Solving metal fabrication’s greatest problem: skilled labor

For many in metal fabrication, optimism reigns in 2018. The economy continues to grow. Businesses just got a favorable tax plan with reduced rates and an expanded bonus depreciation as well as expanded benefits for small businesses under the Section 179 expensing rule. Depending on the circumstances, a company may be able to expense a lot more than it has in the past. That’s not bad at all for a capital-intensive business like metal fabrication.

Obviously, the new tax law aims to provide incentives for investment (though I’m no tax expert; for up-to-date details, contact your tax professional). Regardless, equipment and software investment has become critical for fabricators in recent years. If shops in your area invest in a high-speed fiber laser, a press brake with automatic tool change, and other advanced machinery, good luck competing with them. Actually, I take that sarcasm back. A fabricator without the latest machines could indeed compete—with the right people.

It seems no matter how good it gets, from both a technology and customer demand perspective, people in fabrication opine about the challenge of finding good help. Yes, modern machines are designed to be simple to learn and operate. But they’re also extraordinarily productive, and work moves extraordinarily fast. These days customers demand such speed. In some markets, a four- to six-week turnaround just isn’t good enough anymore. But all that automation also gives a lot of power to inexperienced people who aren’t engaged, or who just flat out don’t pay attention to what they’re doing. A careless programming or job routing mistake can lead to a lot of incorrect or unneeded parts fabricated in a hurry.

You just can’t make a fabrication operation idiot-proof. And thank goodness for that; who would want to work in a place full of idiots?

Reflecting the industry overall, the FABTECH^® show in Chicago in November boiled over with rosy outlooks. Sure, the good times will end, but probably not in 2018. Everything seemed to be turning up roses—except for the fact that many worried that the lack of skilled people will hamper their growth potential. This certainly isn’t surprising, considering unemployment is heading toward record lows while baby boomers are retiring in droves.

“Manufacturers are some of the most innovative problem solvers I know. On-time delivery issues, part quality problems—we have a variety of tools to deal with these problems. We’ve got lean, we’ve got the 5 whys. And yet when it comes to the personnel side of things and finding new talent, many are just waiting for someone else to take care of this problem. That’s not justified anymore. We caused some of this problem. We let somebody else determine what success looks like. Until this point in time, we didn’t stand up to say, ‘You know what, not everyone needs a four-year degree.’ We’ve waited too long, and now we have to be part of making the solution happen.”

So said Laura Elsner, workforce development manager at DeWys Mfg., a custom fabricator in Marne, Mich. She made the comment during a workforce development panel at the FABTECH show, suggesting that manufacturers use the problem-solving skills that made them so successful at what they do.

“In 15 years, if you don’t’ hire another person, will you still be in business?” So asked Hernán Luis y Prado, president of San Diego-based Workshops for Warriors, an organization that provides skilled trades training for veterans. “Probably not. Yet still, we all acknowledge the problem, but we don’t engage.”

To start engaging, asking why recruiting talent remains so challenging might be helpful. There are many external reasons, of course—tight labor market, low unemployment, parents and children don’t think about careers in manufacturing—but fabricators who’ve had success also have looked inward.

Is the shop floor chaotic, with managers barking orders, or are tools labeled, areas cleaned, and processes defined and documented? Does the fabricator have a formal training program, one that either starts at ground zero or at least brings employees up to speed on the fabricator’s unique processes? Does the company offer growth opportunities and “career pathing” for new employees? How are layoffs treated during downturns? Are they truly an absolute last resort? As FABTECH panelists emphasized, a fabricator’s “long game” should be nurturing and retaining talent.

Warren Long, Oskosh, Wis.-based commodity manager, Briggs & Stratton Products Group, is immediate past president of Nuts, Bolts & Thingamajigs®, the foundation of the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association International. “Workforce development has been tied to economics,” Long said during the FABTECH panel. “We hit the Great Recession, and there were some very drastic measures that many took to make sure companies remained viable, but when the recovery happened and industry needed workers, many looked to tech schools and said, ‘Come on, where’s my skilled worker?’ But that doesn’t work. Companies need to invest in the workforce for the long term. You need to make sure you’re retaining your best talent, even when times are tough, then continue to invest in them and develop them for the future.

“Things now are incredibly tough for anyone looking for workers. When the next recession hits and the recovery starts, you can’t expect there will be qualified people lining up, ready and willing to take the first job they’re offered.”

Polished, well-managed operations with good management; an orderly work environment where people are given opportunities and enjoy being productive: all of it really supports a single, core emotion most in this business experience. It’s the pride that comes with making something—not of 1s and 0s or an app or a piece of software referred to with some cryptic acronym, but a physical thing.

As panelist Mike Cattelino, apprenticeship manager for Appleton, Wis.-based Fox Valley Technical College, put it, “I enjoy watching the younger generation as their eyes and ears open up to the possibilities they see in front of them.” This awe, in young and old alike, is what drives every organization to get better, and fabricators need more people with their eyes and ears open.

DeWys Mfg., www.dewysmfg.com

FABTECH, www.fabtechexpo.com

Workshops for Warriors, www.workshopsforwarriors.org

Fox Valley Technical College, www.fvtc.edu

Nuts, Bolts & Thingamajigs, www.nutsandboltsfoundation.org