There are currently three million open manufacturing jobs in the U.S., are you qualified? Every month since January 2009, more than 20 million Americans have been either out of work or underemployed. Yet despite that staggering number, there are more than three million job openings in the U.S. Just in manufacturing, there are as many as 500,000 jobs that aren't being filled because employers say they can't find qualified workers. It's called "the skills gap." We hear way too much about the United States not manufacturing anything anymore. That is just not true. Many manufacturing companies are hiring and they need to find good people. That's really what the challenge is these days. The workhorses in many of these factories are computer controlled machines that make precision parts, accurate to a thousandth of an inch; the thickness of a piece of paper. Employers need employees who can program the computers, operate the machines, fix them and then check to make sure the results are up to specifications. The real significant human achievements in this country have a lot to have to do with manufacturing or making something. The skill gap is often an entry level problem. It's those basic skill sets. Show up on time, read, write, do math, problem solve. There are some people even coming out of higher education with degrees who can't put a sentence together without a major grammatical error. It's a problem. If you can't do the resume properly to get the job, you can't be hired. Many manufacturing companies are in the business of perfection. People need to realize that income over time is a direct function of education and skills, and what applicants can bring to the table. For some businesses finding a manufacturing machine is easy, it's finding the right operator that's hard. A piece of manufacturing machinery can cost $250,000. Businesses need people who are confident, skilled, and knowledgeable. They need people who are able to operate the machine without having a problem with it or causing any damage to it.
Problem
Nationwide, manufacturers say the lack of skilled workers is the reason for hundreds of thousands of unfilled jobs and the problem is about to get bigger. There is a massive wave of baby boomers who are leaving the workforce very soon and retiring. Manufacturing companies have to replace those retirees. That's not even talking about growth. Manufacturing companies tell us that they can't find enough students who are interested in pursuing these trades sometimes because it seems hard to be able to do math. It can takes months to find the right person, get them trained to get them familiar with the machine and familiar with the parts they are going to be making. Many people are wondering how is that possible in this day and age when so many people are looking for work, need work, and companies are telling us they can't find people who have the skills to do the job that you need done. Of all times, they should be able to find them now. With so many people unemployed, Some people believe manufacturers need to play a larger role in training workers. Manufacturing businesses tell us that their role is to make the parts and they just hope that the education system will produce what they need. Clearly that process does not currently appear to be working very well. The recession is teaching companies that they have to do more to engage in training. Some manufactures are helping to design training programs with local community colleges. They take unemployed people, test them for aptitude, interview them for attitude, and then train them for open jobs. Some programs focus on the machines found in today's factories. Students are taught to operate the computers, read blueprints, and learn trigonometry to make precise measurements. Some of these programs have almost a year's worth of training packed into 16 weeks. Some of the students will start at full time jobs paying 12 dollars an hour with benefits. Skilled machinists can earn upwards of $60,000 a year. For some manufacturing businesses, the primary challenge is retraining people already on the job to keep up with advances in technology. In some plants employees are working three shifts a day, seven days a week. Some companies believe their competitive edge is innovation, backed up by a skilled workforce. Some employees have an engineering degree and the company trains them to program robots to do the work that 50 years ago was done by hand. Some companies pay for employees to go back to school and get their engineering degree. People retiring tell people looking for a job to get an education. The environment is changing all the time. If you don't stay on top of things, others who do will eat your lunch. Some manufacturers think applicants looking for work need to understand what makes a country and a business competitive. If companies hire applicants off the street it would take the company anywhere from a year to two years to get new employees up to speed. If you turn the clock back a generation ago, Companies did all if that all by themselves. Now many employers are not expecting to hire and train people. Companies are now taking the position that, for all kinds of reasons, they are not going to do that whole hiring and training process anymore. Some companies believe they can't afford to develop every worker that they need from scratch. They are looking for applicants who have a ton of potential. They are looking for applicants that do not require major training to make sure that they can do math or problem solve. They need applicants that are ready to work day one. In some states taxpayers are paying for training where it costs about $60,000 to prepare 20 students for jobs. For some people looking for the job it's more than the promise of a job or a career. It means being of value and having a place in society. In manufacturing they use expensive machinery and it needs to be treated with respect. Some employees feel very privileged to be sitting in that setting and are happy to be a part of what they're doing. Some people believe that one reason American employers have trouble finding qualified workers is that apprenticeship programs have fallen by the wayside. If we think about how we compare with the rest of the world, we are at the bottom of the industrial world when it comes to apprentice programs, co-op programs and school and work integration, we just don’t have many of them any longer. Most people know they work and they know they are a good idea. One of the reasons we don’t have many of them now is because for some reason many employers are not engaging in doing them at this time. Unfortunately many employers are loosing an opportunity to save money by filling these manufacturing jobs faster and by training people rather than chasing the few people who have the credentials and the skills already.
Accomplishment-Based Apprentice Programs produce safe and competent employees, improved customer satisfaction and reduced operation and maintenance costs. I have provided leadership and facilitation of joint union and management apprentice program development and implementation in the utility industry for Electric Line Workers, Substation Operations, Substation Maintenance, Substation Construction, and Electric Meter Operations. I partnered jointly with leadership and union officials in the development and implementation of very successful four-year Apprentice Programs. Joint union-management teams used the Organization Alignment and New Performance Planning Front-End Analysis processes to help the development team plans and implement the programs. They also used the rest of the Accomplishment-Based Development program to revise and enhance portions of the existing training program. The process has allowed the joint union-management teams to leverage the intellectual capital of the company, the knowledge that contributes to the company success today. Use of the human performance technology processes helped the teams establish integrated skill and knowledge, motivation and incentive, and work environment systems. In addition, the development teams established wonderful feedback system loops that ensure apprentices know the level of their performance at any time throughout the programs. Each program has been in place for many years and have very effectively produced safe and competent employees who continue to demonstrate a very high level of competence. Some of the programs include school to work integration. The programs are designed to be very cost-efficient and continue to show a significant return-on-investment.
