Even with the election behind us and the president’s second term beginning, there is no consensus on whether manufacturers are in a better or worse situation than before.
January 2013 - Even with the election behind us and the president’s second term beginning, there is no consensus on whether manufacturers are in a better or worse situation than before. But regardless of anyone’s personal political views, there are real issues our industry needs to tackle now.
A lot of time was spent in this election cycle debating the state of U.S. manufacturing. Despite the vocal opinions and focus on protection from China, it is important to note that the U.S. is the world’s largest manufacturing economy, not China or anyplace else for that matter. Americans manufacture highly engineered, sophisticated products that are exported throughout the world. Have you seen Boeing’s new Dreamliner, for example? Manufacturing these products requires numerous design engineers, machinists, electricians, welders, and machinery and service technicians—all well-paying, technical jobs that support the middle class and keep our economy moving.
Since the recession, manufacturers have pushed for greater productivity, relying on their existing employee base and implementing more sophisticated manufacturing processes to bolster that productivity. As the manufacturing economy tried to expand over the last couple of years, we hit a wall. What wall? The lack of personnel qualified to fill new manufacturing jobs, such as certified welders, toolmakers, multi-axis CNC programmers and operators. The data and statistics vary, but the consensus is more than half a million manufacturing jobs have gone unfilled because of a lack of qualified personnel. In the five-plus years since the recession began, a consistent trend has occurred across the industry workforce: it got older. The average worker age has increased by about five years, and substantially more in segments where companies had to use only the most experienced personnel in order to survive.
Restructuring education
The shortage of qualified personnel for high-tech jobs has created a buzz in support of STEM fields: science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Initiatives to integrate STEM subjects into the public school curriculum could be a great long-term solution. Manufacturers can support this effort by hosting open houses and providing tours for students. These outreach programs can prove beneficial to vocational schools and career centers, as well as to traditional high school and college students who otherwise may not be exposed to the variety of career possibilities in manufacturing. Although changing primary education and inspiring young students is a great way to garner interest in the industry and prepare the next generation of employees, it will not resolve the immediate shortage.
To fill this employee deficit, a trend is developing among community colleges to add technical programs. These programs typically turn out qualified students in 21 to 24 months, but some basic programs may be completed in as little as seven months.
Employer responsibility
Supporting local schools and programs that prepare qualified employees is important to all manufacturers, since we have a vested interest in the skills being taught. Employers also have a responsibility to bridge the gap between the general skill set and the specialized needs of their businesses. New employees will not walk through the door and be capable of tackling a company’s most complex and unique manufacturing processes, but they can get there with training. Promoting existing employees, cross-training among disciplines and job shadowing new
personnel are ways to expand the manufacturing team. However, all of these options carry a cost, whether it is the cost of classes or the downtime of employees teaching others or receiving training. At the state government level, there has been a push to expand support and reimbursement of expenses to train these employees.
Most in manufacturing management are guilty of focusing on day-to-day operations and fall into the cycle of responding to increasing business activities by running as much overtime as possible. They then use local classified or search firms to find more employees. Entering 2013, we need to consider more young people with basic skills who are new to the industry and invest in training. There are no more “plug and play” employees. It is time to invest in the future to solve our needs now. FFJ
Jack Pennuto Jr. is the director of sales and marketing at Formtek inc.
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