The Transformation Of American Factory Jobs, In One Company

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Larry Sills is the CEO of Standard Motor Products, like his dad and his grandfather before him. The company makes replacement parts for car engines. Larry grew up with the company, and he has seen the workforce change over the years. A few decades ago, a lot of his workers had no high school degree. Some couldn't read.

"We had a plant in Connecticut where we didn't realize it, but they were illiterate," he says. "And then when we switched to the next generation, we had to be able to read the instructions. To our astonishment, they couldn't do it."

But in today's factory, workers don't just have to know how to read.

"We have a microscope, a hot stand, snap gauges, ID gauges," Ralph Young says. "We use bore mics, go-no-go plugs."