Industry 4.0: Upskilling for success

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Industry 4.0: Upskilling for success

7 Jul 2025

Mari Rydings

Mari Rydings is a versatile content creator, editor and marketer with experience developing dynamic, results-driven materials for B2B and B2C audiences. As the editorial director for Avant Food Media, she leads the day-to-day editorial operations for the company’s print and digital magazines, newsletters and social media platforms. Outside of work, she loves reading, hiking, putting together jigsaw puzzles and spending time with her husband and their twin daughters.

KANSAS CITY, MO — In a recent study of c-suite executives, Boston Consulting Group found that 75% see talent retention and development as significant areas of investment and allocate as much as 1.5% of their budgets to upskilling resources.

On the other hand, according to the University of Phoenix’s Annual Career Optimism Index 2022, 52% of workers said they needed to learn new skills within the next year to continue their careers, and 46% of those employees indicated they were not as skilled as they needed to be. That same study also found that nearly one-third (29%) of workers said they don’t feel optimistic about the opportunities they have for training to learn new skills.

This dichotomy may be the result of high employee turnover in industries such as commercial baking, which makes some companies hesitant to invest in upskilling.

“We hear across the industry that employee turnover is a huge issue,” said Sarah Day, director of education for the American Society of Baking (ASB). “The issue becomes, ‘How much do I invest in training up front?’ because bakeries are losing employees at three, six, nine months. It’s about striking that balance.”

Day believes ASB’s Education Hub, which includes online training and access to options such as ABA’s Bakers Manufacturing Academy courses, is a viable, cost-effective resource for bakers and their employees.

“One of the reasons our training is so useful is because the cost is relatively low entry, and it’s online, so there’s no travel involved,” she said. “It’s much less of an investment up front for the company, but it’s enough to ignite that interest. We know that if people are educated about something, and they understand how it works, they’re more invested.”

Meet employees where they are

The key to getting results that match the upfront investment is to meet employees where they are. For younger generations, most of whom are digital natives, that may mean online learning platforms featuring interactive videos combined with hands-on learning and simulations.

“The nature in which upskilling and training are delivered makes a difference — especially as you bring in younger workers — in terms of consumption, knowledge and understanding.” — Nate Walts | CEO | WorkForge

“The nature in which upskilling and training are delivered makes a difference — especially as you bring in younger workers — in terms of consumption, knowledge and understanding,” said Nate Walts, CEO of WorkForge, a company that creates digital learning and development solutions, including custom content. “We have micro-modules, which are small, consumable pieces of content that consist of five to seven minutes of training time on a specific subject area versus asking someone to sit for an hour and explore a training binder.”

The ROI of meeting employees where they are when it comes to upskilling can outweigh the upfront costs in terms of increased productivity and employee engagement, especially when a company integrates resources into its processes, starting with onboarding.

“One of our food industry clients was having a problem with its employees not really understanding how to maximize the productivity on one of their packaging lines,” Walts said. “We created a video showing the optimal output for that line, and the company began using it during onboarding and training. Over time, they doubled their productivity in terms of the number of bags the line could pack.”

Industry 4.0 is here, and investing in automation, AI and other smart manufacturing technologies can help companies remain relevant and competitive … but only if they’re also willing to invest in cultivating a future-ready workforce through upskilling.

This story has been adapted from the April | Q2 2025 issue of Commercial Baking. Read the full story in the digital edition here.

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