Through its manufacturing summer camps and scholarships, NBT is inspiring the next generation of manufacturers, welders, plumbers, carpenters and more... one tinkerer at a time. John Ratzenberger, a founder of NBT, speaks on behalf of the organization and how it's addressing the urgent need to engage young people in career preparation for well-paid, fulfilling jobs that require hands-on skills. Ratzenberger is best known for his roles on "Cheers" and "John Ratzenberger's Made in America," and is the only actor to voice a character in every Pixar film.
Can you please give us some background on why you started the NBT organization?
About 2 ½ years ago, I started the Nuts, Bolts & Thingamajigs foundation based on my discovery that, in America, weâre literally running out of skilled workersâpeople who know how to use tools, and measure, and bend things and mold things. Because of the traveling I did with my show, "John Ratzenbergerâs Made in America" on The Travel Channel, every time I went to a factory, I discovered that their biggest worry was the fact that weâre running out of workers. The average age of a worker is 56 years old, and my biggest question was, how come nobodyâs doing anything about it? If the average age of a skilled worker is 56, then why arenât we screaming that from the rooftops? Because in six to ten years, when everyone retires, whatâs going to happen? And everyone seems to have their heads in the sand, even the manufacturers. Everyone seems to be complaining about it, and I needed to have people realize that this is a national problem. Itâs not just a problem in specific factories... itâs not just manufacturing, but itâs about infrastructure as well, because weâre going to need people who can fix bridges, and elevators, and water systems and electrical systems, turbines, dams that produce electricity⌠and no one has been doing anything about it.
So I started NBT to address that situation, and to bring awareness to the problem and get childrenâand the parents of the childrenâto let them start building things again: go in the backyard and play in the sandbox, build a tree house ⌠because itâs dangerous to have a civilization where nobody knows how to do anything. Because thatâs the end; then itâs finished. To me, thereâs no other issue thatâs bigger than this, because at the end of the day, I donât care what political party youâre in, I donât care what your area of expertise or your cause is. If you canât get over a bridge to get from one place to another, or if thereâs no water coming out of that spigot when you turn on the tap, then your cause is pretty unimportant compared to infrastructure and actually making things, because we wonât last as a civilization unless we have the ability to make things. Schools cancelled shop, or industrial arts courses, a long time agoâand many people donât even realize that.
Has the situation with manufacturingâlayoffs, plant closuresâover the past couple of years been damaging to what youâre trying to convey to people?
No. As a matter of fact, I was just at several charity events where different people came up to me and handed me their cards and said "Just let me know how I can help." One person was a big airline executive; their issue is they canât find qualified people to repair the planes. Someone else was in banking, but they realize if manufacturing goes, the banks go. They just wonât exist. Itâs not just a matter of individuals keeping their companies goingâthatâs importantâbut the big, overall view is that we will not have a country if this problem isnât addressed.
How about from a young personâs perspective, when theyâre looking at mapping out their careers? Do they look at manufacturing and think itâs perhaps more unstable than it is?
No. There is actually evidence that more people are going to learn skilled jobs. I donât know where youâre sitting right nowâit could be a house or an officeâbut things need repairing. Regardless of the job situation, somebody has to know how to fix it. So if you have those skills, you can go anywhere in the world. You could be a budding brain surgeon, but it would be nice if you had those skills to fix things to get you through school at least.
So what kind of specific initiatives have you been behind in order to further your objectives?
Weâve set up camps nationwide through the FMA (Fabricators & Manufacturers Association InternationalÂŽ). We partnered with the FMA just within the last year and they have really stepped up to the plate as far as running the organization and putting the camps together. Itâs been a good partnership for us. We did about 20 camps last year. Right now weâre working with some community colleges nationwide to develop a program so young people can learn vocational skills much earlier. Personally, working with the Boys and Girls Club, I am talking about putting some vocational training into one of the clubs in Florida, as a test to see how it works, to get the kids back to using their hands.
These kids are different ages. We fund them, and if they want to, they can learn things like metal-workingâbending and shaping. Weâve got 12 year old girls who are using welding torches. Itâs fun. These kids just love it, because when in their lives would they get to do this? And it doesnât mean they have to do this for the rest of their lives, but it means they know itâs there as an option, and they get to know how the real world works in a much bigger way. They understand that someone has got to do this. Someone has to get up in the morning and put a nut and a bolt togetherâotherwise the rest of us grind to a halt.
So the show got you into this issue, but what got you into the show in the first place? Do you have roots in manufacturing?
I was a journeyman carpenter and a house framer. The town I grew up in was a factory townâBridgeport, CT. It was probably the biggest manufacturing center in the country, certainly during World War II. I was surrounded by people who worked in factories and they were my first heroes. My mother worked in a factory. My uncles would talk about tolerances of 1/1,000th of an inch like the fate of western civilization depended on it. I realized later on in life that they were absolutely right. The fate of western civilization depends on Americaâs strength; Americaâs strength depends on manufacturing. If we donât have it, then everything just collapses. Itâs a domino effect.
How are you getting manufacturers involved? If somebody said, "I want to help," then what is the best way?
They should contact the FMA and let them know that theyâre offering their help.
Is there anything else youâd like to say to the plant managers youâre speaking to?
People just need to realize that this is a bigger issue than they may realize. They are concerned, certainly, for their facility and what they make, but everybody has vendors and other people that are making other parts for whatever theyâre making. You have to realize that those people are having the same problems, so if those people go out of work because they canât find people to come in and do the job, then so do youâbecause youâre not going to get deliveries of that essential piece that you need for your product. Itâs a big tapestry, and right now, weâre being threatened in more than one way from China, and at some point, there will be a tipping point. Weâll find that we have to go back to manufacturing to get us out of the hot water, and manufacturing is not going to be there, only because we had this vision that everybody has got to go to college. Not trueânot everybody wants to or needs to go to college. Somebody has got to build that college.
For more information on FMA, visit www.fmanet.org.
For more information on The Nuts, Bolts & Thingamajigs Foundation, visit www.nutsandboltsfoundation.org.
