Continuing what we started

[PracticalMan]

By Michael Deren

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Many U.S. companies seem to have realized the error of sending manufacturing jobs to low labor-cost countries, known as offshoring. Over time, labor rates overseas increased, along with shipping costs. The resultant long lead times and, in some cases, poor-quality products, have many companies bringing back the manufacturing of parts and finished products to the U.S. With modern, high-tech equipment and good old Yankee ingenuity, the U.S. is competing favorably again. But who will continue what has been started?

Although manufacturers can always buy advanced, high-tech machine tools to boost productivity, who will program and run these new machines? Who will determine the process that turns a raw piece of material into a more valuable product?

The only answer is to get young people interested in manufacturing and train them. Whether we’re machinists, programmers, manufacturing engineers or material scientists, we need to prepare our replacements. The big push is in STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). This is great, but how do we generate interest in this type of curriculum to begin with? We need to educate high school students—male and female—about our industry before they decide to go to college to get a degree or, God forbid, drop out of school all together.

Manufacturing Day, which takes place Oct. 3 this year, is a great start. But why not have your company sponsor a day (or a half day) each month to promote manufacturing? If you have a shop or manufacturing facility that you’re proud of, here’s an opportunity to shine. Contact the principal or technical instructor at area schools, but don’t limit the focus to shop classes—target mathematics and science departments, as those skills apply to modern manufacturing as well. Explain that you would like to offer tours of your facility and demonstrations in various segments of your business so students can have a better understanding of what manufacturing is all about.

Take a small group of students and provide a show-and-tell in your conference room with snacks and refreshments. Show them what you make and tell them where it’s used. Conduct a comprehensive plant tour, starting in the engineering or programming department, and walk the students, step by step, through the process of completing a part or assembly from a CAD drawing or model. Encourage them to talk to your programmers, machinists and engineers and ask questions.

If you use conversational programming, have students input some data from a drawing and show them what happens when you press the machine’s start button. If you have a robot, have them “teach” the robot a few points in space and let it run the program. Have your human resources department explain the skills and attitude needed to work in such a facility and the salaries and benefits that are available.

It does take a little investment in staff time and resources to host these tours, but conducting them helps our industry’s and your company’s future. You may not get any of these students to work at your facility, but at the very least you will have expanded their viewpoints on manufacturing. Our facilities are not like the sweat shops of old, with dim lighting and slick floors and oily mist in the air. As the saying goes, “We’ve come a long way baby.”

About the Author: Mike Deren is a manufacturing engineer/project manager and a regular CTE contributor. He can be emailed at [email protected].


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[Smoothbore]

This is great, but how do we generate interest in this type of curriculum to begin with? We need to educate high school students—male and female—about our industry before they decide to go to college to get a degree or, God forbid, drop out of school all together.

The answer has always been ridiculously simple, ... and there is no "cheap and dirty" solution.

( Sorry Bean-Counters, but that's how it is. )

Attractive wages, benefits and working conditions have always been the key to getting, and keeping 1st class employees.

And Labor Unions have always had a negative effect on all those things, ... by protecting and advancing the interests of sub-standard employees, ... at the expense of the "good" employees.

Shop Politics, ... as played by "job-scared" Middle Managers, ... is the next most toxic situation in a manufacturing environment.

Link Middle Management Compensation DIRECTLY ( no excuses ) to the performance of their subordinates, ... and watch the petty "Fiefdoms" disappear.


I know, ... that's not the kind of mealy-mouthed platitudes everyone's come to expect, when addressing problems in the workplace, ... but that's the truth as I know it.

Deal with it .....



.

 

[Gobo]

It has to start in the home and classroom. For several years, our company has been working with a local school in an attempt to get young people interested in manufacturing. Believe me, it was not just because we wanted to just do good for our nation. Being in a rural area far from a skilled labor pool, we knew our best bet to get long-term, productive employees was to create them from people in our local area. Unfortunately, we have had just about zero success. I do not like to lump everyone together, but the young students I have seen come out of our schools are far, far away from being prepared to succeed in our rapidly changing world. Horrible math skills, no typing ability, inability to concentrate on anything for any length of time and just a simple lack of intelligence are only a few of the negative attributes nearly all of these youngsters display. You can not make a silk purse out of a pigs ear. Call me pessimistic, but unless our households and schools start producing graduates with the traits needed, this great nation will have an increasingly difficult time remaining great.

 

[allloutmx]

I went to work with my dad when I was a kid. I always got along well with the fellas... Maybe they didnt have a choice. Either way... My dad never made me choose my career, but I chose it for myself at a ripe young age. Dads promise of 50g with OT wasnt all that appealing... Running that big OKK vertical and the mitzui horizontals was pretty enticing though...
I dont care if I ever make 6 digits... I just want to remain fortunate enough to be in a shop where I enjoy my work. Maybe to some, its all about the money... And to some degree i may agree... But I only need enough to pay my bills and feed my family. So if the excess wages come with BS and whatnot, i will gladly pass. The kids wont understand until they go through some BS. I know I didnt.

I totally agree... Starts at home. I was taught to earn my keep and hard work was respectable. In this age of entitlement, the 26 year old kids living at home where there parents must pay their health insurance see no point in working a 50 hour week. 40 is plenty when all you do is work to play.

 

[Big B]

Smoothbore,

You couldn't be more wrong. Unions may protect some less than great employees but they are the champions of "attractive wages, benefits and working conditions".

I don't know where you get your information but I worked in a union shop for over 30 years and didn't see any of what you are talking about. In fact, when we needed to hire tradesmen we had plenty of non-union workers to choose from. The reason was that we offered attractive wages, benefits and working conditions.

Big B

Attractive wages, benefits and working conditions have always been the key to getting, and keeping 1st class employees.

And Labor Unions have always had a negative effect on all those things, ... by protecting and advancing the interests of sub-standard employees, ... at the expense of the "good" employees.

Shop Politics, ... as played by "job-scared" Middle Managers, ... is the next most toxic situation in a manufacturing environment.
.

 

[hobbyman]

From my viewpoint it is a cultural problem. Work ethic and having a feeling of satisfaction from physical work must be learned at an early age. I did about ten years total on and off teaching in high school shops beginning in the 1970's. In the first week of class I could spot the "orchard" kids. I gave them a simple benchwork project involving file and hacksaw. The orchard kids were done in three days. The others were still at it after a week spending their time complaining that the project was boring and their arms were tired and they wanted to sit down rather than stand at a bench. The orchard kids were acclimatized to dragging irrigation pipe around before and after school as well as freezing their butts off pruning.
Several years ago I saw two ironworker union reps come by to a welding school where I was substituting. They were frustrated trying to recruit welding students into an ironworker apprenticeship. They only need one or two welders on a crew but these people are hard to find. They had given up looking in urban training centers and realized that people who had worked on a farm had the skill and attitude required. Working in the rain, mud, and snow is not something a kid raised in an apartment has any concept of. So they came up the valley recruiting in
the rural areas.
Young people in rural areas are working outside the restrictions of child labor laws. Some are driving vehicles on rural properties long before they properly reach the pedals. Along the way they learn to WORK. The nanny state system prevents children from experiencing work until they are set in their ways. A young person in an urban environment is prevented from developing any sort of work ethic.
It is those simple experiences like running a chainsaw or starting a lawn mower that is missed. In my 20's I had gave a class on small engines. I was well into engine theory when a hand came up and asked how the engine started. I realized that most of my class had grown up living in apartments and had never seen a pull rope. I promptly demonstrated but it never occurred to me that these kids had zero experience with small engines.

 

[ConstantWave]

You couldn't be more wrong. Unions may protect some less than great employees but they are the champions of "attractive wages, benefits and working conditions".

I have never worked in a union shop but do know many who have. I do believe they served a good purpose but that has been long forgotten. Greed and politics have replaced the championing of the working man. Unions could be good but often they only kill the golden goose. A good friend who worked for Tier 1 auto parts suppliers for many years has many stories of bad employees who dragged everyone down with them. It takes a special person to want to work with their hands these days.

 

[Big B]

CW,

You say that you have not worked in a union workplace but know people who have. I have worked in both union and non-union workplaces.

Here is the part that I didn't like about non-union shops. The fact that certain suck asses would sit in the foremans office and talk shit while I was out working my ass off. This was not something that a buddy told me. This was something that I saw and lived.

You guys who hate unions without having spent a minute working in a union shop should be ashamed of yourselves.

Big B

OP. Sorry about taking your thread off topic but I have a hard time reading shit like was posted above and not responding to it.

I have never worked in a union shop but do know many who have. I do believe they served a good purpose but that has been long forgotten. Greed and politics have replaced the championing of the working man. Unions could be good but often they only kill the golden goose. A good friend who worked for Tier 1 auto parts suppliers for many years has many stories of bad employees who dragged everyone down with them. It takes a special person to want to work with their hands these days.

 

[allloutmx]

Ive never worked for a union...
You guys should start a union thread so we can all duke it out

 

[danz503]

big b,
Z did you work in the same union shop for 30 years. if so, i would think your that your experience is limited. i think the union were a good thing in the beginning, but they have made an overpaid worker that believes he is entitled to his job regardless of his attitude/actions and that type of thinking has spilled over to our workforce, even outside the union. if the unions are so concerned for the workforce, maybe they could get busy outside the U.S. and help some of those people that are in the same situation the american worker was in the 1930's and 40's. just a thought.

 

[danz503]

cw,
sounds like you had a bad experience in a shop, truth is there are bad people everywhere, but that doesn't change the fact that unions have bred a privileged, overpaid worker. i too have worked both shops.

 

[danz503]

another area that doesn't get the attention it needs is millwright/maint. types. who are going to maintain and repair this equipment? i recently retired from the trade and can say that finding a young person with the necessary skills/aptitude is very hard. interviewing people to fill my "brick in the wall" was a real eye opener. i would agree with gobo and alloutmx that this has to be taught at an early age. my first shop classes started in the 7 th grade and went right through senior year. there were drafting classes, wood and metal classes, i even learned how to drive a road grader and large caterpillar. where is this kind of teaching now?

 

[Big B]

Danz,

Yes I did spend the whole 30 years with the same union employer. What was your experience?

The point that I am trying to make is that there are abuses in union and non-union jobs. The guy sitting in the office kissing the bosses ass in a non-union shop is the equivalent of the lazy union employee. anyone that would argue that unions have done no good for the working man and woman needs to open their eyes. What is it with working people that they have such a low opinion of themselves that they feel that they are so worthless. Sam Walton wouldn't have become even a millionaire let alone a billionaire without the help of workers.

Big B

PS. I noticed that smoothbore dug up this thread that has not had a post in many weeks to take pot shots at unions. She also doesn't seem to have the balls to respond again either.

 

[Skilly56]

Eureka! The parts of this discussion that pertain to the 'next generation' and how do you find youngsters who are interested in operating machine tools I can fully relate to.
These days, the marine industry is short of 32 - 35,000 qualified seafarers and very few youngsters are interested in going to sea these days. My youngest son did a second mates foreign-going Diploma in Nautical Science and there were 10 students on the course. Only three students completed the course and gained the qualification, and their 3 father's (I am one of them) were all existing or past seafarers, so the youngsters had already been exposed to the modus operandi of the industry, and knew what sort of lifestyle they were taking on.
The others, who all gave up, wanted to stay ashore so their I-Pads & cell phones stayed connected, girl friends & parties still happened every weekend, and such-like. Some of the failures who are still in contact with my son now look at the assets he has accrued in 12 years and now kick themselves for making the wrong decision way back then.
In NZ, a competent tradesperson is very rarely out of work. The skills, experience and knowledge gained by the 'baby-boomers' generation is being lost as we die off or retire, and the current drop of youngsters seem very averse to getting their hands dirty by learning a trade as a plumber, builder, machinist or mechanic, and yet these trades are now in even higher demand.
The only way to increase the numbers again, as said in an earlier post, is to entice them back into the trades with $$ and conditions. This is a world-wide problem.
Skilly

 

[Machinist8100]

How to get young people interested in trades(machining/manufacturing)??

1.Offer a CAREER instead of a job.
2. Have management that worked and came from the trade environment. This is big one, the last 2 companies I worked for, top/mid level management had MBA's and business degrees but could not tell cnc mill from lathe. These people run the show and have ZERO interest in machining/manufacturing.
3. I 2nd this : "Attractive wages, benefits and working conditions".

 

[Rbpercussion]

Smoothbore,

You couldn't be more wrong. Unions may protect some less than great employees but they are the champions of "attractive wages, benefits and working conditions".

I don't know where you get your information but I worked in a union shop for over 30 years and didn't see any of what you are talking about. In fact, when we needed to hire tradesmen we had plenty of non-union workers to choose from. The reason was that we offered attractive wages, benefits and working conditions.

Big B

I was going to say the same thing. Although I don't necessarily believe unions to be healthy to the economy as a whole, I would not mind being in one myself for the sometimes ridiculous amount of compensation offered at some of these places. I've worked in mostly shops under 200 employess, often under 100 and I've yet to see one of these offer competitive wages or benefits. I think it might also be the industry they serve, as I've worked in a medical shop that didn't have fantastic pay but pretty outstanding benefits. 5 years= 5 weeks vactaion time? That's a lot of time off.

 

[Rbpercussion]

On topic

I realized I was chiming in on the union side of this thread rather than addressing the post but anyways.
I'm a money motivated individual, always have been and always be. When I was in HS things that came to mind that made a ton of money were things that required intensive college studies and I hated school.

So I chose a different path to prosperity and it didn't end up to well for me. After escaping the aftermath of my decisions I realized that a good portion of the jobs posted on some career sites were CNC/machine operator. Not even making $10/hr and seeing that all of these jobs at least paid that, that motivated me to take a class (just one) on CNC machining. I've managed to find work in a tool making shop and with overtime I bring home decent paychecks but I am far from being able to settle down with this money.

The work in shops is not attractive. It is dirty, physically demanding at times, loud, the hours are very early or extremely late, and a lot of the people aren't that great to work with (from my experience). I enjoy my work to an extent only because of the satisfaction I derive from climbing from the bottom to where I am now without a single reference. This same satisfaction I believe to be impossible to instill within the youth entering the workforce.

College is stereotypicaly the thing to do out of h.s. if you want to ensure your future success. I'm not saying that it will or is even true, but that tends to be the belief. I make more money with several people I know with bachelor's and even master's degrees but that is their own fault. I myself have an associate's in business that isn't even ever mentioned in interviews.

In conclusion I'd like to say that good and talented help will always be a bit of a challenge to find because people do not usually choose trades but rather, a trade chooses them for various reasons. There are positions in manufacturing that pay quite handsomely but there are very few of them as a whole.