Demand grows for manufacturing job
Dayton-area companies open their doors to educate students.
High-tech manENGLEWOOD — ufacturing in the Dayton region is expected to grow by hundreds of jobs in the next few years, but that’s only if companies can find the workers they need.
Area manufacturers opened their doors in an attempt to open minds Friday to the industry, introducing their businesses to what they hope will be the next generation of engineers, production workers, quality managers, accountants and technicians.
The U.S. manufacturing sector added some 350,000 jobs since January 2017, but a recent study from the Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte projects that by the year 2025, some two million jobs within the industry will likely go unfilled. The National Association of Manufacturers has said about 500,000 manufacturing jobs are open today.
Finding the right employees means reaching students when they’re young, said Bob Kinion, general manager of Canadian manufacturer Hematite, which opened the doors of its Lau Parkway plant to more than
40 fifth- and sixth-graders from Englewood Hills Elementary School.
Englewood math and science teacher Ashley McGriff said the company tours are a chance to open eyes and calibrate expectations.
“It’s an opportunity for our students to start exploring careers that maybe they haven’t though of,” McGriff said. “Typically, when you ask students at this age what they want to do, a lot of it involves being a doctor, being a lawyer, being an athlete. I don’t think they’ve had the exposure to something like this, to know that there are other types of jobs.”
Kinion gave students an hour-long tour of the Hematite production floor, showing them how the company uses recycled materials to make acoustic-dampening parts and engine shields for Honda, Toyota, Ford and others.
“Do you think robots will take over the world,” an Englewood student asked Kinion.
“I don’t think so,” he replied. “You can always pull the plug, right?”
Manufacturers’ optimism remains the highest in two decades, according to an industry association, despite ongoing trade wars and workforce shortages.
The National Association of Manufacturers on Friday released its outlook survey for the third quarter of 2018 on Manufacturing Day, when manufacturers are holding thousands of events across the country to encourage students and parents to explore careers in modern manufacturing.
More than 92 percent of 718 respondents said they are optimistic following enactment of tax and regulatory changes. Workforce shortages, however, could threaten that future.
“This is truly a crisis,” said Carolyn Lee, executive director of The Manufacturing Institute, the association’s social-impact arm. “We have to talk about what we do and how we make things in America and that manufacturing create good, family-supporting jobs.”
Average optimism among manufacturers was 93.9 percent over the past four quarters, according to the association. It is the highest oneyear average in the survey’s 20-year history.
One in 4 manufacturers said they have had to turn down new business opportunities because of this challenge, and 1 in 3 said they have held off plans to hire more workers because of workforce constraints.
The recent tentative trade deal between the U.S., Canada and Mexico, which replaces NAFTA, could also increase manufacturing jobs.
The deal requires auto makers to build at least 75 percent of a car’s value in North America to remain duty-free within the region, up from 62.5 percent currently. Car companies also have to ensure 40 percent to 45 percent of the vehicle is made by workers earning at least $16 an hour, a provision aimed at steering more work to the U.S. to generate manufacturing jobs.
Every year, the first Friday in October nationwide is set aside to show students, teachers and guidance counselors that manufacturing never stopped being what industry advocates argue is a viable and valuable career.
On Friday, more than 2,640 Manufacturing Day events were scheduled nationwide. Locally, 65 Dayton-area companies hosted students.
The Dayton Region Manufacturing Association serves 14 West Central Ohio counties and is home to about 2,500 manufacturers trying to fill some 3,400 new positions each year, according to Angelia Erbaugh, president of the Dayton Region Manufacturers Association.
But that “small first go” got bigger quickly.
Wayne High School teacher Ted Kleiser pointed to a few of his 43 engineering students touring Staub Manufacturing Solutions Friday. One plans on applying to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he said. Another was eyeing Florida State University.
“It can shed some light on possible careers,” Kleiser said of the tour. “All these students that we bring are looking at possible careers, either in engineering or in engineering tech work. And this lets them see what industry is like and what the jobs are like, so that when they do get to college, they can have a better feel for what kind of majors they might like.”
“And the ones who decide they don’t want a four-year degree, it can help them see what they want at Sinclair (Community College),” he added.
Steve Staub, company owner, told students he doesn’t have a four-year degree, leaving Wright State University after one year. But his sister and company co-owner, Sandy Keplinger, does have a college degree, he noted.
In any case, there are different ways of pursuing an education, Staub told the Wayne students.
“Life is a lifelong journey of learning, no matter what you do,” he said. The Tribune News Service contributed to this story. Contact this reporter at 937-225-2390 or email tom.Gnau@coxinc.com.