Manufacturing jobs have an image problem.
Say the word, and some people still picture one person standing in the same spot, doing the same task, every day until retirement. That version may work for an old movie montage, but it does not come close to describing modern manufacturing.
Today’s manufacturing jobs include welders, fabricators, machine operators, engineers, automation specialists, quality professionals, project managers, buyers, sales representatives, service technicians, even marketers, and plenty of people with job titles that did not exist a generation ago.
There is more than one way into the industry. More importantly, there is plenty of room to move once you get here.
Manufacturing Is a Major Part of Missouri’s Economy
The Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development reports that manufacturing employed 311,166 people across 11,234 establishments in 2024. That represents 12.5% of Missouri’s private-sector employment.
Manufacturing wages averaged $77,747—more than $12,000 above the statewide private-industry average of $64,752. Employment also grew by an average of 0.8% per year between 2019 and 2024.
Those numbers matter, but they only tell part of the story. Manufacturing creates the products, equipment, and systems people depend on every day. It also gives workers the opportunity to build practical skills, solve real problems, and see the results of their work standing right in front of them. Just like the kind of pride midwesterners have in their farms, manufacturers carry the same pride for the work and products they make.
There is something satisfying about that. At the end of the day, you did not just move information from one screen to another. You helped make something work.
There Is No Single Manufacturing Career Path
A career pathway is not a rigid ladder where everybody starts and finishes in the same place. It is a group of related occupations that share common skills and knowledge, with training, credentials, and experience opening the door to the next opportunity. This didn’t always feel like the case with manufacturing jobs.
The state’s manufacturing report identifies technical abilities such as process design, equipment maintenance and repair, regulatory compliance, and adapting to new methods. It also emphasizes the less flashy—but absolutely essential—skills: dependability, professionalism, flexibility, attention to detail, and a willingness to keep learning.
At CPS/ICS, we call those the skills that keep a project from becoming an expensive stainless-steel paperweight.
Technical knowledge matters. So does showing up, asking good questions, listening to the answers, and caring whether the finished system works the way it should.
Start Where You Are. Build From There.
Missouri’s report, from the Missouri Economic Research & Information Center, organizes manufacturing careers into three broad lanes:
- Production
- Business Operations and Sales
- Engineering and Maintenance
Each lane offers entry points for people with different levels of education, training, and experience.
Someone may begin as a production helper, customer service representative, or maintenance assistant. With additional training or hands-on experience, that person could become a machine operator, CNC programmer, production supervisor, industrial machinery mechanic, mechanical drafter, sales representative, or engineering technician.
Longer-term opportunities include industrial production management, operations management, purchasing, sales leadership, and mechanical, electrical, or industrial engineering. The reported average wages for several of these positions reach well above $95,000 annually.
The point is not that everyone must become a manager or engineer. A successful career can take plenty of shapes. The point is that your first manufacturing job does not have to be your last job.
Nobody hands you a finished career in a shrink-wrapped box. You build it one skill, one project, and sometimes one hard lesson at a time.
What a Manufacturing Career Looks Like at CPS
At Custom Powder Systems, manufacturing does not begin when metal reaches the shop floor, and it does not end when equipment leaves the building.
Our work covers design, engineering, fabrication, controls, testing, installation support, training, technical service, and long-term customer support. We build custom powder-handling and containment systems for pharmaceutical, food, chemical, additive, industrial, and nuclear manufacturing applications.
That means a single project may involve:
- Engineers developing a concept and creating a 3D model
- Project teams reviewing customer requirements
- Purchasing professionals sourcing materials and components
- Fabricators cutting, forming, fitting, and welding stainless steel
- Automation specialists programming PLCs, HMIs, and control systems
- Quality personnel inspecting and documenting the work
- Service technicians installing, commissioning, troubleshooting, or upgrading equipment
- Sales and customer-support professionals helping the client make the right decisions
Our control systems are designed and programmed by an in-house automation group, while electrical panels are built, installed, and tested through our UL508A-certified panel shop. Our engineering team uses 3D modeling to help customers see equipment before it is fabricated, and our quality processes support the documentation and testing required in highly regulated environments.
In other words, there are plenty of ways to contribute—and plenty of skills to learn.
Sometimes the Career Path Starts With a Broom
One story from CPS puts the whole idea into perspective.
When Dylan Armstrong joined the company, he did not walk through the door as an experienced service technician. He began as a helper, took the opportunity to improve his welding skills, and kept learning. He moved from shop-floor work into reading blueprints, understanding schematics, programming equipment, troubleshooting systems, and supporting customers in the field.
A little more than two years after starting at the bottom, his work took him overseas to repair customer equipment in Italy. Since then Dylan has moved on to higher pursuits, but CPS is proud to be a part of his career trajectory.
That is manufacturing career development in the real world.
The first step may be sweeping the floor, carrying tools, assisting a welder, or learning how to operate a machine safely. The next step may involve blueprints, metallurgy, controls, customer communication, or a passport.
The common thread is a willingness to learn and the work ethic to keep going.
We Hire for More Than the Skills You Already Have
Experience is valuable. So are certifications, degrees, and technical training. But a résumé cannot tell us everything we need to know about a person.
At CPS, we look for people who are hardworking, dependable, driven, teachable, and willing to contribute to the team. Our company was founded around the idea of creating a genuinely great place to work, and our guiding principle—Do the Right Thing—applies to our customers, our employees, and our community.
We also believe good ideas can come from anywhere in the building. Employees are encouraged to speak up, share what they know, and help solve the problem in front of us. That is how equipment improves. It is how processes improve. It is also how people grow.
CPS offers employee benefits including a 401(k), health coverage with dental, vision, and hearing benefits, life insurance, and short- and long-term disability coverage. And yes, our Springfield manufacturing facility is air-conditioned. Anyone who has spent an August afternoon welding in Missouri understands that this is not a minor footnote.
Build Something That Builds You Back
Manufacturing needs people who can think, make, fix, organize, communicate, inspect, improve, and lead.
Some arrive with an engineering degree. Some begin with a technical certificate or apprenticeship. Others walk in with mechanical curiosity, a strong work ethic, and a willingness to learn from the people around them.
All of those can be valid starting points.
You do not need to have your entire career mapped out before you take the first step. You just need a place where your effort can turn into experience, your experience can turn into responsibility, and your responsibility can turn into a career.
At Custom Powder Systems, we build equipment that solves difficult manufacturing problems.
We also build people.
And, as it turns out, both require good materials, careful work, and a willingness to try something that has never been done quite that way before.
