If there’s a sign that accurately sums up the state of running a manufacturing business over the course of the last couple of decades, it’s got to be “Now Hiring!” Industry, as a whole, and manufacturing, in particular, have long suffered from a challenge known as the “skills gap.”
Without treading familiar ground too thoroughly, the “skills gap” describes the fact that demand for highly-skilled workers far outweighs the supply of such workers, leading to hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs that go unfilled year after year.
The “skills gap” is a well-known problem that manufacturers have been battling for decades now. While there have been many attempts to solve the problem, an all-encompassing solution still eludes manufacturers. Nonetheless, there have been some efforts that have been more successful than others.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at Sentry Equipment, a Wisconsin manufacturer of process and sampling equipment. Despite the challenges posed by the “skills gap,” the leaders of Sentry Equipment have used a combination of techniques that have helped them successfully fill all their open positions.
In an Industry Week article, author Laura Putre discusses the history of Sentry Equipment, revealing that “[b]eing steady and respected in the market you’re in, but always having another angle in your back pocket, is a secret to business longevity.”
Sentry Equipment began over a century ago as a manufacturer of “boiler sanitizing equipment for the dairy industry.” As “dairy plants joined the electric grid and did away with boilers,” the company pivoted successfully as “the processing technology also had applications for the electric power industry.”
For years, Sentry Equipment has served both “coal-fired power plants” and “oil and gas refineries.” However, the ever-changing energy market has forced the company to continue to diversify. Over the last decade, Sentry Equipment “has acquired a couple of smaller companies in an adjacent market, wastewater treatment sampling and processing, while adding a service component for power plant equipment.”
Throughout these changes, Sentry Equipment has felt “the pain of smaller manufacturers that have trouble filling roles.” Currently, though, “no roles go unfilled, and the turnover rate is under 15%, thanks in part to investment in high-tech equipment like robotic machining centers and [its CEO’s] involvement in state and local organizations.”
These industry-education partnerships have been important in helping Sentry Equipment meet the challenge of the “skills gap.” For example, its CEO is “on the board of the Waukesha County Business Alliance, which runs a Schools2Skills program that has been bringing groups of high school students to tour Sentry’s Wisconsin facility for a dozen years, while also cultivating additional partnerships with high schools and colleges.”
When asked how he’s able to recruit and retain skilled workers, Sentry Equipment’s CEO gives examples of their targeted efforts to establish a talent pipeline. For example, the company “work[s] with GPS Partners, a nonprofit that was started by several Milwaukee manufacturers to build a high school pipeline. It targets students that are, say, juniors in high school, who might do better in a technical path than an academic path…We’ve been part of that for more than a dozen years. At any given time, we have three or four GPS students that are working in our plant.”
For more high-level positions, such as engineers, the company has “an engineering co-op program with Marquette University in Milwaukee. We always have about three or four co-op engineers working in our business.”
Together, these industry-education partnerships continue to help Sentry Equipment fill positions with skilled workers. They may also be helping to improve the overall view of manufacturing held by students and parents. As Sentry Equipment’s CEO notes, “[s]tudents, parents, educators, all can see the great benefit of having some sort of technical trade.”
What can also help bridge the skills gap—both on the industry side and the education side—is partnering with a proven expert to train current and prospective workers with the hands-on skills necessary to succeed on the job.
Fortunately, manufacturers don’t have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to effective training. Partnering with a training solutions provider with a proven track record can help any manufacturer or educational institution train workers with the hands-on skills they’ll need to hit the ground running in the workplace. For example, DAC Worldwide offers a wide variety of training systems that teach basic to advanced skills in a wide variety of areas relevant to manufacturing. From basic electrical and mechanical to advanced process control and instrumentation, DAC Worldwide offers training solutions that work. Visit DAC Worldwide online to learn more about its many training systems!
