An apprenticeship program helps fill the manufacturing industry's need for skilled young workers.

By Christina Dunlap, Associate Editor

Apprentices Bill Kochan and Steve Brown check a part with a blueprint at a CNC milling machine at Komet of America Inc.

Readers of the classified section of any major newspaper or metalworking trade magazine will see plenty of advertisements from manufacturing plants and machine shops looking for skilled workers. The National Tooling and Machining Association, Fort Washington, MD, estimates that there are 12,000 to 14,000 openings in the United States for toolmakers, machinists, and precision metalworkers. With overtime, these positions pay from $30,000 to $70,000 per year. The potential for compensation and promotion compares favorably with the opportunities available to college graduates.

Surprisingly, these rewarding, high-paying jobs are going largely unfilled. Although the booming manufacturing industry is creating an abundance of job opportunities, companies can't find qualified people to fill the positions available. This labor shortage is expected to get worse over the next decade as hundreds of thousands of older employees leave the industry.

Manufacturing plants and machine shops will need a growing number of new recruits to fill the ranks when their skilled veterans retire, but the number of students enrolled in training programs is not increasing. The Tooling & Manufacturing Association (TMA), Park Ridge, IL, reports that Chicago-area manufacturers will need an average of 640 tool-and-die makers, moldmakers, and machinists per year from now until 2005. With only 210 students graduating annually from recognized training programs, however, the number of certified journeymen will fall short of the demand.

Some companies are trying to tackle the shortage of qualified young workers by collaborating with industry associations and high schools to set up apprenticeship programs. Komet of America Inc., Schaumburg, IL, worked with TMA to establish such a program at Streamwood High School, Streamwood, IL.

When Komet's president, Rick Martin, joined the company in 1986, he recognized that the younger workers had limited skills. "As more people headed for retirement, I felt that we wouldn't be able to carry on day-to-day activities," he explains. "We had two options. We could either increase the income levels of our employees to a point where we could pirate workers from other firms, or we could grow our own."

Komet decided the best place to start recruiting future employees was a local high school. Streamwood High School looked like a particularly attractive source, having started a manufacturing-technology program in 1990. In 1992, Komet and other Chicago-area manufacturers responded to Streamwood's call for industry members to provide financial support for its program. The manufacturers formed an advisory council and met with TMA, teachers, and school administrators to develop the Streamwood Plan, a course sequence that includes classes in machine tool technology as well as applied math and English. In addition to training instructors for these classes, Komet and other companies on the advisory council guarantee summer internships to students. Enrollment in Streamwood's program has escalated from 20 students in 1990 to its present full capacity of 100 students.

The high school is responsible for recruiting students into the program. Recruitment starts even before the students enter their freshman year. The school first introduces students to career opportunities in manufacturing at its eighth-grade open house. Bob Gorlewski, applied-technology instructor at Streamwood, believes this kind of exposure will get more qualified students to fill the openings in the manufacturing industry. "Many students simply aren't aware of the career opportunities available in manufacturing," he says. Partly to blame for this lack of awareness, according to Gorlewski, are parents and schools that push students toward college in the belief that a four-year degree is the only ticket to a challenging, high-paying career.

"High schools always push college," says Bethany Pahl, TMA's manager of education partnerships and communications. "However, in Illinois, only 17% of all incoming students finish college, compared to more than 90% who finish our apprenticeship program."

Another obstacle is the public perception that manufacturing jobs are dirty and unchallenging. Komet works to change this negative attitude by inviting high-school administrators, students, and parents into its plant. "They see that our shop is clean and sophisticated and that they have the opportunity to make a good living," says Kevin Brown, Komet's human-resources manager. After attending an open house and dinner hosted by the company, many students and their parents consider the metalworking trade as an alternative to college.

When interested students enter their freshman year of high school, they make a four-year commitment to the program. They take the machine tool classes and applied math and English courses outlined in the Streamwood Plan to fulfill their required and elective course work. In their junior year, the students are placed in TMA member companies as summer interns.

Following graduation, students can enter the workplace, trade school, or college. They can gain employment as an apprentice precision metalworker at a TMA member company. If they want to become a journeyman precision metalworker, they can enroll in TMA's college-credited apprentice-training classes. Once they have passed TMA's entrance tests, the apprentices must complete 492 hours of related-theory courses and 8000 hours of on-the-job training to be certified as journeymen.

In addition to paying for this continued education through TMA, Komet and other manufacturers pay the apprentices $10 to $17 per hour for their work on the shop floor. Some companies even pay for apprentices to complete the course work to earn an associate's degree and then enroll as juniors in the bachelor's of manufacturing technology program at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), Chicago.

Komet's Rick Martin has found that workers who come through the apprenticeship program are more solid employees. "They really know their stuff," he says. "If we make CNC operators who have been trained in this shop-floor environment into design or manufacturing engineers, they will be well prepared for their next career step." Franz Stark, Komet's marketing manager, agrees that apprentices who come up through the ranks of the company tend to be better employees. "They have learned more practical skills, along with pinpointed academic training," he says.

Komet rotates its seven apprentices into new departments every three months. First-year apprentice Steve Brown says he has learned a lot from trying out different areas of manufacturing. "Machine tool maintenance has interested me the most so far, but it's too soon to tell if that's what I'll pursue," he says. "The best part is that I have a job now. I got the job first and then went to school, rather than going to school hoping to find a job."

Komet executives and apprentices gather around a machining cell at the plant. Standing, left to right, are Muff Tanriverdi, vice president of manufacturing; Bill Carter, manufacturing manager; Rick Martin, president; Kevin Brown, human-resources manager; and Randy Wilson, production manager, carbide. Sitting, left to right, are apprentices Bill Kochan (3 yr.), Joaquin Duran (1 yr.), Rick Cahn (2 yr.), Steve Brown (1 yr.), Brian Winchester (2 yr.), Mike Pickell (4 yr.), and Antonio Cazares (1 yr.).

Third-year apprentice Bill Kochan became interested in manufacturing when he walked by his high-school shop class and saw a robotic arm in action. It piqued his interest enough to enroll in the course. When he decided to pursue machining as a career, however, he encountered opposition from his family and friends. His parents thought it was dirty, unskilled work, and his friends were heading off to college. But Kochan held his ground and joined an apprenticeship program organized by his high school, TMA, and Komet. When he completes his apprenticeship in two years, he will have 8000 hours of shop experience, a high-paying job, and the opportunity to continue his training. After he becomes certified as a journeyman by TMA, Kochan plans to take the few classes he needs to get his associate's degree and then transfer to IIT to get a degree in design engineering. He can continue his training and know he has an engineering position waiting for him at Komet.

Since the apprenticeship is four years long, training is a major commitment and investment by the company. Kevin Brown says it costs Komet up to $125,000 for wages, tuition, and books to put one apprentice through the four-year program. But everyone at Komet seems to agree that it is a small price to pay for trained employees. "Even if we can get one student to stay in the program, it's paid for itself," says Brown.