Boston Centerless - Precision Matters Magazine Boston Centerless Precision Matters Summer 2019 | Page 4

NATIONAL ROBOTICS LEAGUE
Attracting And Building
Manufacturing’s Future
Workforce
By: Steven Tamasi
EVERY DAY, industry publications
and emails include stories about the
growing effect of the skills gap on the
US manufacturing community. We
are bombarded with tales of how this
program or that program has managed
to get a handful of students to consider
manufacturing as a career pathway. Just
like any issue that we are constantly hit
over the head with, we sometimes start to
tune it out.
I am asking that before you tune it out,
look at the facts below:
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A shortage of 2.4 million
manufacturing workers by 2028
Currently 600,000–1,000,000
open jobs in manufacturing
97 percent of precision
metalforming and metalworking
companies are reporting at
least one skilled job opening
Manufacturing companies lose
11 percent in profits due to
increase overtime expenditures
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64 percent of high school
students will pick their
career pathways based on
interests and experiences
Workforce development is
the number one issue facing
manufacturing companies
I am sure that you have heard these
stats before. It might be hard to think how
this is affecting your company directly.
Here is a way to bring it home. Look at
your shop floor and imagine what your
company performance would be if you lost
53 percent of your employees right now.
Well, you will lose 53 percent of them by
2028. Think of the impact that it will make
on your ability to bring in new business if
you cannot replace them, let alone service
your current customer base. These stats
are the cold hard truth, and they are not
going away anytime soon.
With the Baby Boomer “silver
tsunami” brewing, many are debating
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how to counteract it. Associations,
corporate foundations, and government
organizations are investing heavily
in outreach programs, scholarships,
websites, and marketing materials to
appeal to and convince this next generation
that manufacturing is a viable career
option with a bright future. A four-year
college degree may not be the best path
for all, and presenting an alternative with
opportunity for growth is essential.
In the end, the answer to this problem
is not in the hands of any association,
corporate foundation, or government
organization. It is in the hands of each
and every manufacturing company. The
only way to solve the skills gap is for
manufacturing companies to connect
with our youth and convince them that our
companies can provide great, rewarding
careers. It is critical for all of us to utilize
the resources in front us to solve our own
individual workforce development issue.