Today, Senators Hagan (D-NC) and Heller (R-NV), with additional support from Senator Donnelly (D-IN), introduced the AMERICA Works Act, which will help in addressing the severe skills gap facing US manufacturers. Recent data has shown that approximately 600,000 jobs may be going unfilled due to the lack of a skilled workforce, hindering economic growth and innovation in the U.S. The America Works Act begins to address this problem by focusing existing federal training dollars towards nationally-portable, industry recognized certifications within the Workforce Investment Act, Perkins and TAA. Industry-based certifications let potential workers know exactly what skills are in demand in the private sector, thus using these programs more efficiently.

Today’s modern manufacturing requires a skills level more advanced than in previous generations. Sandy Westlund-Deenihan, CEO of Quality Float Works, an NAM member company, uses industry-recognized certifications to ensure she is hiring the right person.   “Our manufacturing process is not what it was 25 years ago, it requires more advanced skills to deliver a high-quality product.  Hiring someone with a nationally-portable, industry recognized certification allows my company to be secure in the knowledge that we are hiring someone with the skills necessary to maintain that level of quality.”

The Senators should be commended for their leadership on an issue of utmost importance to manufacturers. Currently, federal training programs can be overly-bureaucratic and often frustrating to employers. Setting a clear path for the most valuable training helps employers know they are hiring the right person, helps potential employees know exactly what skills are necessary for success, and it makes more efficient use of existing Federal resources. The NAM is very excited to support this important piece of legislation.

Christine Scullion is director of human resources policy, National Association of Manufacturers.

Tonight Bradley Henning, a 23 year old journeyman machinist at NAM member Atlas Machine and Supply, Inc., was a guest of the First Lady at the State of the Union address. Mr. Henning has been training since high school for his job at Atlas and is a graduate of the company’s apprenticeship program. In July of last year he completed all of his necessary training and coursework to receive his journeyman’s card.

Bradley Henning of Atlas Machine and Supply, Inc.

Mr. Henning represents the thousands of students in apprentice programs and schools throughout the country gaining the necessary skills for long-term careers in today’s manufacturing. This isn’t your grandfather’s manufacturing, the jobs of today and tomorrow require advanced skills and job training.

Manufacturers throughout the country are struggling to find workers with the necessary skills for today’s jobs. Today, approximately 600,000 manufacturing jobs are unfilled due to the skills gap.

In order for manufacturers to compete in the growing global marketplace the workforce must have the necessary skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). We must continue to work to promote STEM education so students like Bradley can benefit from great careers in manufacturing and greatly enhance our nation’s competitiveness.

Manufacturers throughout the country continue to struggle to find highly skilled workers to meet the needs of today’s manufacturing jobs. Companies and organizations such as the NAM’s affiliate, The Manufacturing Institute, are working on programs to help get workers the skills they need to succeed in advanced manufacturing.  

Last week SAP Americas launched a new program called Veterans to Work which will train and certify U.S. veterans on database and technology, analytics and enterprise mobility solutions. The company’s goal is to provide 1,000 veterans full scholarships over the next 12 months to help them launch new careers in IT.

“Our goal is not to find one-time jobs for veterans,” said Steve Lucas, executive vice president, Database & Technology, SAP. “We believe it is critical to provide deserving and qualified veterans the powerful technical tools they need to jump start a lifelong career in highly in-demand, innovative fields with significant potential for growth.”

This is great news for veterans looking to grow their skills for a career in a growing field. Earlier this fall several manufacturers teamed together with the Manufacturing Institute to form Get Skills to Work which is a collaborative program to join manufacturers and educators together to place veterans in long-term careers. It’s essential for our economy and the future of manufacturing that we continue to provide training to veterans and students to alleviate the shortage of skilled workers we currently face.

We hear an awful lot about an “all-of-the-above” energy strategy, but you don’t often hear it within the educational system. Yet that’s exactly what we need – to explore all avenues that might help children learn. This, of course, involves new educational options brought about by technology and innovative thinking. But it would be foolish to eliminate proven methods that have delivered a high level of education for generations.

Unfortunately, this is exactly what Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is advocating. He calls for the elimination of textbooks, basically a planned obsolescence that take away from children’s ability to learn. Paperbecause.com cites strong studies that provide strong evidence that children learn better and read faster off of paper.

Children need an “all-of-the-above” education policy working on their behalf. Textbooks and paper in the class room are as essential as reading, writing and arithmetic. Let’s put everything on the table to teach our children – pixels AND paper.

Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) introduced legislation yesterday that strongly promotes the use of Industry recognized Credentials. The bill, called the Careers through Responsive, Efficient and Effective Retraining (CAREER) Act looks to streamline the Workforce system by increasing incentives for accountability through a pay-for-performance metric for job training serves, creating access to the National Directory for New Hires, looks to streamline to multitude of job training programs and steers Federal dollars towards credentials in-demand by industry.

These changes are a positive step towards improving the workforce system. Particularly, we are pleased that it emphasized the need to focus efforts and resources towards skills and credentials that are recognized and in-demand by the private sector. The NAM looks forward to working with Senators Portman and Bennet on this effort.

Joe Trauger is vice president of human resources policy, National Association of Manufacturers.

With the summer months behind us and school back in full swing, some students are fortunate enough to return to the classroom with valuable internship experience that will set them up for future academic and professional success. FMC Corporation took on the challenge this summer to increase the number of STEM college internships – a challenge that they more than met, successfully tripling internship placements compared to last summer.

FMC’s internship program placed students at sites across the United States and even abroad in places like Brussels and Shanghai. Interns are able to work on significant projects that directly helped FMC operations. NAM board member and president of FMC Specialty Chemicals, Michael Wilson pointed out that “through internships we can directly impact the future of manufacturing by showing students the many exciting career opportunities open to them in science based companies”.

FMC’s accomplishment is an important step in the effort to increase attention to STEM education. With 600 thousand manufacturing jobs going unfilled, the Manufacturing Institute has taken the lead on addressing the deficits in manufacturing education and training. Getting students exposed to exciting careers available in manufacturing is a great place to start and we commend FMC on their efforts!

BASF, whose U.S. headquarters is found in Florence, N.J., has been an active part of the NAM Summit today, taking the message of lower taxes, affordable energy, and a skilled workforce all over Capitol Hill.

In one meeting with Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA), they shared the ongoing issue of the skills gap that has left 600,000 manufacturing jobs unfilled across America. They are asking Congress to pass the America Works Act in order to create a nationally portable certification system to address the problem.

BASF is doing their part to create jobs and in the near future will be adding over 100 jobs at their North Carolina facilities.

Today NAM Board Member and Kennametal Inc. Chairman, President and CEO Carlos Cardoso spoke at the National Press Club to discuss manufacturing and the need to bridge the gap between how the public views manufacturing and the actual reality of manufacturing in the United States.  

Mr. Cardoso called on manufacturing leaders to help spread the message and share the success stories and the importance of educating young workers about manufacturing careers. 

Kennametal also released a poll which shows that Americans are not as aware that manufacturing is leading the economic recovery and don’t believe manufacturing jobs are available. The NAM and manufacturers like Kennametal are working to change that perception and better educate the public and our leaders in government about the critical role of manufacturing in our economy and the need for highly skilled workers.

One of the main goals of the NAM’s Manufacturing Renaissance: Four Goals for Economic Growth is to ensure that manufacturers in the U.S. have the workforce that the 21^st-century manufacturing economy requires.

From the Kennametal press release:

“The U.S. manufacturing sector has been steadily growing and right now, 600,000 manufacturing jobs are available,” Cardoso said. “Most of these positions require specialized skills and education, and as manufacturers, we have a responsibility to educate people about these opportunities and build the manufacturing workforce of the future. At Kennametal, we take this seriously and are helping to deliver the promise of manufacturing today through our actions.”

Joining Mr. Cardoso today were representatives from Greater Latrobe High School which is a partner in the company’s Young Engineers Program. Students in this program get to learn first-hand about manufacturing by participating in hands-on projects and mentoring from Kennametal engineers. This program is just one of many educational initiatives by manufacturers throughout the country to help educate students on manufacturing jobs.

Last week the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness announced that nearly 50 businesses have pledged to double or increase the number of STEM internships available to students. Many of these businesses which have agreed to increase internships are manufacturers.

In case you missed it here is an excerpt from the National Association of Manufacturers press release on the announcement:

“Advanced education and training is becoming increasingly more important to manufacturers. If employees do not have the right training and skills, manufacturers in the United States will fall behind our competitors, harming our economic growth,” said NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons. “These manufacturers are to be commended for taking an important step to increase the number of STEM internship opportunities, which is critical to economic growth and job creation.”

From Pittsburgh Business Times on the announcement:

The council’s goal is to address the country’s shortage of STEM workers. According to information released by the annual amount of engineers graduating from U.S. universities has remained steady at about 120,000 from 1990 and 2010. However, about 1 million engineers a year graduate from universities in India and China.

We would like to highlight a few manufacturers that have also agreed to increase internships, which include FMC Corporation, Corning Incorporated, Longview Fibre and Eastman Chemical. We thank these companies for taking this step to help improve education and training for students which is extremely important to our manufacturing competitiveness.

The NAM partnered with the Atlantic today to host the New Work Era forum at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.  The event featured Manufacturing Institute President Emily DeRocco as well as NAM members Nick Pinchuk, Chair and CEO of Snap-On Inc.; Bob Corteau, President, SAP North America; and Mike Morris, Chair and CEO of American Electric Power Company, Inc.  They joined Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, AOL co-founder Steve Case, Senator Mark Warner, and others in the day’s discussion about how to close the skills gap and create jobs in America.

You can watch the day’s events here.

Here are some photos of the event (courtesy of The Atlantic/GE Gargallo Photography)

From left to right: Amanda Ripley, Contributor, The Atlantic; Emily DeRocco, President, The Manufacturing Institute; John Sexton, President, New York University; Bob Courteau, President, SAP North America; Bob Templin, President, Northern Virginia Community College; Laszlo Bock, Senior VP, People Operations, Google

From left to right: Steve Clemons, Editor in Chief, AtlanticLIVE; Byron Auguste, Director, Social Sector Office, McKinsey & Company; Mike Morris, Chair and CEO, American Electric Power Company, Inc.; Jeff Joerres, Chair, CEO and Presiden,t ManpowerGroup (SIC); Nick Pinchuk, Chair and CEO, Snap-on Incorporated; Frits van Paasschen, President and Chief Executive Officer, STARWOOD HOTELS & RESORTS WORLDWIDE INC.

From left to right: Amanda Ripley, Contributor, The Atlantic; Emily DeRocco, President, The Manufacturing Institute; John Sexton, President, New York University; Bob Courteau, President, SAP North America; Bob Templin, President, Northern Virginia Community College; Laszlo Bock, Senior VP, People Operations, Google

From left to right: Steve Clemons, Editor in Chief, AtlanticLIVE; Byron Auguste, Director, Social Sector Office, McKinsey & Company; Mike Morris, Chair and CEO, American Electric Power Company, Inc.; Jeff Joerres, Chair, CEO and Presiden,t ManpowerGroup (SIC); Nick Pinchuk, Chair and CEO, Snap-on Incorporated; Frits van Paasschen, President and Chief Executive Officer, STARWOOD HOTELS & RESORTS WORLDWIDE INC.

Nick Pinchuk, Chair and CEO, Snap-on Incorporated

From left to right: Neil Kerwin, President, American University; Mike Morris, Chairman and CEO, American Electric Power Company