Workforce Issues to be examined at state-wide Manufacturing Conference

September 1, 2000
by Deborah Nash
Montana Manufacturing Extension Center

BOZEMAN -- "We steal our skilled people from the company down the street. That’s where skilled labor comes from…We lose people when our competitor offers $1 more an hour. It’s a real problem."

"We’re looking at expensive automation that we wouldn’t have considered a few years ago; we have to. We can’t find enough qualified people."

"The job applicants we get aren’t qualified; they have no motivation; they don’t come to work on time. No one wants to work anymore."

These comments may sound familiar to people looking for new employees. Montana Manufacturing Extension Center engineers continually hear these and similar remarks from manufacturers across the state as they assist companies to become more competitive.

Advances in technology, growing international competition, and dramatic retirement rates are increasing demand for highly skilled workers, and labor resources are not keeping up. The growing gap between the skills of the American workforce and the technical requirements of today’s jobs is threatening the health of our economy both in Montana and nationwide. Today, 65 percent of available jobs require technical skills, and manufacturing by its very nature requires a skilled workforce. So what can we do?

Manufacturers will have the opportunity to communicate workforce needs and experiences to decision-makers in education and state government, and company skills- training program managers during a panel discussion at Compete Smart, the biennial Montana Manufacturing Conference at the Holiday Inn in Bozeman on Sept. 21 and 22.

Participants will hear George Keremedjiev, an international business consultant, explain the methods other countries use to train their workforces. He will explain what workforce attributes the United States is competing against such as quality of individual worker, training programs, worker qualifications and retention, work ethic, and culture. Cultures that support and train highly skilled workforces will be discussed as he builds the case that college is only one path to good paying and challenging jobs.

With his worldwide manufacturing automation and management consulting business, Tecknow Education Services, Inc. in Bozeman, Keremedjiev specializes in bringing manufacturers to world class status. His client list includes Delphi, Harley Davidson, Steelcase, Kodak, Allen Bradley, John Deere, Gillette and many small and medium size manufacturers. He also organizes an annual Big Sky Manufacturing Conference in which metalforming executives from the USA, Canada, and Mexico visit manufacturers worldwide with Dr. Lester Thurow of MIT, for benchmarking purposes. He has observed, first-hand, differences in workforce culture.

Others speaking on workforce issues will be Bob Sommers of the Ohio Department of Education. He will speak on the Ohio model for strengthening skills training and developing strong, private sector relationships; Jody Messinger, Division of Career, Adult, and Technical Education, Montana Office of Public Instruction; and Mark Bronger, technology coordinator and business education teacher for the Huntley Project School District and executive director of the Montana Association of Career & Technical Education.

Following these overviews and using responses from a simple, pre-registration questionnaire, a panel will discuss developing trends and what can be done to strengthen skills and training in Montana classrooms. The panel includes David Barcroft of Cisco Systems, a company with a skills training program, Will Weaver, Dean of the MSU-Great Falls College of Technology and representatives the Office of Public Instruction, and the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education. At the conclusion, the floor will be open for questions.

Workforce Issues will be moderated by Linda Reed, US West (now Qwest), community affairs manager for Western Montana and former economic policy advisor for Gov. Marc Racicot.

For information about the conference, call MMEC at 800-637-4634.

Send questions or comments to Carol Schmidt: cschmidt@montana.edu. Or you can send
letters to Carol Schmidt, MSU Communications Services, 416 Culbertson Hall, Bozeman,
MT 59717.

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