Canadian manufacturers need more than faster hiring. They need a workforce strategy that connects skills, production priorities, technology adoption, and long-term capability.
Canadian manufacturing is changing at two levels at once.
Production environments are becoming more automated, connected, and data-driven. At the same time, manufacturers are under pressure to manage specialized skills gaps, changing demand, production continuity, and the need for greater workforce flexibility.
This creates a challenge that traditional recruitment alone cannot solve.
The issue is not simply whether enough candidates are available. It is whether manufacturers can access, develop, and deploy the right capabilities at the right time.
Manufacturing contributed approximately $208 billion to Canada’s gross domestic product and supported 1.85 million jobs in 2024. Small and medium-sized businesses represent 99.1 percent of manufacturing firms, making workforce preparedness an important operational issue across the sector—not only for large enterprises.
As manufacturers invest in automation, artificial intelligence, robotics, connected systems, and advanced production technologies, workforce planning must evolve alongside those investments.
The organizations that are best prepared will not be those that recruit only after a vacancy appears. They will be those that understand future capability requirements and build reliable talent supply around production demand.
Technology investment is creating new workforce requirements
Smart-manufacturing investment is accelerating.
Industry research shows that 78 percent of surveyed manufacturing leaders are allocating more than 20 percent of their improvement budgets to smart-manufacturing initiatives. Eighty-eight percent expect that level of investment to remain steady or increase.
These initiatives can improve:
- Production output
- Employee productivity
- Equipment visibility
- Quality control
- Maintenance planning
- Available production capacity
Reported improvements include increases of 10 to 20 percent in production output, 7 to 20 percent in employee productivity, and 10 to 15 percent in unlocked production capacity.
However, technology investment does not automatically translate into operational value.
New systems still require people who can implement, operate, maintain, monitor, and improve them. When workforce capability does not keep pace with technology adoption, manufacturers may struggle to achieve the expected return from their investments.
This creates a practical workforce question:
Does the organization have the skills required to make its technology investment productive?
That question should be addressed before—not after—new systems are introduced.
The skills profile of manufacturing work is changing
Modern manufacturing roles increasingly combine technical, operational, and digital responsibilities.
The change is not limited to entirely new positions. Existing jobs are also expanding.
A maintenance professional may be expected to interpret equipment data and identify early signs of failure. A production supervisor may need visibility into digitally connected workflows. A quality professional may use analytics and automated inspection systems. An engineering team may require stronger capabilities across industrial software, automation, robotics, and cybersecurity.
More than half of surveyed manufacturing employers reported that artificial intelligence had already improved productivity in their organizations. Yet many employers remained at relatively early stages of AI maturity because specialized technical talent was difficult to access.
The result is a growing demand for hybrid capability.
Manufacturers increasingly need people who can combine:
- Production and process knowledge
- Equipment and maintenance expertise
- Automation and robotics capability
- Data interpretation
- Industrial technology experience
- Quality and compliance awareness
- Cybersecurity knowledge
- Adaptability and problem-solving ability
This means that workforce planning cannot rely only on legacy job titles and historical job descriptions.
Manufacturers need to define roles according to the work that must be delivered and the capabilities required to deliver it.
Capability planning should begin before recruitment
Workforce planning often begins with headcount.
A department identifies a vacancy, prepares a job description, and begins recruitment. This approach may address an immediate opening, but it does not always provide a clear view of the broader capability requirement.
A stronger approach begins with the operating need.
For example, a new production line may require more than additional employees. It may create simultaneous demand for:
- Automation support
- Equipment maintenance
- Data monitoring
- Quality assurance
- Production supervision
- Safety and compliance oversight
- Worker training
- Change management
Manufacturers should therefore assess workforce demand across four dimensions:
Capability
What skills and experience are required?
Timing
When will those capabilities be needed?
Duration
Is the requirement permanent, recurring, seasonal, or project-based?
Readiness
Can the available talent contribute immediately, or will preparation be required?
This helps organizations choose the right talent strategy rather than using permanent recruitment for every workforce requirement.
Skills-based hiring can widen access to talent
Manufacturing employers often compete with technology, logistics, construction, energy, and other industries for similar technical talent.
In this environment, overly narrow hiring criteria can reduce access to capable candidates.
Requirements based only on identical job titles, long sector tenure, or specific academic backgrounds may exclude individuals with relevant transferable skills.
Research indicates that 87 percent of surveyed manufacturing employers value skills and experience over formal qualifications. However, only 31 percent reported reducing experience requirements or hiring more junior talent to address scarcity.
This suggests that many employers support skills-based hiring in principle but have not fully adjusted their recruitment practices.
A more practical approach can include:
- Technical assessments
- Job simulations
- Structured competency interviews
- Problem-solving exercises
- Evaluation of transferable experience
- Assessment of learning agility
- Review of training potential
This does not remove the need for licences, certifications, or safety requirements where they are essential.
It allows employers to separate mandatory qualifications from requirements that may unnecessarily narrow the talent pool.
Training can become part of the workforce supply strategy
When specialized talent is scarce, manufacturers often compete for the same group of fully qualified candidates.
This can increase hiring timelines and costs without increasing the supply of job-ready talent.
An alternative is to identify individuals with the right foundational capability and prepare them for defined roles.
This may include:
- Developing technical or digital skills before placement
- Training candidates on specific tools or processes
- Preparing early-career talent for specialized work
- Converting adjacent-industry experience into manufacturing capability
- Building talent pipelines for planned expansions
- Reskilling current employees for technology-enabled roles
Nearly half of surveyed manufacturing employers reported plans to develop existing employees for more highly skilled, technology-augmented positions.
For manufacturers, this means training should not be treated only as an internal learning initiative. It can also support recruitment, workforce planning, and future talent supply.
Train-to-Hire and Train & Deploy models can be especially useful where there is candidate potential but limited immediate readiness.
Instead of waiting for the ideal candidate to enter the market, organizations can develop talent against clearly defined production and role requirements.
Internal mobility and external hiring should work together
Existing employees can be an important source of future capability.
They already understand the organization’s equipment, safety expectations, production environment, customers, and internal processes.
With targeted development, some employees may be able to transition into:
- Technical roles
- Specialist positions
- Supervisory responsibilities
- Automation-enabled work
- Data-supported operational roles
- Quality and process-improvement functions
Internal development can improve retention and preserve institutional knowledge.
However, it cannot address every requirement.
External hiring is still necessary when organizations need immediate capacity, specialized expertise, or skills that cannot be developed internally within the required timeframe.
The strongest workforce strategies therefore combine both approaches.
Manufacturers should decide which requirements are best addressed through:
- Permanent external hiring
- Internal mobility
- Reskilling
- Project-based talent
- Staff augmentation
- Structured recruitment programs
- Role-specific training pipelines
The goal is not to rely on one workforce model. It is to use the right model for the specific operating need.
Workforce flexibility must still include control
Manufacturing demand can change because of:
- Production peaks
- Plant expansions
- Equipment installations
- Maintenance shutdowns
- Automation initiatives
- Product launches
- Digital-transformation programs
- Seasonal requirements
- Temporary skills shortages
Research indicates that 40 percent of surveyed manufacturing organizations use contingent labour to supplement workforce capability, while 43 percent use external vendor programs to address critical skills gaps.
Flexible workforce models can help organizations add capability without making every requirement a permanent headcount decision.
However, flexibility should not come at the expense of structure.
Manufacturers still need:
- Consistent candidate screening
- Skills validation
- Worker documentation
- Effective onboarding
- Safety and compliance processes
- Clear accountability
- Performance visibility
- Workforce governance
The objective is not simply to deploy people faster.
It is to add the right capability while maintaining quality, readiness, and operational control.
Workforce planning should be integrated with production planning
Technology, production, and workforce decisions should not be made separately.
Before introducing a new system, expanding a plant, or changing a production process, manufacturers should evaluate:
- Which roles will be created or significantly changed?
- What activities will become automated?
- What new technical capabilities will be required?
- Which skills already exist internally?
- Which employees can be developed or redeployed?
- What capability must be sourced externally?
- What workforce model best fits the requirement?
- How will readiness be validated before deployment?
This approach allows talent acquisition and training to begin earlier.
It also reduces the risk of introducing new technology before the organization has the workforce required to support it.
Building workforce capacity around production demand
Manufacturing workforce requirements rarely fit into a single hiring model.
Some roles require long-term permanent talent. Others are driven by specialized projects, production increases, recurring demand, or future skills requirements.
Epsilon Solutions Ltd. helps manufacturers build workforce approaches around these different operating realities.
This may involve strengthening recruitment for specialized roles, adding targeted capacity for immediate requirements, preparing candidates against defined positions, or developing repeatable talent pipelines for future demand.
The focus is not only on increasing candidate volume.
It is on improving the connection between:
- The work that needs to be delivered
- The capabilities required
- The timeframe in which they are needed
- The most effective way to access or develop them
Epsilon Solutions Ltd. supports this through workforce solutions that include Direct Hire, Staff Augmentation, Recruitment Process Outsourcing, Train-to-Hire, and Train & Deploy.
These models can be used independently or together depending on the urgency, scale, and complexity of the requirement.
Prepare for capability—not only vacancies
The future of manufacturing will be shaped by both technology and people.
Manufacturers that identify future skills early, prepare talent before demand becomes urgent, and align workforce planning with production priorities will be better positioned to manage change and build sustainable capacity.
A more resilient manufacturing workforce begins with three questions:
- What capabilities will the business need?
- When will those capabilities be required?
- Should they be hired, developed, or deployed through a flexible workforce model?
Answering these questions early can help manufacturers reduce reactive hiring and build more reliable talent supply around operational priorities.
Connect with Epsilon Solutions Ltd. to explore manufacturing workforce solutions built around skills, capacity, and changing production demand.
Works Cited
1. Coykendall, John, Kate Hardin, Aijaz Hussain, and Brenna Sniderman. “2025 Smart Manufacturing and Operations Survey: Navigating Challenges to Implementation.” Deloitte Insights. May 20, 2025.
2. Dass, Jaya. “3 Ways Manufacturing Companies Can Overcome Talent Scarcity.” Randstad Enterprise. March 16, 2026.
3. Employment and Social Development Canada. “Backgrounder: Workforce Alliances.” Government of Canada. February 11, 2026.
4. Statistics Canada. “Job Vacancies after the Peak: A Look at the Changing Educational Composition since 2022.” Quality of Employment in Canada. March 13, 2026.
