While preparing for a recent trip to Ecuador, my wife and I spent hours practicing conversational Spanish. Once we got there, however, it became painfully clear that old dogs couldn’t learn new tricks.
LIVONIA, MI—Battery manufacturer A123 Systems filed suit this month against Apple Inc., alleging the electronics giant campaigned to poach employees amid reports that it’s developing an electric car.
ZEELAND TOWNSHIP, MI—Like other employers, Primera Plastics struggles to find skilled workers. But the growing plastic molding company is taking a new approach to growing its workforce: It is giving unskilled workers on-the-job training and even providing a free bus ride to work.
CLEVELAND, NC—Daimler Trucks is trying to fill more than 300 positions at its Freightliner assembly plant here, but the company is having trouble finding enough qualified workers in the area. The company has been hiring since April and wants to have more than 1,000 new employees by the end of the year.
WASHINGTON—A current lack of skilled and highly skilled manufacturing workers has measurable financial impacts on U.S. manufacturers, according to a new study from Accenture and the Manufacturing Institute.
CHICAGO—Half of U.S. businesses say they plan to train new hires this year, up from 39 percent in 2013, according to a recent survey by CareerBuilder. “Training budgets that were diminished or nonexistent during the recession are starting to make a comeback,” says Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder.
SANTA ROSA, CA—An innovative “job-shadowing” program to train high school students for skilled manufacturing jobs is gaining momentum in its third year. Launched by 101MFG, a trade group focused on boosting California’s manufacturing sector, the program is expecting up to 300 participants this year.
CLEVELAND—Tooling U-SME has introduced a new workforce development resource, called the Competency Framework, that outlines the knowledge and skill objectives for more than 60 manufacturing jobs.
