In our current age of on-again/off-again tariffs and a new war in the Middle East causing the cost of everything from food to gasoline to skyrocket, it seems like all of us are getting a daily lesson in the painful truth of the economic concept of supply and demand.
There’s another place where the law of supply and demand has been wreaking havoc for the past couple of decades: the manufacturing plant floor. Did you realize that there are currently hundreds of thousands of open positions in manufacturing across the United States?
Although unemployment is far from historic highs, people still need jobs, so what’s the deal? Why do so many manufacturing positions continue to go unfilled? The answer, once again, comes down to supply and demand: there simply are not enough skilled workers to meet the demands of modern manufacturing facilities.
As new technologies, including advanced automation technologies from robots to artificial intelligence (AI), revolutionize the manufacturing sector, the type of workers manufacturers need has changed dramatically in the last couple of decades.
Rather than warm bodies to fill assembly lines, today’s manufacturers need workers with advanced technical skills to work alongside these new technologies. Unfortunately, the supply of these workers has not kept pace with demand, leading to an ongoing worker shortage that has been dubbed the “skills gap.”
The manufacturing skills gap has created an ongoing challenge for recruiters seeking to place skilled workers into open positions. In a recent Industry Week article by Al Ruiz, the author offers a few suggestions that highlight the importance of training in recruiting skilled workers.
As Ruiz notes, “[f]or manufacturers trying to fill critical roles, the talent shortage is real, but it is not the only obstacle between open positions and qualified hires…There’s a pattern of inefficiencies and mistakes that make an already difficult search significantly harder.”
For example, Ruiz describes “[a] common mistake…is that manufacturers often treat workforce training as an optional ‘nice to have.’ Training is something many feel is easy to invest in once the operation is running smoothly, or once the right candidate walks through the door already fully equipped.”
Unfortunately, that mindset is outdated and presents an obstacle to effective recruiting. According to Ruiz, “[t]he problem is that the right candidate, in the traditional sense, is increasingly rare…Technology…is moving faster than the workforce can absorb it, and manufacturers that refuse to slow production long enough to invest in upskilling are compounding that problem every quarter.”
What can manufacturers do instead? Ruiz gives examples of “firms starting to overhire recent graduates to pair them with senior engineers from the very beginning. Others are sending employees to community college programs specifically designed to teach robot programming and controls systems.”
He notes that, although “it slows things down initially,” “the short-term loss pays off in retention, morale and an internal pipeline of skilled employees. Manufacturers who wait for fully trained candidates to appear will keep waiting.”
Ruiz’s advice may scare some manufacturers who are afraid of falling farther behind. Many manufacturers are already focusing more on equipment than people as they try to achieve some form of “smart manufacturing readiness.”
However, Ruiz points out that, while equipment matters, “none of it runs itself…True readiness requires both the machinery and the people who know how to use it.”
At the end of the day, “[a] facility running advanced equipment with an undertrained workforce is carrying risk, and manufacturers who understand that tend to recruit differently. They prioritize finding and developing people alongside their technology investments, rather than treating the two as separate concerns.”
So, what are manufacturers that want to focus more on training supposed to do? Tackling the challenges of training for modern manufacturing careers can seem daunting. Fortunately, there are experts available to guide them through the process.
Industry leaders and educators can benefit from the expertise of the technical training experts at Amatrol. Amatrol has been the world leader in technical education for more than four decades now. The experts at Amatrol can provide needed guidance on everything from training and hands-on skill development to industry-standard certifications and apprenticeships.
The experts at Amatrol have been working alongside industries and educational institutions for years to design training programs featuring eLearning curriculum and hands-on experience with trainers equipped with industrial components students will encounter on the job. For more information about how Amatrol can help, contact an expert at Amatrol today!
