Training, work ethic top list of manufacturers' needs

LIMA - Insufficient training, an aging work force and a new crop of employees who haven't learned to show up on time top the list of troubles challenging today's manufacturers.

Leaders from the region's top manufacturers met Thursday along with government and education leaders to discuss those challenges during the West Central Ohio Manufacturing Summit. The various manufacturers shared a varied list of challenges, but at the center of it all is the need for bright, trained and capable workers able to keep up with a rapidly changing world market.

"It's all about change. In the global manufacturing environment, it's not the strongest or the most intelligent but those with the ability to deal with change that succeed," said Jeff Oravitz, vice president of Metokote Corp.

For many, that change includes new, high-tech manufacturing equipment that requires skilled workers. Manufacturers are racing to find technically trained operators and engineers to fill positions. But out schools aren't pumping out enough of them to fill the need.

"Right now, about 5 percent of students leaving high school have an interest in engineering. Of the students who do come out wanting to be engineers, anywhere from 50 to 60 percent of them do not finish college," said Dan Schoch, engineering manager for Minster Machine.

But a competitive work force requires more than just math skills. Lima Ford Engine Plant Human Resources Director Carole Roberts said Ford is looking for people with technical skills, but also workers capable of working as part of a team and, perhaps more importantly, those who have mastered a work ethic and the ability to communicate.

"It's things like being to work on time, returning from your breaks on time," Roberts said. "We're all expected to be able to work as a team and as individuals and everybody, from the line up to the CEO, needs to be able to communicate well with everyone."

There are steps being taken to train and retain the workers that manufacturers need. Schoch outlined Minster Machine's cooperative program, which targets engineering and vocation students in a 30-mile radius of the company. While only about 50 percent of engineering students actually graduate from college, and more than 50 percent of those leave Ohio after graduation, 95 percent of Minster Machine's interns graduate from college, and 95 percent of those stay in Ohio.

"These are people starting off at $45,000 to $50,000 a year at age 22. It's a nice career," Schoch said.

Area schools are also stepping up to train the work force. Chris Pfister, superintendent at Apollo Career Center, and Brad Swick, interim director for Solutions Etc. at Rhodes State College, both said they have designed programs to train workers capable of filling company's immediate needs. Those same programs allow those who choose to continue their educations so today's trained machine operator can become tomorrow's engineer.

"You have to get them the technical skills they need to get out there and work. Then you create the aspirations and encourage them to get their two-year degree, the four-year degree and beyond," Pfister said.

Coordinating education with manufacturers' needs was a constant theme for the day. To George Huang, chair of mechanical and materials engineering at Wright State University, that means possibly creating a new entity, a multifunctional career center that would offer academic and hands-on training specific to manufacturing. The school would offer everything from vocational certification to doctorates and would not only provide workers for existing plants, but also help draw new industry to the region.

"Ohio is at a crossroads. Only innovation can pull us out of this crisis. That's what is important," Huang said.