
A recent survey shows that a majority of Northeast Wisconsin manufacturers do not have a succession plan for their aging workforce.
The Northeast Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance revealed the results of its 2025 Aging Workforce study at the Future of Work Summit on Succession Planning at Fox Valley Technical College.
65 companies were surveyed, with 75% expressing concern about their workforce retiring. However, only 37% had a plan to address the issue.
The study found that the average age for the production workforce is 38, which is younger than the national average of 44 years.
The average age for engineers is 42 years of age for engineers, which is similar to the national average age of 43 years of age.
The NEW Manufacturing Alliance did note that it has a task force dedicated to finding and sharing best practices, and communicating about the key occupations that will be in high demand due to significant retirements.
The full details of the study can be found at NEWMFGAlliance.org.