Desperately Seeking Americans For Factory Jobs

[Ryan Ruck]

Desperately Seeking Americans For Factory Jobs

February 16, 2012

U.S. factories are creating many new jobs. But owners are hard pressed to find skilled American workers to fill them.

There is a "critical shortage of machinists," a common and crucial position in factories, said Rob Akers, vice president at the National Tooling and Machining Association. "Enrollment in this field in technical schools has been down for a long time."

The problem comes at a terrible time. Domestic contract manufacturers -- known as "job shops" -- are seeing a boom in business.

In the case of Win-Tech, a Kennesaw, Ga., manufacturer, orders are coming in fast and furious from its customers in the defense and aerospace industries.

But the company's owner Dennis Winslow is more concerned than elated.

Winslow's been trying to add 12 more workers to his staff of 42 to meet the increased demand, but he's struggling.

"I'm facing a real conundrum," he said. "There are so many unemployed people in the country. But I can't find the skill sets that I need. I would hire tomorrow if I could."

For more than a year, Winslow has been looking for manual machinists, quality control inspectors and machinists trained to use computer-controlled systems.

He's advertised the jobs locally as well on popular online recruiting websites, such as Monster.com

He said he may be forced to hire people who are not fully skilled, and then train them.

"I am coming to the conclusion that this [situation] has become the new normal," said Winslow. "Being a machinist once was considered a respectable trade. But young Americans just don't consider manufacturing to be a sexy vocation."

He noted that most people possessing the skill sets he needs today are baby boomers, many of whom work at his factory.

As the United States outsourced its manufacturing jobs over the last few decades, the country lost a significant chunk of its manufacturing talent pool, said Mitch Free, CEO of MFG.com, an online directory that matches businesses with domestic manufacturers.

"Now, as manufacturing is slowly coming back, we just don't have this talent quickly available," said Free, a machinist by training.

Every factory needs a machinist to operate it, whether it's to operate machines or to create machine parts. And machinists also create molds and casings to make plastic parts that are used in everyday products, such as computers and cell phones, said Free.

It takes about a year in trade school to become a machinist, followed by a few years of apprenticeship at a manufacturing facility, said Free.

Machinists make about $60,000 a year. But with many logging overtime lately, Free said that income can get close to $100,000 a year.

"This is also a highly technical craft," he said. "It requires knowledge of computers, programming, even geometry. You can't hire someone off the street and turn them into a machinist."

Mark Engelbracht, owner of Omni Machine Works in Covington, Ga., is trying to hire just three new machinists. He, too, is having a hard time, a situation that will worsen as his older machinists retire.

"Finding more work isn't the problem for our business," he said. "Getting the worker is becoming a problem."

Omni Machine Works makes parts used by machines that manufacture consumer products, such as tires and phone plates. "But we're also a job shop. So we do a little bit of everything," he said.

Engelbracht has hired headhunters and temp agencies to fill the slots, but has had no luck. He's now thinking about starting an in-house apprentice program to train hires himself.

"I've been trying to hire for a year," he said. "It's not that people aren't applying. But many are claiming to be machinists when they aren't exactly."

This is what happens when:

1. You off-shore for decades. People with skills change fields, retire, or even die off and skills are lost.
2. The college system and working in a cubicle is heavily promoted while trades are shunned and ignored as something only stupid people do. Mike Rowe addressed this well in front of Congress.
3. Welfare is easily accessible and preferable to hard work.

[Malsua]

I know we couldn't find a machinist to run our Citizen CNC lathe.

Myself and another guy spent a few weeks learning M code and P code(basics anyway). We never got back around to it and I would need a refresher now. I would certainly build it into my Resume if I am looking for work.

[American Patriot]

I went to three High Schools when I was growing up. All three were "Technical Schools" - which is where I learned Electronics. The courses were college level stuff. We had auto shops in two of the schools, and college prep courses were sciences in those days. Chemistry, Physics, and biological sciences.

I took MOST of the courses associated with that stuff. Went all the way up to trig - and skipped out of calculus (not thinking I'd EVER need that crap! LOL)

We also had courses on mechanical/architectural drafting (no computers in those days, it was all paper - and I took the basic mechanical drafting courses but never liked that stuff).

Finally, we had printing courses (big linotype things I guess) and machinist courses.

Those were the days when everyone expected to get a trade out of school and run with it - not go on to college.

I chose the military with my electronics background and never looked back.

I WISH I had learned welding, machining and a couple of other things (including Latin) but never got the chance in HS.

Now, Detroit is a ghost town. I was back there last May and we drove around the area. There are LOTS of people, LOTS of unemployment, and a HELL of a lot of falling-down neighborhoods. Homes are burned to the ground, falling down from lack of maintenance.

That's just one town.

What's sad is Detroit was the place that made the world turn when I was growing up.

We got steel from PA and made millions of cars, trucks, trains and other vehicles.

Now Detroit has a few plants still around, jobs are held by only Union people and by God you'd better be in the Unions or you don't work. Socialism is running rampant there and you can bet your asses these people are into their welfare and government hand out programs.

Detroit has died because of Socialism.

Most big cities are dying for the same reasons.

Liberals have shoved the "You've got to go to college" bullshit down the throats of Americans since the 1960s - and I REMEMBER them trying to make me prepare for college. Not that I didn't want to go, just that I had my sights set elsewhere in those days.

But, I remember the mid seventies as a time when there were Liberal teachers (I didn't know that's what they were THEN!) try to convince us kids how sex was good for us, how we should do what we like, even tell us grass was the best thing to come along in "forever". They told us things that I've since discovered weren't true - like about American History. I heard teachers BITCH about Nixon being an evil Demon, and I heard Maxine Waters yelling that bullshit on TV today about Republicans being "Demons".

So - that bullshit hasn't stopped, and if anything has become worse.

You can NOT find a kid today (I'm talking 30 and under) who believes that working in a "trade" is a good place to be. Not ONE.