Tooling U-SME Workforce Report Shows Manufacturers Still Not Addressing Training Challenges

In 2011, Tooling U-SME created an online workforce assessment tool to find out if manufacturers were ready to meet the challenges of today's workforce and to track their advancement over the next decade. The first five-year iteration shows little improvement in this area.

Now halfway through the project – Mission Critical: Workforce 2021 – results show far too many manufacturers are risking the success of their companies – and the industry – by not taking the necessary steps to identify the skills their workers need.

Some alarming survey results:

• 49 percent of respondents who completed the online assessment say their company has not begun measuring their manufacturing employees' current skills against the skills they will require in the future.
• 76 percent say the training their company provides its manufacturing employees is not adequate to meet the needs of the organization going forward.

"Manufacturing companies don't have the luxury of delaying employee learning and development because there is too much at stake," says Jeannine Kunz, vice president of Tooling U-SME. "We see companies investing in new equipment and technologies all the time, but they tend to forget about training their workforce. If this trend continues, manufacturers will continue to experience issues with quality and decreased productivity, and we'll keep seeing the skills gap numbers increase."

"Although there is some debate about the skills gap and whether the projected workforce shortage numbers are inflated, one thing is true: manufacturers need to place more emphasis on training their people, and they need to take action now," adds Kunz.

For additional insights from the Tooling U-SME Mission Critical: Workforce 2021 report, click here.

About Tooling U-SME

Tooling U-SME delivers versatile, competency-based learning and development solutions to the manufacturing community, working with more than half of all Fortune 500® manufacturing companies, as well as 600 educational institutions across the country. Tooling U-SME partners with customers to build high performers who help their companies drive quality, productivity, innovation and employee satisfaction. Working directly with hundreds of high schools, community colleges, and universities, Tooling U-SME is also able to help prepare the next generation workforce by providing industry-driven curriculum. A division of SME, an organization that connects people to manufacturing solutions, Tooling U-SME can be found at toolingu.com, facebook.com/toolingu or follow @ToolingU on Twitter.

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SOURCE Tooling U-SME