Is Capital Goods a Good Career Path?

Taking the right career decision is always challenging, but at some point in life, you have to consider this decision and begin your career in some way. Are you someone who would love to work for an industry that is slightly different from the mainstream? Everyone you know wants to become a Doctor, Nurse, Engineer, Teacher, a successful Salesman, and so on; how about you choose a career path that is different from others and is rewarding, as well as equally exciting? It definitely would be great, right? Today, we will be talking about the Capital Goods industry, which has numerous work opportunities and is always in high demand.

Before taking your biggest career decision, give this article a read till the end. You are not going to regret investing your precious time here.

Table of Contents

1. What is Capital Goods?

Before diving deeper into the capital goods industry, let’s get to know what capital goods actually are, what is their purpose? What is the use of this industry? Are there any work opportunities? How is the demand and pay scale and so on?

Capital goods generally refer to goods that are purchased and used by companies to produce consumer goods or provide services. Big businesses buy capital goods to use them in producing customized products that are eventually sold in the market. There are many companies across the country that offer capital goods, and some of the most popular ones include:

Union Pacific
Northrop Grumman
3M
General Electric
Honeywell International
Lockheed Martin
United Rentals Inc.
Boeing

And many such renowned ones that have openings for thousands of employees every year. You could be working in any of these renowned businesses too.

2. What are Some Examples of Capital Goods?

In general, capital goods are tangible products that are manufactured by companies to turn them into consumer goods. A product can sometimes be classified as both consumer and capital goods but is generally depends on some factors such as quantity, end-user, buyers, and required investments. Here are some examples of capital goods to make things more clear:

Machinery
Steel
Textile- that includes cotton, wool, and nylon.
Chemicals- include oils, minerals, natural gases, and so on.
Automotive includes components for bikes, cars, trucks, and others vehicles.
Electronics- semiconductors, industrial, telecommunications, and consumer electronic components.

Are some of the main capital goods. You will know more about them in the points below.

3. Is Capital Goods Really a Good Career Path?

Before jumping to a conclusion, it is very important to re-think and be very sure, especially when it comes to taking the biggest career decision of your life. If you ask will it be the right decision to work in the capital industry? The answer is a big “yes.” As long as you are interested and want to explore this industry in your own ways and are thinking of establishing your career here, the capital goods industry is going to reward you in unexpected ways.

One of the main reasons that people usually prefer capital goods jobs is the fact that they are very diversified and offer a lot of career scope along with many growth opportunities. Capital goods jobs also offer decent pay, your day-to-day work may involve challenges, but overall, you get to acquire a lot of skills that can also be useful for future purposes while working for different industries. If your interest lies in mathematics, science, and technology, and you love machines and engineering, then the capital goods industry is an ideal career path for you.

4. What Type of Jobs are Available In This Industry?

Now let’s come to the most important point of this article, you must be wondering by now, how many job positions are available in this industry, what are its types are, what are their salaries and so on. Let’s figure out what are the most popular and rewarding job positions in the capital goods industry.

Warehouse Worker: a professional whose responsibilities include stocking products, packaging, placing an order, preparing orders for delivery, and many other small or big tasks to perform. A work full of hustle and hard work, but the role of a warehouse worker is quite interesting, you can say adventurous, and it is definitely better than staying glued to a chair staring at computer screens 9 to 5. A warehouse worker gets an average pay of $33,800 per year, which is actually a good amount.

Manufacturing Technicians: are responsible for inspecting and testing products, ensuring the operation of equipment and whether they are running smoothly. This job role mainly focuses on the maintenance of machinery. Manufacturing Technicians make around $48,000 per year.

Manufacturing Engineer: are those professionals who look after machinery, identify areas of improvement in the equipment and the process. Some other responsibilities involve looking after efficiency, production line, and troubleshooting aspects. A Manufacturing Engineer makes $80,000 per year.

Quality Control Inspectors: are the cornerstone of manufacturing. They are responsible for testing and maintaining quality standards and pay attention to even minute details. A Quality Control Inspectors earns around $40,000

Assemblers: are professionals with technical know-how responsible for understanding and maintaining the order of raw materials to finished products. An Assembler makes around $32,500 per year.

There are many other interesting job positions available in the capital goods industry, but these were the most popular ones and always have high demand when it comes to employment opportunities.

5. What are the Different Industries of Capital Goods?

Let’s now focus on the different industries/sectors that together make up the capital goods industry.

Chemicals Industry: that uses chemicals to produce consumer goods/ products such as paints, soaps, detergents, and some natural products as well, including minerals, oils, natural gas, and so on.

Electronics Industry: is literally the biggest part of capital goods industry, and includes some subdivisions such as semiconductors, telecommunication, consumer and electronics as well as industrial. Capital goods from electronic industries are supplied to other industries for the manufacturing of electronic products.

Textile Industry: includes manufacturing of products such as wool, cotton, and nylon. Dyes are also an important part of this industry and are supplied to others.

Machinery Industry: actually manufactures heavy machinery and vital equipment that are used in producing goods. Products (machines and equipment) manufactured here are supplied to businesses, which further use them to manufacture their customized products.

Steel Industry: you must have understood by the name, steel University produces steel and recycles steel scraps.

Automotive Industry: is the one that manufactures components of bikes, trucks, cars, and so on. These manufacturing products are further sold to businesses/companies, who use these components to build bikes and cars.

These were the different industries of capital goods; in brief, you must have made your mind by now, which industry will be ideal for you.

6. What are Some Advanced Career Options?

If your aim is high, and you wish to work under some of the highest positions in this industry, then find which position earns the highest from the list below:

Computer-Aided Design Technicians- responsible for designing and manufacturing of products through CAD software, and earn around $50,000 per year.

Robotics Engineer: earns about $95,000 per year and is responsible for designing automation tools and electromechanical robots.

Manufacturing Manager: has a high pay of $100,000 on an average per year, with responsibilities revolving around equipment layout and process flow.

Director of Manufacturing: ranks the highest on our list with an average pay of about $200,000 per year, and the responsibilities of these professionals are hiring, supervising, managing, ensuring factory safety standards, and so on…

Hopefully, these positions are enough to set your ambitions high.

7. Are Employment and Growing Opportunities Available?

To be honest, there are vast job openings every year in the capital goods industry, so there’s nothing to worry much about getting employed. While talking about growth opportunities, once you enter this industry through initial job positions, you can gain experience and climb the ladder to success in much less time. Here, your experience and skills will speak for your success.

8. Pros and Cons of Working in the Capital Goods Industry

Before summing up, let’s have a look at the pros and cons of establishing your career in the capital goods industry. Let’s begin with the pros first:

A plethora of employment and growth opportunities and especially entry-level opportunities, are abundant.
Vast career options. Since a lot of industries together comprise to make the capital goods industry wholesome, you actually have a lot of choices to choose your ideal job position from.
Not that hard to climb the ladder. As mentioned before, by upgrading your skills and knowledge, you may find yourselves working in higher positions in much less time.
Not a boring 9 to 5 job.
A lot to learn from daily challenges.

Now let’s come to cons:

Sometimes, the job role you choose can be dangerous and challenging especially, since manufacturing jobs in chemical and automotive industries involve daily risks.
Lots of hustle and hardwork most of the time.

That’s all for the cons, and there aren’t many to consider actually. You can think positively and go after the pros if you are really interested and excited to enter this industry.

9. Conclusion

That was all you need to know before beginning your career in the capital goods industry. You must have got all the answers to your doubts and queries by now and must be feeling more confident than ever. The capital goods sector is indeed an ideal choice for people who would love to become a part of the global supply chain.