Manufacturing in U.S. and Nation's Future Depend on Attracting Skilled People into Field

August 09, 2012
By: By Troy A. Mills

Many in the general population may not realize we are at a critical point in U.S. manufacturing, and no nation has ever thrived without a strong manufacturing base. 

The average age of a toolmaker/machinist in the U.S. is older than 50, and for every four who are leaving (i.e. retiring, changing careers or moving) only one is coming in. It doesn’t take much skill with a calculator to figure out that we are in a dire situation. If we don’t do something right now, American tool manufacturing will not exist in 2027.

While I could go on and on about how we got ourselves in this position, I think that most don’t need, or want, the refresher course. The good news is, that it’s not too late.

It takes about 10 years to develop into a top-level tradesman. This means we have to start now. All American manufacturers need to get involved. We need to develop or continue the development of a skilled trades “campaign.” We have to attract new people in to the industry by showing them how fascinating and exciting it is and also how important they are to the success of our nation. This could be accomplished through radio, television and print advertisements as well as job fairs.

But our job fairs need to be different than the same old folding tables, handouts and sample parts. Some companies have already started kids programs, but I think this can be expanded upon by creating summer programs and mini-programs that teach a different discipline at each session. These programs need to be geared toward our middle and high school age children.

We are only in the early stages of this and could use all the help we can get. In addition to ideas, I am also asking every company discuss this on a regular basis and decide, not if, but how much you are willing to contribute to the survival of American manufacturing.

I cannot express the importance of doing something. All of us have experienced over the past year the difficulty in finding qualified candidates. This will get worse every year, until each of us can no longer staff our companies.

This is about more than just the survival of our industry. It’s about survival of our nation, the one our great grandparents and grandparents worked so hard to build. It’s about the legacy of American manufacturing.

Let’s rebuild American manufacturing. I believe our best is yet to come.