Partnerships Needed To Build The Future Manufacturing Workforce BY RACHEL KENYON As Manufacturing Month continued, I’ve had the oppor- tunity to participate in the National Association of Manu-
graphic changes, and advancing technologies – the aim of the event was to provide ideas for “Forging Partnerships” to help find good people with the right skill set. The confer- ence acknowledged that it will take an industry-wide effort to build the manufacturing workforce base for the future. But, there were several ideas shared for manufactur- ers to expand their community exposure and engagement from building relationships with students, parents, and teachers to second chance organizations, military and mil- itary transition organizations, regional workforce develop- ment organizations and any other place where communi- ties come together. Some of the keys to success involve meeting the community where they are and understand- ing what’s important to them in jobs or career paths. Both industry and companies need to disrupt the think- ing about manufacturing and be able to demonstrate that it has evolved from performing a task at a station to a de- cision-making process that requires adaptive skills like
facturers (NAM) Manufacturing Insti- tute’s Inaugural Workforce Summit in Cincinnati, OH. The Summit brought together manufacturers from many different industries and across the country to learn about innovative solutions to address today’s work- force development challenges in-
Rachel Kenyon
cluding recruitment, retention, and training. In addition to defining the challenge – a highly compet- itive, tight labor market, work/life balance needs, demo-
learning agility, creative reasoning, systems thinking, analytical acumen and resilience. Workers today are attracted to company culture, to purpose-driven organizations who can communicate what they stand for. Communicating this can be as easy as tak- ing candidates on tours during the interview process, by including plant workers in the interview process or job fairs, and exposing the community to the work environment be- fore a candidate’s first day on the job. And opening your doors to the communi- ty isn’t just for today’s workers, it’s expand- ing the pipeline down through partnerships with educational organizations that reach not only technical and vocational institu- tions, but high schools, middle schools, and even elementary school-aged children to show what’s possible through manufactur- ing. In fact, many speakers and participants in the conference suggested that middle school was the right audience for engage- ment when opinions begin to form about work environments and careers. Another important aspect of attracting a new workforce was the ability to provide flexibility, whether that’s unique shift hours or the ability to pick non-traditional bene- fits. One company said their newest group of employees worked with the company to secure veterinary services as a benefit for their pets. There was a lot shared during the con- ference. I look forward to continuing the discussion with member companies to iden- tify how FBA can support efforts to recruit, retain and train the box plant workforce of the future. Rachel Kenyon is Senior VP of the FBA.
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