Manufacturing Companies in Wisconsin
They urge students to pursue skilled trades. By Rick Barrett of the Journal Sentinel October 6, 2012. High school teacher Scott Bruening encourages his students to pursue blue-collar jobs in manufacturing, something that's much less common ...
Manufacturing Companies in Wisconsin
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High school teacher Scott Bruening encourages his students to pursue blue-collar jobs in manufacturing, something that’s much less common now than it was 30 years ago.
One reason is that, nationwide, more than 600,000 skilled-trades jobs remain open because of a shortage of qualified applicants, according to Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd., which provides audit, tax, consulting and financial services to companies in more than 150 countries.
It’s one of the top-five issues for manufacturers, according to Deloitte, especially as 10,000 Americans a day turn 65 and companies haven’t attracted enough young talent to replace their retirees.
Worldwide, more than 10 million manufacturing jobs cannot be filled because of the growing skills gap and because the jobs have become technically more demanding, Deloitte said in a recent report.
In the race to future prosperity, nothing will matter more than talent, said Tim Hanley, the Milwaukee-based U.S. process and industrial products leader for Deloitte.
Last week, about 20 Wisconsin manufacturers opened their doors to high school students to show them the work they do and the jobs that are available.
Having seen layoffs and job losses that decimated entire communities, some people have reason to be skeptical of careers in manufacturing.
“I have lived with some of that myself,” said Nick Kroll, president and CEO of Aries Industries Inc., a Waukesha-based manufacturer of video equipment used to inspect underground facilities. The equipment was used in the rescue of miners in Chile in the summer of 2010.
Aries has brought high school students into its plant, where they are mentored and work side-by-side with regular employees. The company also offers college tuition reimbursement for employees.
“I would argue that there are wonderful opportunities in manufacturing,” said Kroll, who entered the field in 1992 as a customer service representative and held sales and business development positions at several companies before he was hired as Aries president and CEO in 2010.
Kroll has seen the downside to manufacturing, including layoffs in the machine-shop industry where, as a teenager, he worked in his father’s business. But he believes the long-term trend favors job openings, including work created as companies bring production back to the United States from other countries.
“The reality is the U.S. has the most productive workforce on the planet,” Kroll said, adding that a combination of technologies and skills allows companies here to manufacture high-quality products at a reasonable cost.
“If somebody has a good work ethic, we can teach them how to weld,” said Mark Rutkowski, Super Steel’s marketing and sales director.
Even with waves of retirements, there’s some hope the skills gap has narrowed with increased enrollment in technical colleges and with high schools placing more emphasis on manufacturing careers.
“For a long time, there was a real block in education that just cut off manufacturing as a ‘nothing’ career with no future,” said Paul Rauscher, president of EMT International, a Green Bay company that builds equipment for the paper, packaging and other industries.
There are still too many high school students graduating with no career goals, said Jim Golembeski, executive director of the Bay Area Workforce Development Board in Green Bay.
He was only two weeks out of high school in Allegan, Mich., worked nights and continued his education during the day. He also went through manager training programs and worked in various departments including materials and human resources.
“I didn’t like all of it, and some of it I couldn’t stand, but later on it really paid off,” said Westgate, chairman and chief executive of Jason Inc., a Milwaukee company that generates more than $700 million in annual sales and employs 3,600 people worldwide.
High school teacher Scott Bruening encourages his students to pursue blue-collar jobs in manufacturing, something that’s much less common now than it was 30 years ago.
One reason is that, nationwide, more than 600,000 skilled-trades jobs remain open because of a shortage of qualified applicants, according to Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd., which provides audit, tax, consulting and financial services to companies in more than 150 countries.
It’s one of the top-five issues for manufacturers, according to Deloitte, especially as 10,000 Americans a day turn 65 and companies haven’t attracted enough young talent to replace their retirees.
Worldwide, more than 10 million manufacturing jobs cannot be filled because of the growing skills gap and because the jobs have become technically more demanding, Deloitte said in a recent report.
In the race to future prosperity, nothing will matter more than talent, said Tim Hanley, the Milwaukee-based U.S. process and industrial products leader for Deloitte.
Last week, about 20 Wisconsin manufacturers opened their doors to high school students to show them the work they do and the jobs that are available.
Having seen layoffs and job losses that decimated entire communities, some people have reason to be skeptical of careers in manufacturing.
“I have lived with some of that myself,” said Nick Kroll, president and CEO of Aries Industries Inc., a Waukesha-based manufacturer of video equipment used to inspect underground facilities. The equipment was used in the rescue of miners in Chile in the summer of 2010.
Aries has brought high school students into its plant, where they are mentored and work side-by-side with regular employees. The company also offers college tuition reimbursement for employees.
“I would argue that there are wonderful opportunities in manufacturing,” said Kroll, who entered the field in 1992 as a customer service representative and held sales and business development positions at several companies before he was hired as Aries president and CEO in 2010.
Kroll has seen the downside to manufacturing, including layoffs in the machine-shop industry where, as a teenager, he worked in his father’s business. But he believes the long-term trend favors job openings, including work created as companies bring production back to the United States from other countries.
“The reality is the U.S. has the most productive workforce on the planet,” Kroll said, adding that a combination of technologies and skills allows companies here to manufacture high-quality products at a reasonable cost.
“If somebody has a good work ethic, we can teach them how to weld,” said Mark Rutkowski, Super Steel’s marketing and sales director.
Even with waves of retirements, there’s some hope the skills gap has narrowed with increased enrollment in technical colleges and with high schools placing more emphasis on manufacturing careers.
“For a long time, there was a real block in education that just cut off manufacturing as a ‘nothing’ career with no future,” said Paul Rauscher, president of EMT International, a Green Bay company that builds equipment for the paper, packaging and other industries.
There are still too many high school students graduating with no career goals, said Jim Golembeski, executive director of the Bay Area Workforce Development Board in Green Bay.
He was only two weeks out of high school in Allegan, Mich., worked nights and continued his education during the day. He also went through manager training programs and worked in various departments including materials and human resources.
“I didn’t like all of it, and some of it I couldn’t stand, but later on it really paid off,” said Westgate, chairman and chief executive of Jason Inc., a Milwaukee company that generates more than $700 million in annual sales and employs 3,600 people worldwide.
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