Labor Participation Rate- Even HUFFPOST Figures It Out!

Posted on by

The labor participation rate fell to 66.3 percent it’s lowest level in 34 years in March. What recovery?

Even the Huffington Post has figured out that we have a structural unemployment problem:

“With more than 3 million open and available jobs on the career website CareerBliss.com alone, why do we keep seeing the labor participation rate dropping?

The answer is that employers can’t find the right workers. Too many unemployed American workers lack the relevant skills needed to fill the millions of jobs available.” -Heidi Golledge

That sure doesn’t sound like ‘cyclical unemployment’ to me.

Here’s more from HuffPost: “If you look at the current employment numbers there is a quality job out there for just about every graduate — if only they would have been guided toward courses of study that would give them the skills most in demand. We can start to bridge the skills gap now by guiding future workers toward growing and emerging industries.”

Sounds like the definition of structural unemployment to me: “Structural unemployment is a form of unemployment which occurs when the number of vacancies is equal to, or greater than, the number of the unemployed. The unemployed workers may lack the skills needed for the jobs, or they may not live in the part of the country or world where the jobs are available.^“

We have been talking about this issue for some time- here, here, here, here are some of our most recent ones.

For a great (but ominous) discussion of just how bad this is, read The Market Ticker’s post: “The Chart That Will Crash The Market.

It is about this Labor Participation Rate chart posted above.

We need to give people skills so that they can be hired. Our industry is hiring. Info about skills and careers can be found here. Need training? Check out PMPA’s Comprehensive Training Database.

Where The Jobs Are- Mark Tomlinson in Huffington Post

Posted on by

“The manufacturing industry is facing an employment crisis. The rate of technical advances has outpaced our ability to educate and train workers on new machines and applications, creating a “skills gap.”–Mark Tomlinson, CEO, Society of Manufacturing Engineers.

Skilled machinists positions continue to be open in our industry.

I thought it was interesting that even during the depths of the last recession, the classified ads in the major newspapers still showed opportunities for setup and machinists in our precision machining sector of advanced manufacturing. It’s still true today. We have visited local community colleges around the country that provide machining training and we hear the same story, after the first semester, “most of our students already have found a job or have one promised upon graduation.”

Here’s more from Mark-

“This is a great time to work in manufacturing. We’re applying once pie-in-the-sky technologies to real-world needs: creating strong yet flexible limb replacements for our wounded warriors, robots that crawl into the fuselage of an aircraft, mountain bikes for extreme enthusiasts, engineered for safety pushing the boundaries of men and machine. It’s stuff that captures the imagination.

“Yet students are not pursuing these jobs despite the cool factor. Some of it is institutional and some of it is perception. A major challenge is there is no academic infrastructure to administer STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) curriculum on a national scale. That’s compounded by a lack interest in STEM by educators, parents and students who may be more inclined toward attending a four-year college.”

We need to help change the perception of manufacturing and skilled trades. In educators, parents, and students.

We need to help change the notion that going heavily into debt for a bachelors degree without a plan for return on investment (ROI)is the weay fofr our sons and daughters to get their start in life.

We need to show parents, students, counselors, teachers, our communities, the “existential joys of manufacturing”- the cool stuff we make, the high tech machines we use to make it, and the broad math, science, problemsolving intellectual skill set that we bring to our work.

That our skilled machinists are worthy of the highest respect.

Mark Tomlinson told the Huffington Post “We know where the jobs are.”

Indeed.

If you would like to investigate a career in advanced manufacturing / precision machining- we’ve prepared a a database to help you access training resources wherever you are. PMPA Career Info Database.

For more info you can also search on “Manufacturing,” “Skills,” or “Career” in this blog’s search box in the upper right corner.

Or go to PMPA website Careers section.

Photo

Manufacturing Sector Energy Use Improvement

Posted on by

Significant decline in energy use and intensity by manufacturers show improvements in both energy efficiency and changes in manufacturing output mix.

The US Energy Information Agency released data March 19th documenting a 17% decrease in total energy consumption by the manufacturing sector from 2002 to 2010.

Manufacturing output only declined by 3% over the same time period.

Improvement due to both efficiency and mix.

Interestingly, the decline in consumption was noted for all fuels.
What is your shop doing to decrease your energy consumption?

Skills Gap Is Global Not Just North American Issue

Posted on by

We have been working on the skills gap issue for a couple of years.

This infographic from MSN careers shows that the issue of finding skilled workers is a global, not just U.S. and Canada problem.

Precision Machining openings are begging across the country- and were even at the peak of the 2009 Recession. Demographics are going to make finding skilled machinists an even more urgent management imperative.

Skills Gap Graphic

March ISM Report, Manufacturing Expands But Rate Of Growth Slows

Posted on by

PMI shows manufacturing continues to expand, but rate of growth is slowing.

“The report was issued today by Bradley J. Holcomb, CPSM, CPSD, chair of the Institute for Supply Management™ Manufacturing Business Survey Committee. “The PMI™ registered 51.3 percent, a decrease of 2.9 percentage points from February’s reading of 54.2 percent, indicating expansion in manufacturing for the fourth consecutive month, but at a slower rate. Both the New Orders and Production Indexes reflected growth in March compared to February, albeit at slower rates, registering 51.4 and 52.2 percent, respectively. The Employment Index registered 54.2, an increase of 1.6 percentage points compared to February’s reading of 52.6 percent.” ISM

According to the report, Fabricated Metals, the industry classification which includes precision machining, was one of the top 4 market sectors reporting growth in March.

Comments from respondents highlighted in the ISM release indicated that reduced government spending and uncertainty about federal regulations were among the reasons for the March slowdown.

Graph

Continue Your Machining Education at PMPA’s 2013 National Technical Conference

Posted on by

The competitive advantage of our shops is the talent and tribal knowledge of our skilled craftsmen and women.

Continuing the education of our top talent is a priority at PMPA’s 2013 National Technical Conference April 14-16 2013.

Certificates will be awarded to attendees of our three certification workshops

Gaining Confidence with GD&T
CNC Programming Workshop- Macro programming
Metallurgy for Machinists

If you want Blah Blah Blah, I suggest you check out Bob Loblaw’s Law Blog here

If however you are interested in advancing the skills, capability, and talent of your people, we can’t think of a more effective way than to bring them to our NTC.

Develop your talent with PMPA's Three Certification Workshops — Develop your talent with PMPA’s Three Certification Workshops

Gary Griffith of Griffith Training has been a highly rated speaker as well as authority in GD&T at past NTC’s.

Dan Murphy and Ron Gainer of REM Sales will lead the Macro programming workshop.

Kevin Armanie from Kaiser Aluminum, Bob Drab from Corey Steel and yours truly Miles Free will present the Metallurgy for Machinists session.

Hope to see you, and more importantly, your best people at our NTC in Columbus.

Speakers and sessions

PMPA Member Participates in Congressional Tax Reform Working Group Meeting

Posted on by

PMPA Government Affairs Committee Chairman Brad Smith of Indianapolis based The Mitchel Group particpated in a round table discussion with members of Congress serving on the Small Business Working Group.

Brad Smith at a recent Congressional Small Business Working Group Meeting

Brad raised the impact of tax reform on small manufacturing businesses and detailed how existing tax deductions and credits are used by shops like ours to improve our global competitiveness.

The House Ways and Means Committee established eleven tax reform working groups to explore the impact of tax policy on various industries and individuals.

Brad Smith had a seat at the table representing our industry.

Findings from all of the eleven tax reform working groups must be submitted to the Joint Committee on Taxation by the end of April for inclusion in the May 6th public report.

PMPA is pleased to offer our members both sensemaking on regulatory developments and facilitate their sharing of issues with elected and appointed officials in Washington D.C..

PMPA delivers ‘Regulatory Assurance’ to help member shops understand and comply with regulations and avoid severe penalties.

We just posted our Dodd Frank Section 1502 Conflict Minerals Guidance on our website.

At the same time, we are an Amicus on a court case challenging the SEC Conflict Minerals Final Rule.

And we just hosted a Washington D.C. Fly-In event to meet with Congressmen and Senators to discuss current impacts on our manufacturing businesses.

In the area of regulatory and Washington D.C impacts on small manufacturing businesses – PMPA is the figurative ‘helping hand’ providing assistance so our members can remain compliant, competitive, and sustainable.

How do you intelligently manage the risk of the onslaught of regulations, requirements, and potential new legislation on your shop?

PMPA members recognize “Regulatory Assurance” as just one of a number of deliverables to help them stay competitive.

Training Employees- Cognitive Mapping Creates Mastery Part 2

Posted on by

Guest Post by Darryl Crum of Viewit.US.com training provider.

“Information is not knowledge, let’s not confuse the two.” – Deming

Years ago, I was in charge of a group of technical writers for a manufacturing company and we were responsible for writing all of the setup and operating procedures for six factories. What I noticed was that my degreed Technical Writers were writing nonsense as far as many of the workers were concerned. The SOPs met the industry standards, but they did not serve the very people for whom they were intended. The workers needed training material that they could, in fact, read, understand, and retain. Since these people generally are not “readers”, but are “lookers” (try to build the Christmas bike from the parts diagram rather than the text instructions) it seemed to me we needed to revise the way we provided information to them.

We can give someone information, but that does not mean that that person has converted that information into useable knowledge.

If they did not, we end up with an employee whose lack of knowledge, despite their training and information, is destined to make a bad product, break a machine or injure themself or someone else.

Only then do we recognize that our assumption on the level of knowledge that employee had is wrong.

His or her cognitive map was inaccurate or incomplete.

How can we can do better?

We can provide information to employees in a form and format that makes it remarkably easy for them to understand.
We can reduce the amount of encoding and decoding needed to digest the information provided for the training.
We need to make it easier for the employee to understand.

If we do these things, the employee can form an accurate cognitive map- not just be confused by complicated and misunderstood instructions.

Our experience has shown that to help employees form accurate cognitive maps, we need to reduce the amount of text and maximize the use of visuals and imagery.

If you go to this page on our website, you can download a .pdf file that demonstrates how management can provide information in a form and format that the employee can more readily convert to knowledge.

It does not take a technical writer to produce this.

Once produced, and shared with the employee, we know what his cognitive map looks like because our images helped him construct it- with out decoding.
If a quality problem pops up, we can measure the accuracy of that employees work by comparing what he or she does with the illustrated work instruction.
Our workforce has changed. We need to change our approach to training, and our cognitive mappiong technique reduces the learning curve and improves worker accomplishment.

What are your strategies to improve employee competency?

How are they working out?

Click this link to get further background on the ViewIt Training System.

Vanessa Fuentes Impressive Graphic Design

Romulan Cloaking Device Becoming a Reality

Posted on by

Here you CANNOT see the Romulan War Bird in front of some open star clusters

Fun post for Friday.

Researchers at Nanyang University demonstrate the refractive qualities of Calcite to make a post it note ‘disappear.’

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5APMyTGrFg]Researchers at Nanyang University demonstrate the refractive qualities of Calcite to make a post it note ‘disappear.’
Erasmus Bartholin was the first to note the double refraction of iceland spar (Calcite) in 1669. You can get his Experimenta crystalli Islandici disdiaclastici quibus mira & insolita
refractio detegitur as a free ebook.

Isaac Newton also experimented and reported on the phenomenon.

But the folks at Nanyang University got it posted to Youtube

Obvious applications include defense, organized crime, smuggling, and advertising.
Open clusters

Training Employees- Cognitive Mapping Creates Mastery Part 1

Posted on by

Guest Post by Darryl Crum of Viewit.US.com

I am convinced we have done a very poor job in training our workforce.

If we do not provide the employee with the right type of training material, he or she will have a much longer training curve.

The primary goal in training an employee is to help that employee form an accurate and verifiable cognitive map of their process at hand.

The cognitive map is that part of the learning curve that is often considered the plane and the majority of the upward curve.

Helping trainee's develop their cognitive map shortens the flat end of the curve and help them get to competence quicker. — Helping trainees develop their cognitive map shortens the flat end of the curve and helps them get to competence quicker.

If we do not provide the employee with the right type of training material, he or she will have a much longer training curve.

All around us, we can see people doing things incorrectly because their cognitive map was incorrect.

Our goal must be to help an employee create a verifiable cognitive map- in minimum time and ensure it is accurate.

The techniques and material in use in industry today are not designed for the high percentage of people who are not successful in academic situations.

Our training techniques are not optimized for the people whose reading, writing, math and science skills are below the standards that our technology based industry requires.

We now have a different demographics in the factory worker population, and we are not making the changes needed to accommodate these new employees.

Our goal as trainers has to be to help these employees create an accurate cognitive map of their process.

We need to do it fast to shorten the learning curve.

Learning curve