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.