An Exclusive Roundtable Discussion
Addressing the
SkillsGap A high-powered panel of manufacturing executives discuss how they’re dealing with the shortage of adequately-trained workers.
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nSCU hosted five Manufacturing Showcases this fall that focused primarily on how Twin Cities manufacturers are coping with the growing shortage of workers who are qualified to operate in the industries’ increasingly sophisticated environments. More than 100 people attended the session at Century College on September 23rd which included a presentation of the State of Manufacturing® poll results by Bob Kill, president and CEO of Enterprise Minnesota, and a lively panel discussion. This is an abridged version of their discussion.
Q: What keeps you up at night?
Pendleton: It’s finding talent. It’s finding qualified workers. It’s finding the next idea to make sure that we’re creating multiple relationships to ensure that people are coming in the door. In our business, since we’re staffing for multiple industries, we’ve got hundreds of openings. It’s about creating a valuable environment and it’s about creating valuable connections. We have to be innovative and make sure that we’re protecting the manufacturing sector, not just now but in the future. Peterson: Certainly No. 1 is finding good talent. And I stress good because there is good talent out there. I come from
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Medtronic. At Medtronic it was easy to find good talent. All I had to do was put jobs on Medtronic.com and people came a-running -- because Medtronic has a great name, especially in the Twin Cities. And then I go to Heraeus, and people said, “who?” Hereaus world wide is German owned – 15,000 employees worldwide, truly a global company — but it’s one of those companies you’ve never heard of and likely won’t unless
Panel participants Skip Bolton, director of human resources, Bilfinger Water Technologies Andrea Pendleton, recruiting director, Volt Workforce Solutions Gregg Peterson, human resources director, Heraeus Medical Components Todd Roach, vice president of operations, Computype Andy Stevens, manufacturing, engineering and continuous improvement manager, Precision, Inc. Traci Tapani, owner, Wyoming Machine, Inc.