From the Editor

I’ve been hearing a lot about the labor shortage. It’s something everyone’s been talking about. While it’s always important to discuss these issues, at what point do we stop talking and start acting? And I’m not saying we should stop the dialogue completely, but there’s a lot of talk about the issue at hand, and not as much talk about what we’re doing about it—until now. Throughout this issue you’ll read how experts and industry professionals are navigating through the labor shortage. Wick Rice, founder of Hawaii-based Wick

Rice cabinetry, explained how he’s investing time to train new employees who may not have as much experience, but have the desire to learn and grow. And that’s worked in his favor. “You have to think outside the box especially right now,” Rice said. “Maybe you can’t find people who are 100% skilled in the craft when you hire them, but you can train them to be exactly what you need. You can shape them to fit your company needs and sometimes it works out even better than you planned.” Cabinet door manufacturer Paragon Concepts decided to invest in more technology to challenge the ongoing shortage of skilled workers. The company is nearing completion of its Winstore installation for the new Selco ROS Robot Saw, and the system is designed to be equivalent to four full-time employees. You can read about their journey on page 28. When I was at NeoCon in Chicago this October, I was curious what attendees had to say about the labor shortage, particularly the younger ones who looked like they were just getting started in their careers. “I think a lot of it has to do with spreading awareness,” one attendee said. “There are a lot of students who don’t know what they want to do for a career, especially in community colleges. I think we need to start there. There are so many great opportunities in our industry for young people. I’m from Arkansas and I get to be in Chicago for a week to work. I’d say that’s pretty exciting.” I think AWFS president Angelo Gangone said it best. Maybe we should start bringing kids to shows and change how young people view the industry. And youngsters don’t exactly want the bells and whistles employers think they do. “It’s funny. There’s this myth that millennials and Gen-Zers want trendy office features, cool break room offerings and other random perks, but that’s simply not true,” another NeoCon attendee said. “What we want is for our opinions and ideas to be heard. We want to contribute to something bigger than ourselves. We want to work collaboratively with a team we can learn from, and we want to be valued by our employers.”

Stephanie Ornelas, Editor