Salary survey

The 2007 Plant Engineering Salary Survey is all about value. It’s about the value management places on the skills and abilities of the plant managers, and it’s about the value those plant managers place on their key employees in manufacturing. Even as more than 1,200 select Plant Engineering readers expressed concern about their ability to find and develop a future workforce, they e...

By Bob Vavra, Editor January 11, 2008

The 2007 Plant Engineering Salary Survey is all about value. It’s about the value management places on the skills and abilities of the plant managers, and it’s about the value those plant managers place on their key employees in manufacturing.

Even as more than 1,200 select Plant Engineering readers expressed concern about their ability to find and develop a future workforce, they exhibited strong optimism about manufacturing as a career. They continue to find value in their daily work, value that cannot be measured in dollars and cents.

Their daily work continues to evolve as manufacturing evolves, and they continue to face challenges each day. They do this knowing that U.S. manufacturing, despite those challenges, is the envy of the world for safety and quality. Their continuing challenge is to do even better in the face of emerging global competition.

In meeting those challenges to be even safer and more productive, they are being compensated at record levels. Plant managers are being rewarded for increasing productivity. While others are critical and dismissive about the health of American manufacturing, the 2007 Salary Survey paints a different picture.

We know each year our readers find value in this annual look at manufacturing compensation. We hope you take a close look at what manufacturing’s leaders have to say about the state of our industry.