Lack of skilled workers threatens companies

Penn State educators say the future of Pennsylvania manufacturing is threatened by a lack of young, skilled workers.

"Manufacturing jobs offer high-tech status, solid pay, challenging work and security," according to James A. Wall, instructor in work force education and development at Penn State. "For instance, the average wage nationwide for a tool and die maker is $53,000. The degree of computerization is extremely high in machining, with operators in charge of both operating and programming highly complex equipment," Wall said in a press release.

"Despite these benefits, a recent national survey indicated that the average tooling firm has four open positions for tool and die makers or precision machinists," said David L. Passmore, professor of education. "The word still hasn't reached the public that manufacturing offers high-skill, high-paying positions. Most Americans still think that management, certain service industries such as real estate and insurance, and the traditional professions offer the only paths to social and economic mobility."

Thus, people may tend to overemphasize academic curriculums in college when post-secondary vocational training might provide an equally good return for the time and money invested, he added.

Skilled workers in manufacturing are much older on average than employees in other professions. Soon they will need to be replaced, according to Wall.

"If we don't replace these skilled workers, other countries will outstrip the United States in manufacturing competitiveness," Wall said. "The Asian countries, for instance, have already made it clear they want to dominate precision machining. Without a trained work force in manufacturing, we will see a continued flight of quality jobs overseas."

Wall and his colleagues recently received a $228,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Education to bring the state's work-force training programs up to standard in precision machining. Wall, a former machinist and owner of a machine shop, taught machine shop at a vocational school for 15 years. Passmore and Richard Walter, assistant professor of education at Penn State, and Cynthia Pellock and Kathleen McNally, both instructors in work-force education at Penn State, are also involved in the project.

"A perception seems to exist in this state that manufacturing is dead," Passmore said. "This has resulted from the decline of big smokestack industries like steel. However, the eclipse of large manufacturers has been counterbalanced by an increase in the number of small manufacturers. Today, less than 5 percent of manufacturing done nationwide is done by companies with 500 or more workers."

One-sixth of the work force in Pennsylvania is still employed in manufacturing, Passmore said.

"It is true that there are fewer people being employed in manufacturing today," said Wall. "But that is because unskilled and semi-skilled jobs have vanished. Due to more automated equipment, manufacturing productivity is at an all-time high. One of the highest concentrations of tool and die makers in the world is located between Erie and Meadville."

While some manual machines are still around, most of them today are equipped with computerized numerical controls, Passmore said. This enables the worker to be both accurate and fast. The machines are also much safer than before, since the operator is physically removed from the cutting operation, he said. Serious accidents are now rare in a machine shop, he said.

"Furthermore, while there are exceptions, most machine shops today are climate-controlled and often cleaner than a typical office," Wall added.

Machine shops and manufacturing companies in general require a high level of training, which usually involves two years of post-secondary education in a vocational school or community college (e.g. Penn College, Northwest Pennsylvania Technical Institute, Harrisburg Area Community College) or four-year industry-based apprenticeship program.

The tool and die industry will need 10,000 new employees next year and many more for each year in the foreseeable future, said Larry Sippy, chairman of the project's industry steering committee and president of SIPCO Inc., Meadville.

"If more people would take time to learn about a career in tool and die making, they would find a lucrative alternative to a college degree with excellent opportunity and pay, unbelievably clean and desirable working conditions, and a challenging job that can last a lifetime," he said.

"In an apprenticeship, not only is there no fee for a person's education, but the apprentice is actually paid to learn," Sippy added.