Manufacturers have been scrambling for workers for years and the need is rising as the baby boomers that disproportionately make up that part of the workforce retire. That's not likely to change soon for businesses like G3 Machining in Bloomington.
As you walk into G3 at the corner of Bunn and Oakland, there's a faint but comforting smell — comforting that is if your grandpa was a tinkerer in a workshop. There's a hint of solvents, maybe a whiff of hot metal. There's a lathe with piles of shiny shavings, and a tool bench with a micrometer and a digital caliper, though unlike most grandpa workshops, G3 is pretty darn clean and has good natural light.
When co-owner Steve Knecht bought out K&K manufacturing in 2013, it was just about shuttered, he said, because of an older staff and a lack of workers overall. Now, Knecht said it's the biggest machine shop in about 50 miles. It serves everyone from Caterpillar to the person off the street who needs a custom part for their Harley.
Yet G3 still has just eight workers. And Knecht said it's like pulling teeth to find more.
“Right now, we've got three employees under the age of 24 that we are training because there really wasn't adequate training available outside. We're bringing them in and training them one-by-one, step-by-step and hopefully they'll stay forever and maybe they can take over when I retire," said Knecht.
The challenge is only going to get worse.
"We're starting to re-shore so much stuff from China. A lot of economists are predicting that manufacturing needs to expand in the United States by a factor of three. Well, if we don't have enough people now, how are we going to expand by a factor of three without technology. More technology means more education means more education means more opportunity," said Randy Prince, senior business development manager with the Illinois Manufacturers' Association [IMA].
The IMA said the top 20 manufacturing occupations are estimated to expand by 3.1% versus 1% across all occupations in the next few years.
It's not a pay issue
The problem is not pay. A year-and-a-half-old study of manufacturing jobs in Illinois showed the average salary is a surprising $79,000. One caution on that: It includes everyone from the CEO of Boeing to the person who sweeps the floor. Yet the larger point stands, said Prince. The study showed manufacturing positions have an 11.7% wage premium over the average job in Illinois.
"Manufacturing compensation is definitely on the rise with what has happened in the state and there are opportunities everywhere," said Prince.
Like G3, most manufacturers in Central Illinois are willing to train people and help pay for their education. The state employee training enhancement program offers 50% reimbursement for manufacturing workforce training.
The state is funding a ramp-up of apprenticeship and certificate programs through community colleges. Heartland Community College in Normal is a big center for that effort and is looking for new apprenticeship opportunities to create.
Knecht said one his G3s workers went through Heartland and the courses were a big help, though that's not always the road to becoming a machinist.
"One young lady who works for us has not had any formal college education in the machining trades and she is just a natural. She is just absolutely amazing. We're looking forward to giving her whatever she needs to learn this trade," said Knecht.
Knecht said he has been working with local educators for seven years from grade schools through the universities, adding the workforce supply gap has not yet begun to close.
But there is light at the end of the tunnel — a recent report shows a lot of high school graduates are choosing trades over college.
Even among the trades though, there is competition for workers.
“Hopefully, if the resources can be put toward sending them into manufacturing like what we do here as opposed to carpentry, plumbing, electrical, things that would be used in basic construction, that would be a real lifeblood for ours in the future," said Knecht.
Career exploration
Randy Prince of the manufacturers association said high school guidance counselors are key. When a lot of people look for a job, all they know is what mom and dad do. And if that's all you know, he said, that's not much career exploration. Prince said that approach won't work in this rapidly changing world. For instance, 15 years ago, smart phones were a very new thing.
“And as that has progressed so fast, everything in manufacturing has progressed that far, too," said Prince.
This makes a broader, deeper career exploration more crucial than it has ever been. Prince said field trips are key to that.
G3's Steve Knecht said on-site visits are a tough ask for many schools. Educators he has worked with are receptive, but resources for field trips or even developing virtual tours are just not there, he said. Though virtual tours and Zoom Q&A sessions could help, there's a limit.
"Nothing is ever going to replace walking into the shop, smelling the smell of machining and cutting fluids, you know hearing the machines and watching the chips fly," said Knecht.
That experience can be life changing. It certainly was for him.
"When I saw somebody run a cutter across a piece of metal on a bridge port and watched those chips just fly off there, I'm like you can command metal! How awesome is that? You can make it do your will. I'm like, I gotta do that," said Knecht.
Maybe an expansion of dual community college and high school credit classes could get kids on the machine shop floor. Prince said there is new state legislation to mandate career and technical education offerings.
Even those might not hit quite the right audience. Knecht said he has seen incredible high school students with great minds, such as those in the 4H robotics competition programs. G3 supplies them with parts. And yet...
"These kids are amazing. They can draw 3D models with CAD while they are staring at their phone with the other hand and it's like it's perfect. Those kids are pretty much always bound for college engineering degrees," said Knecht.
Still, there have to be come kids that love to tinker that will not also track through college engineering.
"If we could snag them and get them a taste of what's going on here, they'd probably really like it," said Knecht.
The stakes for the economy are high. Prince said as automation proliferates, productivity multiplies.
"Most of the companies I talk to tell me if they had 10% more workforce, they could turn out 30% more product. Then I'm willing to pay my employees more. I'm making more and supplying more to the market," said Prince, adding potential workers should not spurn small manufacturing shops like G3.
"Ferrero or Rivian, or Bridgestone Firestone, they all end up at these mom-and-pop style jobs shops to be able to make these parts because sometimes you have to have it right away," said Prince.
The manufacturing sector has about 630,000 direct jobs and 10% percent of employment in Illinois. The IMA said the sector indirectly supports nearly a third of all workers in Illinois.
