Gray Matter or Gray Iron?

I went to the recent Westec Show in Los Angeles with one primary question to ask the product manufacturers, job shops and machine tool people who still believe in American metalworking: Are you putting your money and your energy into training your employees, or buying equipment which will reduce your reliance on them? are you betting on gray matter or gray iron?

One answer to such a question is rarely 100% one way or the other, but I wanted to understand which way they were leaning. I proposed a simple matrix in which my sources could express their current position on this critical issue. It proved to be a powerful device to help them focus on where they fit in now, and where they think manufacturing opinion and investment in America is headed over the next 5 to 10 years

Mike Kartsonis of
Dynamic Fabrication, Inc. of Santa Ana, California, buys one major piece of capital equipment each year. He is frustrated with the challenge of hiring and training young people.

"I just hired a kid out of welding school. He had a great attitude, so I told him I would double his knowledge every three months. But he couldn't leave me in a year or two."

Unfortunately for employers like Kartsonis, such verbal promises mean little In today's fluid California labor market. He comments "one kid left me to valet-park cars, and I couldn't talk him out of leaving. That's why manufacturing is moving toward lights-out."

Kartsonis is still a believer in developing young talent. "It is a soft spot in my heart," he says. "The schools have really! dropped the ball, so all that is left are training centers and vocational tech schools. The problem with kids today is they don't want to get their hands dirty - they are Nintendo kids. You don't have much to start with, so you have to train them yourselves. We have our own training program in-house."

"I went to three different junior colleges in my district," Kartsonis adds. "I offered them equipment and instructors, Including myself at no charge, if they would set up classes and provide the space. I was flatly turned down, because the instructors I would have supplied were not accredited teachers."

The discouragement over the quality of the workforce is a common lament in manufacturing today, but not universal. The popularity of NASCAR racing and motorcycle tinkering is bringing avid mechanics into the field, but it is insufficient to meet the continuing demand for skills.