This winter, a series of storms has battered states from coast to coast, dumping feet of snow and ice and generally wreaking havoc in a variety of ways. Were you impacted by any of the storms? When the forecast calls for snow and ice, what do you worry about most?
For some, it’s the potential impact on their daily commute that leads to sleepless nights. Others, though, might worry more about how they’ll survive an extended power outage if snow and ice cause a widespread power outage.
While it’s natural for individuals to worry about the personal impact of severe weather, many people don’t realize how these storms affect businesses. While it’s much rarer for a business to close than it is for a school, for example, it’s clear that significant power outages are costing manufacturers across the country both time and money.
According to a Manufacturing.net article by Chris Daly, “[e]lectricity interruptions are on the rise across the United States…In fact…electricity customers throughout the U.S. witnessed 11 hours of power outages on average during 2024.”
Is this significant? It certainly is when you consider that “there were around four hours of electricity interruptions per year on average between 2014 and 2023. As a result, last year saw almost twice as many power outages as the average recorded each year for the past decade.”
While an electrical outage might interrupt your favorite Netflix show for a few hours, the ramifications are more serious for manufacturers. As Daly notes, “[a] single electricity interruption runs the risk of powering down operations and causing production line processes to fall out of sync, resulting in a loss of material and profits.”
How much loss? Donna McGinnis, Director of Marketing at Briggs & Stratton Energy Solutions, estimates that “up to $1 million of manufacturing losses can be recorded during each hour that production is disrupted by a power outage.”
What are manufacturers to do? It seems like severe weather conditions are occurring with increasing frequency each year. When you add the strain of new artificial intelligence (AI) data centers popping up across the country, further burdening electrical grids, it’s clear that things could get worse before they get better.
Daly believes that “[b]usinesses throughout the U.S. need to realize the prospect of experiencing more power outages. This point was emphasized by the Department of Energy, when it recently warned that blackouts may increase by 100x by the year 2030 if reliable power sources continue to be shuttered and extra firm capacity fails to be added to the nation’s energy array.”
Daly recommends that manufacturers investigate the use of onsite generators and portable power banks to minimize the impact of power outages. However, it’s clear that larger solutions targeted at strengthening electrical grids will also be necessary.
All of this underscores the ongoing need for more skilled workers with basic to advanced electrical skills. Unfortunately, the ongoing industrial skills gap issue means that workers with advanced electrical skills remain in high demand with supply lagging behind.
This creates a challenge for industries across the country and around the world. How do companies and schools train the next generation of professionals with the electrical skills they need to succeed in the modern workplace? A thorough review of training systems is a great place to start.
Do employees and students have access to hands-on training with actual components they’ll encounter on the job? If not, partnering with established companies to provide industrial-quality training systems that will stand the test of time will help ensure a competent workforce. Be sure to check out DAC Worldwide’s variety of hands-on electrical training systems that feature the real-world components workers will encounter in the field!
