Canada’s manufacturing industry finds itself in a bind: The persistent skilled labour shortage is forecasted to grow over the next five years — many companies will scramble for industrial mechanics, electricians and welders, among many other positions — yet the number of skilled trades graduates and support from policy and business leaders continues to dwindle.

According to a 2025 report from Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME), the instability that has plagued the manufacturing industry for nearly two decades was caused by economic downturns, minimal investments and a global pandemic. Compounding these pressures is a lack of education about what it means to work in the industry. Misconceptions abound, discouraging talented youth from considering the career opportunities manufacturing can offer and drying up the stream of much-needed skilled workers.

But as CME highlights in its report, there is a path to help the industry rebound, and it is being laid by none other than 3M, a major manufacturer across southwestern Ontario and Canada at large. 3M established its headquarters in London, Ont., nearly 75 years ago and has been committed to science and growth since its first day of operations.

The company has also committed to investing in its employees from day one. Thanks to 3M initiated research, the company knows that supporting skilled workers starts in the classroom and at home with parents.

While 85 percent of people surveyed by 3M respect the hundreds of thousands of manufacturing workers in Canada, many Canadians are not aware of all that the manufacturing industry encompasses or how diverse the available career paths are. From welders to electricians and specialized millwrights — the people in charge of industrial machinery — to programmers and information technology enthusiasts, there are many career opportunities in the industry.

 “People don’t realize how much technology there is in manufacturing,” says Vincent Caron, CME’s vice-president for Ontario government relations and member advocacy. “You don’t need to go work at a large IT company south of the border. When you go to work for an auto manufacturing company, you’ll see all this technology and it’s right up the street.”

Proper funding for public universities, developing co-op programs, introducing technical trades to secondary students, increased funding to promote diversity and half a dozen more proposals are all significant ways CME found that can bolster the manufacturing industry.

Through partnerships with several educational organizations like the London Children’s Museum, the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE), Skills Ontario and FIRST Robotics, 3M is doing just that: building a stronger, more diverse, thriving Canadian manufacturing industry where Canadians can reach their full potential.

The company even works directly with young people, bringing high school students into plants so they can see the diverse career paths in manufacturing.

“We have engineers, maintenance people and leadership talk to the students, so when they have to make some of their important choices about what type of schooling to pursue or careers to pursue, they would be aware of the kind of things a manufacturing career can provide,” says Terry Bowman, manufacturing and supply chain leader at 3M.

Bowman has experienced firsthand how even this introduction to the industry cannot capture the full breadth of opportunities in manufacturing. Throughout his 35-year career at 3M, which began with answering phones for customer orders, Bowman has had the chance to move five times. Not only to other 3M plants where he took on new roles in IT development and production planning, but also to Switzerland where he served as 3M’s European and Africa leader of planning and logistics and to Minnesota where he worked on special projects.

“The willingness of people to try new things,” Bowman adds, “can point towards a pretty broad and expanding career.”

It is not uncommon for 3M employees to boast careers with the company of 30 to 35 years thanks to the company’s commitment to employees’ education. Trade shows, training courses and internal learning opportunities all help employees explore potential career paths, hone skills and progress within the company.

For researchers like Caron and the rest of the CME team, it is clear that if more companies operated like 3M and more policy makers focused on creating incentives for companies to invest in potential employees and early-career skilled workers, Canada will be able to recover from its persistent skilled labour shortage.

Caron sees that only by “replicating the mindset that we see in companies like 3M,” can the manufacturing industry return to truly thriving across Canada.