American Dream

[Croomrider]

My business is precision machining and we have customers and vendors all over the country. Everyone in our industry is fighting a losing battle with regards to labor. It doesn’t matter if you are in a big or small area, you are going to struggle with finding people. Good luck Travis, I know all to well what your challenges are.

That's exactly my scenario! You have to automate the processes that allow it. There are practically no manual machines being used for production in the machining industry. Imagine where we would be from a labor standpoint if there were no CNC machines.

 

[Pennview79]

Work force is terrible. I can't believe how many help wanted signs I see at fast food joints. It's summer time, where are all the kids at? Unbelievable. So it's not just the skilled labor field. I just shake my head.

 

[Tomtint]

I have been in business since 1985. Been through good times, great times and some bad times. I have always done my best for my clients ..no short cuts ever. I have more people thank can count, in the same business as mine ..open and close in that same time. It's always due to poor workmanship or the owner just not caring any longer. ... I'm on the road virtually every day... I can tell when the economy is hot, just by the number of contractor trucks on the road with me... today everyone is a contractor.. many of these same guys today..will be **** up at the first sniff of a economic slow down..then the labor market will be a bit better.

 

[jonsstihl]

every kid now wants to be a youtube star and make millions without actually working for a living. Pay them well and treat them like human beings and things will go well. Most people now also look at working conditions also when making decisions, vacation time, benefits.

keep up the good work.

 

[jmc]

It's good to be reminded of success stories like yours in the midst of all the clickbait stories about National failure.

Seems like there are a lot of attachments made in NC, but I don't know if the companies are clustered around Newton or elsewhere-

One case of a skilled labor shortage within a local cluster of competitors was in NE Indiana where they make the majority of orthopedic medical devices. (Many TBN members are walking around on them) As a group, they had need for many computer controlled machinery personnel like programmers, setup people and operators. The competitors there teamed up with local community colleges to train students in the specific skills that were needed locally. Corporate people became advisors on the curriculum and probably donated equipment and money as well. But they still had to fight over the students after graduation...

 

[EverythingAttachments]

It's good to be reminded of success stories like yours in the midst of all the clickbait stories about National failure.

Seems like there are a lot of attachments made in NC, but I don't know if the companies are clustered around Newton or elsewhere-

One case of a skilled labor shortage within a local cluster of competitors was in NE Indiana where they make the majority of orthopedic medical devices. (Many TBN members are walking around on them) As a group, they had need for many computer controlled machinery personnel like programmers, setup people and operators. The competitors there teamed up with local community colleges to train students in the specific skills that were needed locally. Corporate people became advisors on the curriculum and probably donated equipment and money as well. But they still had to fight over the students after graduation...

Yeah, the news is something we rarely watch around my house. If it happens to be on when I get home around 6, it gets turned because I don't want my young kids to hear the craziness and negativity in our society. I mean, sometimes they do work in one "good news" story, but it is brief and usually comes in after they've killed your spirits with the other stuff.

There are a cluster of the discount skid steer attachments mfgs a couple hours east of us, so it's not like we can steal their workers or vice versa.
We are in with trade school(s) in the area and have picked up some talented young guys from there.
Since, May, when Ted wrote the paragraph I opened this thread with, we have added some assembly guys, a new painter started today and some more welders. They're actually having to fab up a couple more welding tables for these guys, but only the strong survive. We keep the cream of the crop at EA and what we expect is no secret during the hiring process.

Check out Arthur. He is THE MAN when it comes to welding and keeps his machine juiced pretty much all the way up most of the time. He was the first one to empty his 880 pound barrel of welding wire in our new facility and he received a nice Thank You bonus!! A true EA All Star! :cool2:
Travis

 

[Pennview79]

Nice Travis. Grats to Arthur

 

[wagne223]

America did this to itself. For more then 2 decades, young people have been told not to get into trade industry's.

The result was a society that looked down on people that worked in trades and assumed they were lower class people.

The owners of business did not help at all. Office jobs came with more pay, prestige and benefits then masters of a trade.

Those of us that were skilled in the trade, had to put up with, fighting to get a token of a raise and ever decreasing working conditions.

We had no other option.

Now as more and more skilled trades people retire, or move into site management, companies cannot find anyone to replace them.

The auto industry is in big trouble. I read a report yesterday that the current demand for new techs is 75,000 per year and only 32,000 techs per year are entering the field.

To make it worse, only 20,000 of those 32,000 make it to their first year.

Unless something drastically changes, in ten years it will be near impossible to get your car fixed. The manufacturer's will buy up any techs they can find just for their own warranty repairs.
Of course that drastic expense will be built into the price of a new car.

It is going to get rough for anybody that cannot do their own plumbing, electrical HVAC or mechanical repairs.

 

[Diggin It]

I'm OK with automation to the extent of increasing product quality and consistency and employee safety, but too many companies have gone too far with it and have put too many people out of work.

Slight thread morph, but automation in the form of phone system auto-attendants is the bane of business. It does nothing at all for performance or safety. It only puts people out of work and makes the company seem impersonal.

 

[4570Man]

I'm OK with automation to the extent of increasing product quality and consistency and employee safety, but too many companies have gone too far with it and have put too many people out of work.

Slight thread morph, but automation in the form of phone system auto-attendants is the bane of business. It does nothing at all for performance or safety. It only puts people out of work and makes the company seem impersonal.

Where are these people that are out of work? They don’t seem to be lined up at EAs doors. If I owed a big company you better believe I’d automate everything I could. Robots don’t whine, don’t not show up, work holidays without complaining, don’t quit every 4 months.

 

[K5lwq]

I can not speak to other companies or how they have neglected their employees. I can tell you in my company many of the people on the front lines make more per year than me. I also go out and work with them and for them often.

The problem I see is people want things handed to them and do not want to work for it. Finding people for any position is increasingly difficult for us. Many of the applicants we get are happy not working or want high pay with low hours.

I stopped for a quick bite to eat, some call lunch, at about 3 in the afternoon the other day. I overheard a conversation between 5 guys that were deciding what they should do to fill the time that was left in the day. They said they have to burn at least 3 hours before returning to the office. They agreed that going to a ice cream shop to hang out was the right thing to do. What is wrong with people?

As a leader, I put in 65 plus hours a week at work and normally plan and take calls when I am off. Then I also get to deal with all the whining that takes place constantly because employees are asked to do a task. Not sure what the answers are but it does not appear to be getting better anytime soon.

 

[BrokenTrack]

Wait about two years and the economy will be tanked by then, and your problem will go away.

There are boom times, and bust, and right now it is an Employees Market. As the Baby Boom Generation retires, there is a ton of jobs for fewer workers; the good economy only adding the "problem." But boom times never last, and when there is a "correction" in the market, it will switch back to an Employers Market.

My best advice is; if you cannot pay your employees as much as you wish, then at least treat them as good as you can.

I am a retired welder/machinist, but no matter where I go, I make it a habit to ask the employees...no matter what their job title...how they are treated. If they say they are treated well, then I will spend my money at their place in the future, but if the employees scowl, I'll go elsewhere for gas, tires, a meal, or tractor attachments.

My local grocery store chain has a poor reputation with its employee relations, so I no longer go to that store for my food needs.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

Many, many times I have had young men 16 to 23 come to work their first " real man " job. After 3 to 5 days they have blistered hands and feet, sore muscles, maybe some bruises, and dog tired. I never get a phone call from their old man thanking me for turning their son into a man; it's always the mom wanting to know what I did to her "little boy"... That, my friends, is where all the men went to... Home to Mamma. :2cents:

 

[ruffdog]

The neighbor and I are both retired old guys and we get help from kids to bale hay. Those big high school football types are funny to watch as their energy quits after a couple hours. Work??? Can they even spell it?

 

[Randy Gann]

Thanks, Dennis! It's great to be a few steps away from where the magic happens. I welcome all to my Everything Attachment Channel group, where I share factory pics almost daily!
Travis

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Have you considered partnering with area and regional technical schools and community colleges? You can even consider settling up work/study programs offering jobs to the most skilled and dependable students.

 

[Jstpssng]

The neighbor and I are both retired old guys and we get help from kids to bale hay. Those big high school football types are funny to watch as their energy quits after a couple hours. Work??? Can they even spell it?

Isn't that normal? Weren't we all that way to some extent when we first started working? Maybe not those of you who grew up on a farm and were throwing hay the day you were born; yet strength and stamina are two different things. I know that I can still go longer than anybody we hire out of college, including the latest who is an ex-Marine. Yet within a year they either make it or they leave. The hardest thing that I do now is to ask somebody younger to do what I can't anymore.