For the past five years, Tooling U-SME, a leading provider of manufacturing training solutions, has been analyzing the manufacturing industry's performance in addressing the nation's mounting skills gap - and the data shows that the majority of manufacturers are not taking the necessary steps to address this impending crisis.
In 2011, Tooling U-SME created an online workforce assessment tool to find out if manufacturers were ready to meet the challenges of today's workforce and to track their advancement over the next decade. The first five-year iteration shows little improvement in this area.
Now halfway through the project - Mission Critical: Workforce 2021 - results show far too many manufacturers are risking the success of their companies and the industry by not taking the necessary steps to identify the skills their workers need.
Some alarming survey results:
· 49 percent of respondents who completed the online assessment say their company has not begun measuring their manufacturing employees' current skills against the skills they will require in the future.
· 76 percent say the training their company provides its manufacturing employees is not adequate to meet the needs of the organization going forward.
"Manufacturing companies do not have the luxury of delaying employee learning and development because there is too much at stake," said Jeannine Kunz, Vice President, Tooling U-SME. "We see companies investing in new equipment and technologies all the time, but they tend to forget about training their workforce. If this trend continues, manufacturers will continue to experience issues with quality and decreased productivity, and we will keep seeing the skills gap numbers increase.
"Although there is some debate about the skills gap and whether the projected workforce shortage numbers are inflated, one thing is true: manufacturers need to place more emphasis on training their people, and they need to take action now."
For more information contact:
Tooling U-SME
3615 Superior Avenue East
Building 44, 6th Floor
Cleveland, OH 44114
866-706-8665
info@toolingu.com
www.toolingu.com