As Baby Boomers retire, manufacturing companies are finding it hard to find replacements for skilled labor positions, something that has been an ongoing problem.

The shortage of skilled workers is becoming more and more common, especially for such jobs as CNC programmers, electrical and mechanical technicians, and machinists. More than 60 percent of the manufacturing businesses polled recently reported a moderate to severe shortage of skilled labor. More than three-fourths of the companies expected the shortage to get worse over the next three to five years.

Now, some manufacturers are taking a more proactive stance by partnering with educational institutions to train new workers

Permac Industries in Minnesota is an example of one such company, according to business observer Jill Jusko. The firm has developed a program called Right Skills Now, which is an accelerated training program designed to help smaller companies find skilled precision machinists. Many smaller companies such as Permac are having difficulty finding skilled labor, but they don’t have the resources of many larger companies to get the talent they need, Jusko says.

In the Right Skills program, Permac partnered with two community colleges to create a 24-week training session that includes 18 weeks of classroom and lab work followed by six weeks of paid internship. The program trains students to become CNC operators. The Right Skills program is based on the National Association of Manufacturers Manufacturing Skills Certification System.

Permac also joined with trade associations as well as the community colleges to begin the program. Company officials praised the community colleges for how well they adapted the curriculum to what the companies wanted.

Another company developing training programs in collaboration with educational institutions is ArcelorMittal USA, Jusko says. Its program is called the Steelworker of the Future Workforce Development Program. The goal of the program is to train mechanical and electrical technicians.
The company has 11 similar training courses with community colleges in five states.

Like Permac, ArcelorMittal has collaborated on curriculum development with its partner schools. Unlike Right Skills Now, however, the Steelworker for the Future is a two-and-a-half-year program, which includes four semesters of classroom training, plus two paid internships, one after the first semester of classroom training and another after the third semester.

Students shadow an electrical or mechanical technician during the first internship to gain a better understanding of the field they choose to pursue. During the second internship they perform hands-on work. Students who complete the program graduate with an associate degree. If the graduate is hired by Arcelor, they go through an additional one-year of training at the company.

If you need help finding skilled labor workers for your Inland Empire company, contact a recruiter at Arrow Staffing. We will source, vet and place reliable workers for your firm’s temporary, temp-to-hire and direct-hire assignments. Contact us today!