Among the issues and concerns facing manufacturing today, a lack of skilled, properly trained workers often tops the list.

Late in 2005, the National Assn. of Manufacturers released its Skills Gap Report in which 90 percent of respondents agreed there was a “moderate-to-severe shortage” of skilled production employees in areas such as machinists, operators, craft workers, distributors and technicians. In addition, 80 percent said they were having trouble finding qualified and skilled production employees.

In response to these concerns, the NAM joined with representatives from various companies and manufacturing councils to establish formal, nationally recognized credentials for manufacturing workers as part of a new training and certification program. The announcement was made in Washington, D.C., in late September.

The program will be administered by the Manufacturing Skills Standards Council —a Washington-based organization that has established a standards, assessment, and certification curriculum for production support workers in all sectors of manufacturing. MSSC's Training, Assessment and Credentialing System is a series of classes and seminars developed in conjunction with industry leaders and executives.

Following training, the assessments phase requires workers to demonstrate knowledge of core subjects such as math, science, problem-solving, teamwork, organization, planning, and basic technical skills—all in a manufacturing context. The credentialing phase then allows workers and students to demonstrate to potential employers that they have passed examinations in these areas, showing they have mastered skills that are needed by manufacturers.

NAM president John Engler says the shortage of skilled workers and a potential skills gap are among the larger challenges facing U.S. manufacturing.

“Our members tell us they are having real difficulty finding qualified applicants. We believe this new certification program will raise the competency level of millions of production workers all across manufacturing, and at the same time enable manufacturers to identify applicants who have the requisite skills,” Engler says.

Industrial Distribution's 60th Annual Survey of Distributor Operations revealed similar sentiments. Respondents to the ID survey said the pool of technically skilled salespeople is shrinking, with 72 percent saying they could not find enough technically trained salespeople to fill available jobs.

“We're trying to produce the industrial athlete of the future: the agile, flexible worker able to learn and adapt to new technologies and occupations quickly,” says Leo Reddy, CEO of the MSSC. “The purpose is to create a larger pool of workers who can help their companies improve their productivity and profitability.”

Reddy and Engler were among those speaking at the National Press Club where the MSSC announcement was made. Among those attending was Rep. Don Manzullo, (R. Ill.), chairman of the House of Representatives' Small Business Committee.

“What I'm hearing from manufacturers—the ones we haven't lost—is that the work is coming back, but they can't find [enough] skilled workers,” Manzullo says. “Without trained people to run the necessary machines, they'll have to outsource this stuff overseas.”

Getting manufacturing executives involved in the MSSC program is vital to its success, say those involved.

“It's difficult to get the attention of serious executives and management on the topic of production workers' skills,” says Reddy. “But we're talking about 10-and-a-half million people, the backbone of American manufacturing.”

Reddy applauds NAM's participation in the project, adding that, “we need the employer community to buy into this. Unless they reward people for [achieving] this certification, it simply will not work.”

The MSSC training system consists of four modules: manufacturing process and production; quality and continuous improvement; maintenance awareness; and safety. Each module is covered in three levels of course instruction: the Integrated Course (140 hours); the Modular Course (48 hours) and a “Fast Track” Course (15-18 hours) for more experienced workers.

Once the training is completed, participants are evaluated in the assessment phase of the program. Once the assessment phase is completed, a certificate of recognition is awarded.

“This helps employers identify specific areas of strength and weakness in workforce competence,” says John Rauschenberger, manager of personnel research and development for Ford Motor Co. “Armed with this information, training efforts can be better focused to ensure the best bang for the buck in training investments.”

James McCaslin, president & COO of Harley-Davidson Motor Co. and chairman of the MSSC board, says the MSSC approach has already succeeded at his company.

“Our training experts at Harley-Davidson have a high regard for the MSSC curriculum,” he says. “We have already put 100 workers through the MSSC assessments and are using those results to guide our training priorities.”

The courses are available in a classroom setting and in an online format, suitable for instruction by certified teachers at high schools, community colleges and company training centers. McCaslin refers to the MSSC training as “foundational skills,” and draws an analogy with a student completing four years of college.

“You could basically equate this with a four-year college degree in that after you go into a new job, you still have to learn that actual job. But you've proven, through taking 30-odd courses in college, that you have the ability to adjust to new things,” he says. “The foundational skills we're teaching [work] the same way. They go across all manufacturing occupations.”

A more talented, better-educated employee base should result, he says.

“They will have the basic foundational skills to move to different jobs,” McCaslin says.

The NAM announcement is similar to a program launched by The Power Transmission Distributors Assn. last year through its PTDA Foundation. The Foundation's goal is to help distributors and manufacturers find qualified, affordable, entry-level employees.

An example of PTDA's training initiative is its Industry Careers Pathway . The ICP develops programs to teach basic skills in business, technical and distribution channels while helping to recruit entry-level employees and create affordable resources for current employee development.

More than 20 associations and trade groups help with training and fund raising for the ICP's education initiatives. Among them are the National Assn. of Wholesaler-Distributors; National Fastener Distributors Assn.; National Fluid Power Assn.; NIBA—The Belting Assn.; Fluid Power Distributors Assn.; and the Canadian Fluid Power Assn.

“The ICP is aimed at recruiting and preparing employees for industrial distribution and manufacturing companies, primarily aimed at positions in customer service, inside and outside sales,” explains Susan Hacker, project director for the PTDA Foundation.

PTDA realized the need for the program while researching its training curriculum in early 2000, Hacker says.

“We'd hear from members that they had these available positions, but the people coming in just weren't qualified,” Hacker explains. “What they were looking for is some core competencies that include some technical aptitude, so they understand how products are used and applied and know what they're selling. At the same time, they need some business education in how and why companies do what they do.”

Hacker says the ICP training can take 18 months to two years to complete. Two of the first people to enroll are about to graduate, she adds, and have been hired to start in October: one by the Omaha branch of Motion Industries, and another by John Day, Inc., a cutting tool and farm equipment distributor

Earlier this year, the NAM awarded a grant for $55,000 to the PTDA Foundation. The grant went towards ICP's training efforts with WIRE-Net, a Cleveland-based not-for-profit economic development organization.

This joint alliance is working towards improving distribution training at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland and promoting distribution-related careers in Ohio. Cuyahoga is one of eight community colleges in the United States and Canada that the PTDA has worked with—a number Hacker says they hope increases to as many as 25 in the next few years.

There are short-term and long-term goals for these developmental programs, one of which is promoting manufacturing and distribution careers to a budding workforce.

Ideally, this can result in both a better-trained, technically educated workforce as well as a larger pool of workers for companies to delve into in the future. Engler admits that the latter has proven to be a challenge in recent years in terms of attracting younger workers into manufacturing.

“I think this is a way to overcome almost a bias that's built in to today's education system for younger people getting ready for the workforce that [manufacturing] isn't the way to go,” Engler says.

Keith Romig, director of national and international programs at the United Steelworkers, pointed to two problems the MSSC program addresses.

“The first is that many workers in our industries do have the skills they need to perform their jobs at a high level,” Romig says. “What they lack is any formal means of certifying that fact, either to their current employers or to prospective future employers. [Also], our educational system is not training a sufficient number of new workers in these vital industrial skills.”

The MSSC training is especially good for labor as far as job flexibility is concerned, Romig adds.

“Once this becomes accepted broadly across industry, workers will have the tools to be able to go to the next job,” Romig says. “It will provide a more substantial degree of employment security and a more equitable way of promotion and job advancement.”

Because the MSSC training guidelines and courses were created with the input of a cross-section of industry, labor and government leaders, the result is a “common ground to solve one of the country's most pressing issues,” adds Ford's Rauschenberger.

In addition, MSSC designs its curriculum to stay current with technical developments and the training those developments will require.

“At one time, you could train people generically,” says Manzullo. “But you just can't do that anymore. You have to train [according] to the application.”

Details on the MSSC program and locations of its training centers are available at www.msscusa.org . Information on the PTDA Foundation's initiatives can be found at www.industrialcareerspathway.org