FERGUSON — Shauna Sharp filed the tip of the tungsten rod with a bench grinder, then walked back to her station and wrapped the cord of a welding torch around her arm.
She lowered her mask, held the rod against a piece of steel she’d clamped to the table and melted it. When she pulled the torch away, the steel glowed orange.
Sharp, 33, of Chesterfield, has been welding since she was 16. She joined the certified welding program at ºüÀêÊÓƵ Community College to advance her skills in hopes of joining the Boilermakers union.
Down the hall, another class was doing a training exercise to simulate making aerospace parts for Boeing. And in yet another classroom, students were practicing electrical wiring and motor controls, in preparation for jobs at companies like Proctor & Gamble, General Motors and Anheuser-Busch.
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Facing a worker shortage, companies in the ºüÀêÊÓƵ region are working in new ways with local schools to build a pipeline of students who can eventually fill open jobs in manufacturing and the trades. The companies are starting new programs and growing existing ones, and looking for new ways to creatively advertise their careers to young people.
“The jobs are definitely out there,†Sharp said.
She already had to take a five-week break for the program — to fill a temporary job.
Most industries have struggled to hire over the past few years. But in manufacturing, industry leaders say the staffing shortages are especially difficult, for companies large and small.
Experts say that’s partly because more workers are aging into retirement, and there’s a shortage of people with the technical skills needed to do the work. A 2021 Deloitte found that there may be 2.1 million unfilled manufacturing jobs by 2030.
“It’s an issue nationwide, for all manufacturers,†said Jay Timmons, CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers.
At Melton Machine & Control Company in Washington, Missouri, about 10% of the workforce has retired over the past few years, said Glenn Archer, vice president of sales and marketing. And the company’s clients are seeing the same trend. Melton Machine designs and builds automated welding systems for companies in automotive, transportation, agriculture and other industries.
“We all share the same sorts of pains,†Archer said. “We can’t find people.â€
The company even brings elementary school tours through the facility to plant a seed for when the students graduate 10 years later.
St. Charles-based Diode Dynamics, which makes LED lighting products, has also been working with local technical colleges to try to find skilled workers. In some cases, said CEO Paul McCain, bringing in entry-level workers and training them on-site is “the cost we have realized is necessary.â€
Businesses didn’t always go to such lengths to work with schools and advertise their career offerings to students.
“It’s market-driven. Companies saw they needed to step up, and they really needed to lean in heavily on recruitment and training,†said Timmons, of the manufacturers’ association. “We’ve seen this coming for probably the last 10 years. ... The manufacturing workforce is aging.â€
Becky Epps, manager of ºüÀêÊÓƵ Community College’s Center for Workforce Innovation in Ferguson, said she started hearing concerns 10 or 15 years ago from manufacturing companies facing a growing number of retirements.
They started asking, she said, “’What are we going to do when all this knowledge leaves the building?’â€
At the same time, students became less focused on the trades.
“Shop classes were cut. The vocational schools weren’t getting as many students,†Epps said.
Now, she said, high schools are advertising those careers more to students. There are wait lists for courses at the workforce center.
The University of Missouri-ºüÀêÊÓƵ and Washington University last month announced a new program to offer students technical training at Boeing. General Motors announced a $40,000 grant for St. Charles Community College to study ways to integrate advanced manufacturing into its curriculum.
Companies are battling for students’ attention and to change old perceptions about manufacturing jobs.
Archer, of Melton Machine, said companies are delivering a message to guidance counselors, and anyone else who talks to students: It’s a cool job.
“It’s a hard sell for the students — until they come in here and see what it’s like,†he said. “We’ve got white lights everywhere. You could eat off the floor. ... And we’ve got 150 robots in various stages of getting put together.â€