What is our responsibility to the next generation of manufacturing?

[EmGo]

I mentor several young females

So that's what they call it these days ....

(j/k, j/k !)

 

[William Payne]

I will talk based on my own experiences. Highly skilled people where I live are rare when it comes to engineering. Now there is a huge skills shortage because a few decades ago people decided that they didn't want to teach anymore. Or they decided that they would leave the teaching to the big companies and get the skilled people once they finish their training. The problem is the big companies closed up shop and disappeared so nobody was teaching anyone anymore.

Finding people willing to learn and enthusiastic is actually pretty easy. But the teaching side is completely messed up, the newbies get left alone with no idea what they doing and the bosses get mad at them because they aren't getting things done in time and cutting into profits. But nobody is actually working side by side with them teaching them. Nobody is allowing them to learn. These new people don't have access to stuff to learn in their own time, many come from home environments where they don't even have a garage. Some may never have used tools before because they never had that fundamental exposure growing up.

So they don't know anything and get treated as useless. But they want to learn, but they also have no loyalty to the trade so when they realise they are going to be treated like crap and not trained to be valuable qualified engineers/machinists they look elsewhere to trades who do appreciate people wanting to learn and will happily pass on skills and pay big money while doing so. So they becomes builders, electricians, plumbers, painters, and earn an exceptional living and live happily ever after while the engineering and machining trade continues to complain about not being able to find good staff.

If someone in your workforce is eager to learn or wants to earn more money and they come to you and respectfully ask for advice on how they can do better and be more valuable and you can't answer their question or help them at all, YOU are the problem.

 

[tdmidget]

So different from where I live. My local high school, where one of my sons graduated, about ten miles from here (I live in a rural area) still has Ag classes, which include animal biology and raising methods, plant biology and ag studies, along with welding classes, from beginner to advance, and they build things like hay racks and trailers in class every year. Plus they have a cnc lab, where they learn to program and run a cnc router (mistakes in particle board are pretty forgiving).
These same kids can also, as juniors and seniors, take classes in diesel mechanics, welding, and manufacturing tech, carbon fiber boatbuilding, and more, at the local community college, and get both high school and college credit for those at the same time.
They can then go on to better community college and university programs locally in welding, machining, and manufacturing, or even vehicle design, all at state schools nearby.

I have always hired young people and trained em, for close to 40 years now. I cant afford Union Journeymen, but I have never had a problem getting smart young people who want to work with metal, I pay well above minimum wage, and there are plenty of smart motivated kids around here. I usually hire recent grads of 2 year AA programs in manufacturing tech or welding, because they have already spent their own time and money learning the basics, and proving commitment.
We have a pretty thriving high tech manufacturing industry here in the PNW- obviously Boeing, and lots of large subs to Boeing, along with shipbuilding, but lots of small machining and fab work, wind generator towers, and lots more. Carbon fiber is big around here, biggest local employer in my county after the schools, Janicki, does a lot of carbon fiber and they have 100' capacity milling machines for nautical and aerospace stuff. They, like me, hire motivated young people and train em. They pay a lot more though...
I just drove by the local Hexcell factory, where they make composite hex sheets and other wacky things- after 9/11 they made a lot of light weight honeycomb titanium cockpit doors- anyway, they had a sign on the road- "Now Hiring, starting wage $21.40/hr."
My guess is they are having a hard time finding people that cheap, hence the permanent sign outside.
The USA is really about 7 different economies, and some of em are doing better than others I guess.

$ 21.40/hr? The Quik Trip here is offering $19.87/hr to start for part time cashiers. Apple pickers in Washington are getting $16.00/hr to pick apples.

 

[Ries]

$ 21.40/hr? The Quik Trip here is offering $19.87/hr to start for part time cashiers. Apple pickers in Washington are getting $16.00/hr to pick apples.

kinda my point. If the $21.40 wage was catnip, they wouldnt need to have a fancy printed sandwich board out on the road- you would just post an online help wanted, and fill the jobs. So obviously, for that job, in that shop, its not enough money. There used to be a boatbuilder like that in Bellingham- they got a post 9-11 job to make dozens and dozens of hybrid aluminum / inflatable boats for the military, and they were paying something like 9 bucks an hour (2002 or so) for welders. They hired, and lost, a half dozen a month, as people realized what terrible pay that was for the work.
I think Hexcel uses chemicals and weird composite boards, and its like working in a fiberglas shop, and they need to pay better, but for whatever reason, wont. I know that they also do some 5 axis machining of composites in that plant for customers, and I am guessing not a lot of machinists with 5 axis experience in composites want to work that cheap. Down the road, at Janicki, they start their machinists at more like 30 bucks an hour, and the welders 40 bucks, and salaries go up from there.
And also, that kind of points out the differences in pay scales around the country. Here, that kind of production work needs to pay in the 30$ to 40$ range to get good solid permenant employees. My guess is there are plenty of parts of the country where they can pay a lot less. But Boeing is building a few hundred planes a year here, not in Mississippi or Ohio.

 

[rjwalker1973]

I will talk based on my own experiences. Highly skilled people where I live are rare when it comes to engineering. Now there is a huge skills shortage because a few decades ago people decided that they didn't want to teach anymore. Or they decided that they would leave the teaching to the big companies and get the skilled people once they finish their training. The problem is the big companies closed up shop and disappeared so nobody was teaching anyone anymore.

Finding people willing to learn and enthusiastic is actually pretty easy. But the teaching side is completely messed up, the newbies get left alone with no idea what they doing and the bosses get mad at them because they aren't getting things done in time and cutting into profits. But nobody is actually working side by side with them teaching them. Nobody is allowing them to learn. These new people don't have access to stuff to learn in their own time, many come from home environments where they don't even have a garage. Some may never have used tools before because they never had that fundamental exposure growing up.

So they don't know anything and get treated as useless. But they want to learn, but they also have no loyalty to the trade so when they realise they are going to be treated like crap and not trained to be valuable qualified engineers/machinists they look elsewhere to trades who do appreciate people wanting to learn and will happily pass on skills and pay big money while doing so. So they becomes builders, electricians, plumbers, painters, and earn an exceptional living and live happily ever after while the engineering and machining trade continues to complain about not being able to find good staff.

If someone in your workforce is eager to learn or wants to earn more money and they come to you and respectfully ask for advice on how they can do better and be more valuable and you can't answer their question or help them at all, YOU are the problem.

I agree with you other than one thing. There is the internet which can teach a lot of theory and knowledge. Yes, you need to have a machine to apply it, but the foundation is there to build on. We didn't have that. I read manuals when someone wouldn't show me something. I taught myself a lot before I met the guy that would be my mentor.

 

[technocrat]

<snippo> I taught myself a lot before I met the guy that would be my mentor.

And that person more than likely expected that

 

[rjwalker1973]

And that person more than likely expected that

You are right. Benji had no use for dollar chasers. If you had some moxie about you and gave a damn about your work he would teach you anything you wanted to know.