This
Machine Shop Life
Things are getting busy. Out
of the blue the phone is ringing - a number of companies have called
looking for skilled people.
It
seems that during each recession the industry looses people
permanently. People get down sized or out-sourced or find other ways
to make a living. Then
when things pick up they don’t come back.
Now there is a shortage of available, skilled people in
machining to meet the increased demand.
There
was an article recently in the Wall Street Journal regarding
companies that seek to hire “top gun” machinists and the
problems encountered in finding these people.
Many machine shops would be glad to find a person willing to
learn and eager to work – let alone a “top gun” machinist.
The
term “jobless recovery” has been heard a lot recently.
I guess this means that companies are learning to produce
more with less people.
Years ago when we looked to the future, we envisioned a world of
more leisure and less drudgery.
The reality is that some of our top guns are working 60 hours
per week while others have left or been ejected from the industry.
The multi-tasking machines are getting more complicated while the
ability of companies to implement this technology is stymied by the
lack of enough people to apply the technology.
Why are we short of people? Well,
the shop floor environment tends to keep it that way.
Now I am not going to talk too much about training.
I want to talk about the human side of this shop floor
environment.
Any company that is fortunate enough to have a top gun is in a
position to embrace new technology.
Many shops have a mix of average folks and top guns. The
average folks are often limited to the mundane jobs.
There can be low expectations and that is what some people
achieve.
To
illustrate this situation take a look at the competitive style of
daily life. The top gun
often points out the failings of co-workers.
This happens when one employee points out that a co-worker
knows “diddley-squat”. I
guess this human factor results in trying to build co-workers “down”.
Companies must be on the look out for competitive pressures
that negatively effect skill growth.
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Large companies can build a culture where this problem can be
avoided due to good management techniques.
Smaller companies try to deal with this problem but generally do not
have a strong culture. The
employees tend to live up to their expectations, the top gun excels
and the average guy exists.
Well, I think that these top guns can often cause more headaches
than they’re worth. We
need team players that share the knowledge.
Companies should insist that the job knowledge be spread between the
staff. Not everyone can
perform at the top gun level but companies need to push their
employees to determine the level at which each individual can
perform.
Retention
Most companies are concerned about keeping their staff.
No one has come up with an easy answer for this concern.
In these days of job-hopping, retention is a problem.
My plan is to train entry-level employees up to where we need
them. Are people going
to move on? Absolutely,
but I will grow their replacements as part of today’s mode of
doing business.
Future
The trends are set, companies need to produce higher quality work
with less people. Successful
companies need to make the jump to multi-tasking machines and grow
the work force to enable this transition.
The human resource will be the limiting factor.
All of our employees need to be superstars, not just one or
two.
Companies
spend considerable time in purchasing machine tools and various
growth strategies but it is the people that make the difference.
Think about it!!
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