Personnel

The job training programs at Hononegah Community High School and Beloit Memorial High School include job shadowing, mentoring, summer apprenticeships and training workshops at cutting tool manufacturer Regal Cutting Tools, Roscoe, Ill.—but no internships. Working at Regal Cutting Tools means being considered a normal employee, not an intern, even if the worker is there part time and spending his or her days as a high school junior or senior. Although students are allowed time off for academic-related reasons, such as preparing for college admission tests, there are no exceptions for extracurricular activities, such as sports or clubs. “They need to make a decision whether they want to be part of that,” said Plant Manager Dennis Weiland.

In a clear echo of the 'Rosie the Riveter' campaign of WWII, manufacturing organizations in 2017 are striving to let women know that their talents are needed, the work is important and rewarding, and unlike in their grandparents' time, the jobs are permanent.

Whether an interviewer or interviewee, it is important to be prepared when discussing a job opening. An e-book provides 110 typical questions and answers for production interviews, as well as tips for how to prepare.

Marion Technical College's new $500,000 mobile training lab has the potential to train hundreds of workers each year throughout central Ohio, writes Hasan Karim in The Marion Star. The vehicle's 400-sq.-ft. simulation center accommodates eight students, each with a laptop and other training equipment, officials say. Bob Haas, the college's chief strategy officer, says the purpose of the mobile lab is to provide on-site training to local manufacturers.

In the decade since the beginning of the Great Recession industrial production (e.g. manufacturing, mining and electricity production) has been a political football of both the left and right. It’s time to stop playing that game, and a good way to start is to review some facts about these industries, which continue to provide a significant share of the Midwestern economy.

Deloitte projects that in the next decade, 3.5 million manufacturing jobs will need to be filled. However, many manufacturers struggle to fill the employment vacancies they have now. With five website enhancements, a manufacturer can improve its chances of recruiting talented, experienced millennials.

Schunk USA, Morrisville, N.C., started construction on an expansion project at its U.S. headquarters that will more than double the size of the facility.

Doug Yates was having trouble finding folks to run his CNC machines, so he called his buddy John Dodson at the NASCAR Technical Institute in Mooresville, N.C. Dodson had an answer for Yates, CEO of Roush Yates Engines in Mooresville, but it would cost him. The idea is to train students on how to run the complex metalworking machines, not only for making NASCAR engines and race cars but for medical, energy and aerospace applications.

It’s been a crusade for many manufacturers for years: the battle against an out-of-date public perception of manufacturing as dirty, repetitive work that’s possibly unsafe and probably a dead-end career path. Two recent surveys show that there’s still a lot of work to do in dispelling that myth—but a third offers some hope.