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"There are still people who think that if you're studying manufacturing, you've got grease under your nails. I think we have to update this image and have people appreciate the challenges of being in this field." —Gerald Susman, Pennsylvania State University programs as they'd like—usually less than 30 percent. "We work hard to change that," says Chopra. "The funny thing is, the women we have do incredibly well, both within the program and when they leave." able, says McDermott, particularly as cross-functional abili- ties come into play. "When we get to a mathematical part of the product development course, where students have to bal- ance the production line and decide how many people are needed at each station, the quantitative people can shine. But when we get to the parts of the class where people have to talk to actual customers, or create an instrument to measure something that everyone can understand, or come up with creative ad copy, other people can shine. It forces them away from silos of thinking." Administrators admit there aren't as many women in the Factory Future MBA programs with a manufacturing or engineering empha- sis are successful enough in some cases that schools are look- ing to expand their offerings. This fall, the Iowa State College of Business is introducing an experimental course on theman- agement of technology. Topics to be covered include trans- formation of technologists intomanagers, human resources in technology organizations, career paths, behavior of technolo- gy professionals, leadership in technology, technology transfer from other fields, and technology and entrepreneurship. "We see continued development of courses and programs balanced out by the individuals with a bias toward supply chain management and other process improvement theo- rists. "We get good gender diversity and undergraduate major diversity in the supply chain management courses," says Ward. "There are some people who have an under- graduate degree in engineering and want to return to man- ufacturing. There are an equal number of people who want to get out of manufacturing. When I look at our classes, they look like any other MBA class." Classes with a wide mix of students are the most enjoy- incoming class appears to be engineers with manufacturing experience. "I think, 'Boy, are they going to be easy to place.' Then it turns out they wantMBAs so they can expand their horizons and become investment bankers." In fact, at Fisher College, says Ward, the engineers are a challenge at first. "They're used to finishing up a project and saying, 'OK, the answer is seven. It's done, and we can move on,'" says McDermott. "But in most management courses, the answer isn't seven, and there's not a right answer, and it's never done. There's kind of a culture change." Ward feels a kick of disappointment if the whole of an need fewer to control the manufacturing," says Ward. "In the future, we'll see more services that are related to manu- facturing. The world is just full of processes that have not been worked on for a hundred years, so they're pretty lousy. There are a lot of opportunities to add value and make money by making these processes better." While Susman expects no radical program changes for the ket will dictate changes in manufacturing management pro- grams—as the emphasis moves away from manufacturing and more toward processes. That's because not only are more jobs going overseas, saysWard, but the workplace itself is getting more productive. "There are fewer people working in manufacturing, so we such as these, especially in the areas of technology," says Hendrickson. "There's a strong interest in programs that address the leadership needed to take an idea and successful- ly market it." Other administrators predict that shifts in the world mar- schools may need to work a little on selling such a program. "There are still people who think that if you're studying manufacturing, you've got grease under your nails," Susman says. "I think we have to update this image and have people appreciate the challenges of being in this field." As long as the world keeps revolving, factories will con- ment courses relying even more heavily on cross-disciplinary integration. Both businesses and business schools are fight- ing their way out of functional silos, says Allan, so they can improve communication and have a better understanding of the big picture. "These days more and more students come into the program with degrees in foreign languages or polit- ical science," he says. "They're not so deeply specialized, but they end up with a broader sense of skills." Despite the advantages of a manufacturing MBA, some future, he does think manufacturing-oriented management degrees will continue to offer graduates lucrative and reward- ing careers. Outsourcing, increased productivity, and greater reliance on technology will combine to diminish the number of people needed inmanufacturing, he says. "What will be left will be a special core of people.Most sophisticated companies that make products realize how integrally those products are tied into their strategic plans. Thus those special people will have an increasing voice at the table—as they should." Administrators also expect to see manufacturing manage- tinue to produce goods, and people will want to buy them. Figuring out how to get those goods designed, produced, and sold most efficiently will increasingly be the province of the b-school graduate with a deep understanding of manu- facturing—and every other aspect of making widgets. s z BizEd NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2004 35