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66 PCB007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2023 I love speaking with high school and college students who are looking to join the electron- ics industry. eir enthusiasm always rejuve- nates me. In our conversations, I have noticed several trends in their questions; the most popular is "What are you looking for in a new engineer?" Here is my list of the top five skills I believe any new manufacturing engineering graduate should have before they start their first job. 1. Communication skills Having good communication skills is prob- ably the most vital skill to have in any indus- try. It's important to know how to boil down the information into the most critical parts for a management team and how to simplify direc- tions for the operators. My dad's favorite say- ing for this is, "Managers don't want to know how the clock is built, just what time it is." On any given day, I may be tasked to explain the same issue in three different ways to my gen- eral manger, my engineering team, and my operators. e details in each explanation vary greatly. Communication is also important when assistance is needed. It's not likely that any engineer, let alone a new graduate, will know everything. Knowing when and who to reach out to, along with how to explain the dilemma, will make a difference in the performance of a department. 2. Problem solving Just as communication skills are valuable across many industries, so is having a toolbox of problem-solving skills. However, manufac- turing engineers in particular need to expe- My Top 5 Skills for Manufacturing Engineers The New Chapter by Paige Fiet, TTM-LOGAN