BUILDING YOUR WORKFORCE FROM SCRATCH
Companies that don’t engage and then decry the lack of skilled workers, need to take a step back, according to Ginsburg. “I think for industry to say, ‘They should just show up at my front door so I can plug them in,’ that’s not the way it works. We have to make an investment, and I think that more companies are seeing that. They’re making investments in the community even if it doesn’t provide a direct return.”
For all of the companies contacted for this article, these programs and outreach allow them to take control of their future. “So we’re building our workforce in real time and on the factory floor,” Ginsburg says. “We couldn’t get techs and we couldn’t get maintenance people, so we’re building them. You know, it’s a longer process—you can’t do it overnight—but the more we invest in them and more loyal we are to them, the more loyal they are to us, and the stronger our business becomes.”
RJG, which has added trainers in Europe and China, as well as a new training facility in Atlanta, says its uptick in training business directly correlates to that need to nurture talent internally. “People are realizing, ‘Hey, we’re not just going to be able to go out and hire someone, we’re going to have to develop people,’” Groleau says. “The simple parts have all gone overseas. What’s being molded in the U.S. now is a lot more technical, a lot more complex, and it requires a much better understanding of the process, of the tooling.”
Ultimately, the companies that bridge that skills gap and create the next generation of plastics professionals will reap the rewards of a still-growing industry. “If I can build the strongest team,” Intertech’s Ginsburg says, “I will outperform my competition.”
The article comes from China injection mold manufacturer - Mold Best Assurance Company Limited, website is www.mbamoldanddesign.com
