $115,331 21-25 (8%) $115,435
60+ (26%) $121,979 26+ (20%) $120,991

Average Salary by Education Level Average Salary by Company Size

Highest level attained (% of response) Salary Annual corporate revenues (% of response) Salary
High School (3%) $92,741 Less than $25 million (27%) $101,937
Some College (12%) $85,204 $25 million-$50 million (10%) $115,240
Two-year Degree (7%) $83,227 $51 million-$100 million (9%) $119,078
Four-year Bachelor’s Degree (35%) $107,506 $100 million -$500 million (17%) $115,415
Some Graduate Study (11%) $121,499 $500 million-$1 billion (8%) $111,408
Master’s Degree (31%) $137,419 $1 billion-$20 billion (22%) $127,582
Doctorate (2%) $174,053 More than $20 billion (7%) $124,978

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 2016 Iw Salary Survey
Average Salary by Geographic Region
(% of response)
¢ Mountain 4% — $116,173
¢ North Central 44% — $109,165
¢ Pacific 8% —$135,745
Who Gets Paid What
For this year’s survey, we heard from a cross-section of manu-
facturing professionals in 19 categories. The highest percentages of
respondents hailed from the industrial machinery (16%) and auto-
motive/transportation (14%) sectors.
Same as in last year’s survey, respondents in the chemical sector
earned the highest salaries: $135,411. Healthcare manufacturing
picked up steam, with pharmaceutical and medical devices/lab
equipment moving up to the No. 2 and 3 slots in average salaries.
Industrial machinery, however, fell from its No. #2 slot to fifth
place, as low oil prices and a reduction in mining cut into the need for
heavy equipment. “The current administration in Washington is not
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¢ Middle Atlantic 12% — $114,668
¢ New England 5% — $111,116
¢ South Atlantic 14% — $116,726
¢ South Central 13% — $117,413
a friend of mining and therefore not a friend of manufacturing,” said
an engineering manager in her 50s working in the Mid-Atlantic region.
“Without the ability to get raw materials out of the ground, it will not
be possible to produce. Locally available raw materials make it pos-
sible to produce locally.”
Base salary ranked third in the question, “What matters most to
you about your job?” Job stability punched in at No. 1 with 21% of re-
spondents, followed by challenging work. Interestingly, the rankings
of what matters most did not change one whit from last year’s survey,
showing, perhaps, that manufacturing managers are rock-solid in
their priorities.
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 2016 Iw Salary Survey
What matters most to you about your job?
(% of response)
Job Stability 21%
Challenging Work 20%
Base Salary 14%
Recognition of Your Importance to Company 12%
Career Advancement Opportunities 8%
Company’s Recognition of the Importance
of Manufacturing Operations 4%
Benefits 6%
Flexible Schedule 5%
Relationships with Co-Workers 4%
Continuing Education/Training 2%
Vacation 1%
Other 2%
How satisfied are you with your current job?
(% of response)
2016 2015 2014
Very satisfied 29 31 27
Satisfied 44 43 49
Neither satisfied nor unsatisfied 16 16 14
Unsatisfied 8 8 8
Very unsatisfied 3 2 2
How satisfied are you with manufacturing
as a career path? (% of response)
2016 2015 2014
Very satisfied 41 43 42
Satisfied 44 42 45
Neither satisfied nor unsatisfied 10 12 10
Unsatisfied 4 3 2
Very unsatisfied <1 1 <1
Skills Shortage
If anything keeps our survey group up at night, it’s workforce
concerns. Seventy-eight percent consider the aging workforce
a real worry in the next five years. And 67% say that they have
struggled to fill a position in the past year because of a lack of
skilled candidates.
Could the problem stem from manufacturers relying on the
same pool of white male candidates that they always have, rather
than making an effort to tap into the rest of the U.S. workforce?
Salary Survey respondents overwhelmingly skewed white, male
and over 40. Only 12% of survey respondents were women, and
a mere 9% came from non-white backgrounds—a poor repre-
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What jobs are you having
the most difficulty filling?
The editorial staff at IndustryWeek hears the anec-
dotal refrain of “we need more maintenance tech-
nicians/CNC operators/machinists,” but when we
polled our readers, we found we weren’t hearing
the whole story about job shortages.
Here are the most hard-to-fill positions among
those surveyed (# of respondents in parenthe-
ses).
¢ Engineer with four-year-degree
(120+ -various types)
¢ Industrial Maintenance (51)
¢ Quality specialists
(35-various types mentioned)
¢ Sales (32)
¢ CNC Operator/Machinist (29)
¢ Welder (29)
¢ Toolmaker (20)
¢ Manufacturing engineer (19)
¢ Production workers (17)
¢ Production managers (13)
sentation of the overall U.S. workforce, which is 49% female and
31% non-white. Lower salaries aren’t helping: the female survey
respondents were paid considerably less than men, reporting an
average salary of $90,482 vs. $117,662.
A couple of respondents made note of gender dis-
parity in their comments. “Women are not as valued
as men in manufacturing,” wrote a purchasing/pro-
curement manager in the plastics industry who is
over 60 and female. “They tend to get the ‘busy work’
that makes things happen, but their opinions are dis-
carded. Also, they are not paid as much.”
“I have been in the workforce for over 40 years (the majority of
time in food manufacturing) and there continues to be a gender
bias for compensation and promotion opportunities,” said a sup-
ply chain/logistics manager in her 60s who works for a $20 billion+
company, adding that she was reluctant to “mentor women to
enter this line of employment.”
When survey-takers were asked, “What is the biggest challenge
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 2016 Iw Salary Survey

Has your company location added Is an aging workforce a concern for Has your company location
an apprenticeship program in the you in the next five years? struggled to fill a position in the
past two years? past year due to a lack of skilled
candidates?

yes No
23% 22%
Yes, a big No yes
concern 33% 67%
No 42%
77%

Yes,
a mild
concern
36%

facing manufacturing today?” the skilled workforce shortage

came up repeatedly. “Succession planning,” answered a VP of
The State of Manufacturing
Respondents also had a lot to say about manufacturing’s im-
operations in his 50s in the wood products/furniture industry.
age and the state of manufacturing. “Manufacturing needs to
“Having a strong bench of professionals to take over leadership of
pitch itself differently and in viable venues,” said a lean/continu-
manufacturing companies as the older workforce retires.”
ous improvement manager in his 60s in the metals industry. “I’d
“The talent shortage in the skilled trades,” said a director of
pitch manufacturing on Super Bowl Sunday for starters.”
manufacturing/production in his 60s, working in the paper/print-
“Manufacturing is the backbone of the U.S. economy, yet we
ing/publishing sector. “There are too few students that become
are not adequately defending our position,” worried an R&D/
apprentices, and too few program opportunities for the students
product manager in his 50s in the industrial machinery sector.
that are interested in manufacturing.”
“We are headed down the same path as former manufacturing
Yet young professionals who do choose manufacturing are
powerhouses such as the UK.”
well-paid compared to their counterparts in other professions.
Another reader was more optimistic about the younger gen-
The few 21-29 year olds responding to the survey made an aver-
eration’s hands-on abilities: “We are happy to see a lot of young
age salary of $74,409. By comparison, the average starting salary
people acquire an interest in making and designing things,” said
for a college graduate in 2014 was $48,707. Survey respondents
a C-Suite level executive working for a $51-$100 million company.
30-39 made an average salary of $91,918.
“Some of these people are making their way into manufacturing.”
Counter to the image of manufacturing as the fall-
back track for the non-college-bound, our respon-
dents had plenty of higher education. Thirty-five per-
cent had a bachelor’s degree, and 44% had education
beyond that.
The hardest positions to fill for our survey pool were engi-
neers with four-year degrees, followed by industrial maintenance
technicians, quality specialists and sales people. CNC operators,
welders and toolmakers round out the list.

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 2016 Iw Salary Survey

Concern for the future, and a deep

belief in the transformative power
of manufacturing

W e asked our readers to share any comments they had re-

garding salary, job situation, the state of the manufacturing
industry, or professional challenges, and received an outpouring of
thoughtful responses. Here’s a cross-section of what our readers had
to say:

Job Satisfaction
uI think it is absolutely wrong to tell young people college is the only
way to build a good life. The days are not gone when a talented self
driven person can progress in manufacturing. —Engineering Man-
ager, male, 60+, consumer goods/durables sector.

uMy work is rewarding in terms of new opportunities and chal-

lenges. The freedom to be me and develop a “family work environ-
ment” [is a plus]. However, there is no opportunity to move up pro-
fessional or financially, and benefits are inadequate. —Supply chain/
logistics manager, female, 50-59, industrial machinery sector.

Working in manufacturing is a wonderful experience. The employees

seem to really care about their jobs even when discouraged by cheap
imports flooding the marketplace, and other factors outside their
control. —Human resources manager, female, 50-59, metals sector.

Process
uOperations management from VP down do not understand the
value of using everyone from the shop floor on up for continuous
improvement. They focus on dollars spent, managed from the top
down. There is little trust of middle management, engineers or
operators to contribute. It’s a big waste that causes disengagement
at all levels.—Manufacturing/production manager, male, 60+, wood
products/furniture sector.
uLarge corporation wants to use an ERP system that works well for
buy/resell businesses, but does not work well for MTO equipment
manufacturing. Wish there was a large system that worked with both.
—Manufacturing/production manager, male, 60+, industrial machin-
ery sector.
uFront line supervisors are not well-trained or supported, causing
a high turnover rate. Senior management does not invest in training
and educating junior management.—Supply chain/logistics manager,
male, 50-59, metals.
uOur company was bought by a multi-billion dollar company. It
then proceeded to divide our company between three different
divisions. This greatly affected on a negative basis our ability to do
business, while the corporate administrators talked about how much
money was saved. We will be lucky if the manufacturing unit survives
as the sales unit was taken away from us.—R&D product development
manager, male, 50-59, paper/printing/publishing.

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 2016 Iw Salary Survey

uRegulatory compliance is draining the available capital needed to

Skilled Worker Shortage
keep assets competitive with less concerned nations. The ACA Cadil-
uVocational training programs at the high school level are helping.
lac tax will erode manufacturing company health care plans.—VP
Improving community college technical training is helping. Com-
technology and product compliance, male, 60+, paper/printing/pub-
panies focusing on developing internal training and apprenticeship
lishing. 
programs are helping.—Financial manager/controller, female, 30-39,
metals.
The State of Manufacturing
uManufacturing is declining in the Midwest, capital machine tool
uThe apprenticeship programs are very important to sustaining a
sales are saturated, and the salesman’s earning potential at the dis-
skilled workforce in the coming years. —Operations manager, male,
tributor level is declining.—Sales/marketing manager, male, 50-59,
50-59, stone/clay & glass.
industrial machinery.

uEngineering and school programs like Kettering University balanc-

uThis geographic area has been hit hard with plant closures and
ing work/study are a very successful model. —Operations manager,
workforce reductions (GE, Joy Global, etc.), making an already un-
male, 40-49, automotive/transportation.
stable employment situation worse.—Manufacturing/production
manager, male, 50-59, industrial machinery.
uOur workforce is aging and we can’t find qualified replacements.
I am the training director for our company. We are involved in Youth
uIt is exciting times in manufacturing as intelligent decisions are be-
Apprenticeship and we started two adult apprentices this year to try
ing made considering broad aspect of the business and supply chain
to help ourselves, but it’s not enough. I am on the Tech Ed advisory
rather than just cost. However, competing to launch more products
board for our county and the condition of the shop classes in our
more often using time-to-market strategies is costing companies
local high schools is terrible, yet funding for schools continues to be
money and reputation with an unprecedented number of recalls.
cut. I think this country will be in serious trouble in the next 20 years
—Supply chain/logistics manager, male, 30-39, electronics/high tech/
or so.—Manufacturing/production manager, male, 50-59, industrial
telecom equipment.
machinery.

Government
uWho knew that political science would be more useful than an en-
gineering degree, and that the most pressing issues would arise from
decisions that are made in Washington rather than those made on
the shop floor?—Quality manager, male, 40-49, metals.

uI am nearing full retirement and am a majority stockholder of this

business. My partner and I are looking for ways to pass the business
along to our sons who work in the business, but we do not want to
face large tax burdens for them or the business. This is a difficult thing
to do in the US due to our tax laws!—CEO-level executive, male, 60+,
apparel/textiles.

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