Managing metal fabrication through the generations

A welding technician in his early 20s fixtures a subassembly in a robot welding cell, and yet he calls up the wrong welding program. The young tech plugs along without noticing, welds the batch, then goes on to the next job. Quality control flags the error before (thankfully) the job ships, and the boss (in his 50s) calls him into his office. The drama ensues, and the boss just shakes his head. What was the kid thinking?

A manager in his 50s holds a meeting with customer service, sales, and engineering personnel. A deadline for a large industrial fabrication was pushed up, so now the entire project is behind schedule. Everyone will need to double down. An engineer in his late 30s heads back to his cubicle and shakes his head. His boss already sent him an e-mail about the problem. He even updated the project management software with the new schedule. Why did he waste time calling the meeting, especially now that the project is so behind? What was the guy thinking?

A supervisor in his 40s approaches a press brake operator. In his early 70s, the operator is still working simply because he enjoys his job. The supervisor talks to him about upcoming changes: new bending software, an improvement initiative that will include new organization practices (5S) and the like. Debate ensues. The veteran has seen this before, and the shop has nothing to show for it. Sales seems to go up and down with the economy, no matter how organized or disorganized his workstation appears to be. The supervisor leaves and shakes his head. Doesn’t he see how inefficient everything is? What is he thinking?

Most people in this business can relate to these stories, which imply a broader narrative to the skilled-labor crisis. Hard skills are important, but they can be taught. Shadow a press brake veteran, and he can show you the ropes. But connecting with co-workers is another story, and to do that requires empathy.

Diane Thielfoldt has experience with this. As co-founder of The Learning Café, Daniel Island, S.C., she has helped employees at various companies, including manufacturers, relate to one another. In 2014 she spoke at the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association Annual Meeting on the topic, and in late 2015 The FABRICATOR spoke with her about how metal fabricators can work with their multigenerational workforce.

Empathy starts with knowing where people are coming from, and this, Thielfoldt explained, is where the study of generations plays an important role. Family, friends, teachers, and others play big roles in shaping one’s behavior, but so do shared experiences like war, terrorist attacks, economic depressions and recessions, music, and popular culture. Those shared experiences shape a generation.

Thielfoldt conceded that the study of generations by its nature involves generalizations, and the years dividing them are only approximations. “We compare generational differences and similarities,” she said. “It’s our belief that this is not an exact science. It is in fact a social science, and it is probably one of the most intriguing and informative ways to view the people you work with.”

Silent Generation: Work First

Born between about 1933 and 1945, the silent generation grew up with the Great Depression followed by war. The youngest of this generation is still in the workforce, either out of necessity or for the enjoyment of it. The latter, Thielfoldt said, is probably more likely, considering this generation’s good saving habits.

Their experience of their childhood has shaped their life views. They put the group (company and family) first. They exhibit loyalty to a company, and they know how to work within a defined system. “The ‘silents’ put personal desires and goals aside to do their best for their families and their companies,” Thielfoldt said. “Their willingness to defer gratification is a hallmark.”

She added that their desire to put the group interests ahead of their own makes them natural corporate leaders. They’re also cautious and conservative, excelling in situations that require careful thinking before taking action. The Learning Café calls this the “work first” generation. They value workplace loyalty and job security.

Diane Thielfoldt, co-founder of The Learning Café, spoke at the FMA Annual Meeting in 2014 about how fab shop business leaders can work with their multigenerational workforce.

These attributes certainly fit the metal fabrication shop of their youth. This generation started in a world before the CNC, of calculating flat layouts by hand. They learned G-code, and when they reached the middle of their careers, they worked with early numerical controls, reviewing code line by line.

Baby Boomers: Live to Work

“Between 8,000 and 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 every day,” Thielfoldt said. “There’s a tremendous amount of organizational knowledge making its way out the door.”

Like the silent generation before them, boomers aren’t all retiring the moment they turn 65, but their organizational knowledge is unique. Born between 1946 and 1964, this generation grew up with Woodstock, the Beatles, and bell bottoms. Their predecessors, the silent generation, grew up just after the Great Depression and became great savers. The boomers, growing up during a postwar economic expansion, became great spenders.

Boomers grew up during a time of tremendous change led by historic, charismatic figures. They experienced the fear of the Cuban missile crisis and the excitement of the moon landing. They lived through the civil rights movement and experienced women’s liberation. Many went to war in Southeast Asia.

“Boomers put their personal hallmark on work,” Thielfoldt said, adding that they view people and projects in their environment from a broad perspective. They value collaboration and teamwork, and put in long hours to make their mark. “They support the value of coming together for the common good.”

In the process they became savvy navigators of the corporate hierarchy. As Thielfoldt put it, “For many boomers, there is one way to move in an organization, and that’s up.” The Learning Café calls them the “live to work” generation. “The baby boomer generation added one full month to the work year.”

Underlying all this hard work is an optimism unfaltering in the face of high inflation in the 1970s and globalization in the 1980s and after. They entered the metal fabrication business as high-volume stampings were moving offshore and the flexible and soft tooling of punch presses and laser cutting began to transform the fab shop.

Many began their working years learning manual layout and programming from their silent generation peers. They then saw software and CNCs utterly change metal fabrication forever, and some boomers adopted that change with gusto. The possibilities seemed enormous.

The boomers’ optimism took root during their formative years, when they had a fair amount of time on their own to explore and play with friends. “They came home from school, hopped on their bikes, and took off until their parents called them or the streetlights came on,” Thielfoldt said, adding that this experience starkly contrasts with the experience of their children—and this in turn has created some friction in the fab shop.

Gen X: Work to Live

When this generation walked home from school or the bus stop, they carried house keys with them. The oldest of this generation, born between 1965 and 1979, remember their parents enduring times of high unemployment, high interest rates, and sky-high inflation. Although some were too young to really understand what globalization really was, they saw its effects as their parents lost their jobs.

“This was a dark time to be a kid,” Thielfoldt said. “The divorce rate doubled, and we had a distinct drop in the population. If you analyze the events that influenced this generation, they were less than positive.”

During their early working years, they experienced the optimism of the 1990s tech boom, the ensuing bust, and the terror of 9/11. All this has made many assume that Gen Xers don’t trust employers and, hence, lack loyalty. But as Thielfoldt explained, this isn’t entirely true. “Gen Xers are highly committed to good bosses,” she said. “They are also committed to the work and the team they are a part of.”

Still, they do take a pragmatic approach to the workplace, they look at the world with a critical eye, and they don’t mind breaking the status quo if that helps them get the job done better and faster. Doing so, they add to their “portable” skill set.

Unlike boomers, they may not see a career as a straight-upward ladder but rather a lattice. The more skills across the lattice they acquire, the more opportunities they have. Those opportunities may be with their current employer, another company, or at a company they launch themselves.

They see the workplace as a community, and they embrace teamwork—if, in their view, it helps them get the job done better and faster. Work is distinct from the rest of their lives, which is why The Learning Café calls them the “work to live” generation.

At thousands of metal fabrication businesses, the oldest Gen Xers are now in positions of authority. They started work at a fab shop dominated by the CNC, though they may have learned the ropes on a few old-school machines. They also saw the expanded use of software in not just machine control, but also shop management. They view new technology, like everything else, through a pragmatic lens.

Millennials: Live, Then Work

This latest generation to enter the workforce, born between 1980 and 2000, can’t imagine a life without technology. They can’t remember a time when a home didn’t have a computer, and the youngest of them can’t remember a time when they didn’t have e-mail or the Internet.

They grew up during a time when kids no longer got on their bikes and rode away until dinnertime. They grew up with arranged playdates. They also grew up in a world in which multitasking was just how people lived their lives. They did homework and checked e-mails on the way to or from soccer practice or dance classes.

As Thielfoldt put it, “Millennials are the most wanted, most focused on, and doted on generation that has appeared on this planet.” They grew up with adults—parents, teachers, and others— who acted more like coaches and less like army generals. They lived not by carrying out orders but by practicing and performing a task, all the while receiving continual feedback from others.

Only some of them may remember the Gulf War and the fall of the Berlin Wall, but all of them remember Columbine, and they all remember Sept. 11, 2001. A half dozen years after the Great Recession ended, many remain unemployed or underemployed; some moved back home.

These events, among others, buttressed a need to be connected with peers, and it instilled a deep sense of civic duty and morality. They work for the greater good, not just for money and financial security. To them, it’s not about “working to live” or “living to work,” it’s about combining the two: live, then work. Many don’t have a “work life” or “personal life.” They live a life in which work, leisure, and play intertwine.

As Thielfoldt explained, “If you happen to be a Gen X manager who is managing millennials, here’s a coaching tip: It takes about two to three times more time to manage, coach, and mentor them, and to get them started, than it did when you were managing folks in other generations.”

Such coaching doesn’t sound at all positive, and it gives credence to common complaints about millennials being an entitled generation. In a world of lean staffs and cutthroat competition, who can devote so much time to training and coaching people?

Thielfoldt responded this way: “Older workers and millennials have a different view about work. [Older workers] think that [millennials] just don’t work as hard as they do. And the millennial generation does not disagree. They acknowledge that the baby boomers have a different work ethic than they do. Are they lazy? I would bust that myth and say that they are multitaskers. Often, if your millennials are engaged in multiple projects at the same time, that variety challenges and stimulates them in the workplace.”

Managing the Generations

Adults have always complained about “these kids today.” To the same extent, youth have always complained about the older generations, saying they’re stuck in their ways. It’s not a new story, but as Thielfoldt explained, the current situation has a new wrinkle.

The silent generation works hard for the greater good of an organization. Although they have a different perspective, millennials work for the greater good as well, which may be one reason, Thielfoldt said, for the fact that millennials and the silent generation tend to get along well.

In manufacturing, the silent-millennial pairing—say, in a veteran and apprentice relationship—may be particularly valuable. Using computer technology is innate to millennials, but they didn’t grow up with the same hands-on experience as their grandparents. Today’s fab shop needs people comfortable with both technology and hands-on work.

And what about having to be coached continually, the constant feedback, and the need for variety? This attribute may actually fit well with the modern fab shop and today’s manufacturer in general.

The millennials work in a fab shop where part designs change often, assemblies are complex, lead times are compressed, the pace is fast, and demand is less predictable than ever. It’s an environment ripe for mistakes.

It’s also an environment that can benefit from constant measuring and feedback. Today software can measure and record the downtime between jobs, overall machine uptime, even a welding arc’s electrical characteristics. Software gives that immediate feedback that to an older generation might seem like Big Brother. Yet as Thielfoldt explained, millennials who grew up with constant coaching may welcome such feedback, even expect it.

When people think of job flexibility, many think of technology workers spending time in front of a laptop at the coffee shop, in the park, or wherever. Of course, manufacturing occurs at a plant and in specified shifts. A shop can offer some flexibility—four 10-hour workdays a week, for instance—but people connected to manufacturing can’t work whenever and wherever they want.

Nevertheless, modern manufacturing does offer the chance to do many different things. Cross-training has become a necessity at many high-product-mix, low-volume operations (which is the majority of U.S. manufacturing). And with this “multitasking” experience, millennials may bring a holistic perspective to any improvement initiative.

Admittedly, sometimes there is no way to get around the fact that some operations require repetitive work that demands prolonged concentration. One careless move—say, fixturing a part incorrectly—and a day’s worth of work is wasted. In these cases, Thielfoldt suggested engaging millennials in improvement projects centered in their work area. Is there a way to improve the operation, perhaps even to errorproof it? These projects present that challenging variety, and it helps give young workers the satisfaction of finding a better way to get the job done.

Communicating Improvement

Say a fab shop wants to implement a continuous improvement initiative. Each generation may view that initiative in a different light. An employee who belongs to the silent generation may view it from a financial sense. Revenue and margins are what matter, and he knows that labor is the single largest expense on a balance sheet besides material costs. How secure is his job—really?

In this case, the manager might make this argument: This lean initiative will help us grow and compete. It will make each person more productive and more valuable. And key to this change is the technical knowledge that the silent generation possesses.

Baby boomers may view the same initiative as a personal offense. After all, they helped build the company into what it is today. In this case, the manager might make the collaborative argument: The lean initiative will involve everyone, from top managers to the front lines. It will require everybody to pull together. Being company veterans, they personally connect with a lot of workers in the plant, and as the initiative commences, that professional connection will be even more important to sustain the effort.

Gen Xers may view the initiative as an affront to their personal time. They can imagine the extra hours they’ll need to put in to make change happen. In this case, a manager may describe a time-saving idea, such as a new way to process orders, a new inspection protocol, or a new tooling technology that will reduce errors at the press brake. The change itself may require extra hours, but the result will help make life more predictable and manageable. For a Gen Xer who separates work life from home life, that’s a very good thing.

A millennial might think an improvement initiative is more of the same. People don’t communicate with him, and he doesn’t seem to be getting any guidance from anyone. Why would an improvement initiative change things?

In this case, a manager might describe the importance of metrics in continuous improvement, how they’ll receive feedback constantly, and how the initiative will aim to reduce chaos and introduce some structure. At the same time, more structure in the day-to-day operations may leave more time for charities and volunteering, be it sponsored by the company or on their own.

Back to Fundamentals

Thielfoldt emphasized that just knowing the characteristics of a specific generation is a tool, but it won’t solve underlying organizational problems on its own. Processes, procedures, and best practices need to be agreed upon, documented, and measured. Workers want to be appreciated and their voices heard. They need some level of training on the company’s procedures and processes. And there needs to be some level of trust. As Thielfoldt put it, “If organizations are not loyal to employees, we can’t expect employees to be loyal to our organizations.”

Regardless, it’s never a bad thing to know where people are coming from. Although the study of generations is an inexact social science, it may help company leaders empathize, minimize conflict, and get everyone on the same page.