Innovative strategies are aimed at providing manufacturers with skilled job candidates
As the shortage of skilled manufacturing workers continues to worry companies, creative ways to fill the need are on the increase ― and are starting to show signs of progress.
It’s no surprise that candidates with potential are in high demand, enrollment is rising at technical schools and training programs are adding teachers. Competition for students can get intense.
“When we recruit students for manufacturing, it’s the same student that other people are going after for engineering technology, for information scientists ― those types of things,” says Ed Hughes, president of Gateway Community and Technical College. “We think we’re in a better position to compete with them now that we have our new advanced manufacturing center.”
As creative and varied as the approaches are, the common thread is to nurture a future employee whose career pathway is aligned to credentials. Having industry-recognized skills certifications ― like those automotive repair technicians have ― applicable across advanced manufacturing and related fields give employees the opportunities to move among careers rather than be at one job in one industry that may experience a downturn.
“Credentials provide a third-party validation that the individual has the general workplace and the technical skills to succeed in an entry-level job as well as an advancement path within their employment,” says Emily Stover DeRocco, president of The Manufacturing Institute, which conducts efforts in 25 states to deploy certification systems.
Grooming potential workers is starting as early as possible. The Society of Manufacturing Engineers Education Foundation offers a complete K-12 program.
“The foundation puts on over 300 one-week day camps in middle schools and high schools across the county to show the value of math and science in making things,” says Mark Tomlinson, executive director of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. “The hope is that they then go back into their school lives and consider jobs in the process of making things rather than just jobs in the service sector.”
Foundation scholarships to the tune of $600,000 a year also entice those entering manufacturing, education or educational programs related to manufacturing.
Challenging the traditional “man’s world” of manufacturing is another approach to tap a hidden source of potential workers. A program conducted by the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology at Northern Illinois University in Rockford, Ill., focuses on middle school girls selected by their science and math teachers.
Dividends are in the making. Brian Cluff, vice president of Star SU, a gear-making machinery supplier, hopes that his 13-year-old granddaughter Alexi might follow in his footsteps as a result of her enrollment in the NIU program.
Companies with apprenticeships or training programs that had been cut to save money during the 1980s and 1990s are rejuvenating the practices. Penn United Technologies of Cabot, Pa., an employee-owned precision manufacturer, set up an in-house apprenticeship program that blossomed into a 17,000-square-foot learning facility where employees are trained.
Similarly, Jergens Inc., a Cleveland manufacturer of holding and clamping systems, started a training program for employees that evolved into Tooling University, now used by 1,200 companies to train employees through 400 online classes.
Machine tool manufacturer MAG IAS of Erlanger, Ky., began an apprenticeship program with Gateway Community and Technological College in 2007 that provides 100 percent company-paid tuition to successful candidates.
Even a good, old-fashioned job fair can bring results.
Forest City Gear registered 120 people at the Rockford, Ill., manufacturer’s recent job fair. The company was willing to take unskilled laborers and train them, but only 30 were cleared for interview. A dozen were hired. Four had no skills, five had some skills and experience and three were skilled and needed only minimal training.
Still, it’s reason to hold future such events, says Human Resources Director Kika Young.
“We ended up needing more workers even after that,” she says.
