What Makes Your Company Great? KCMN June Meeting Summary

June 18, 2013 by

KCMN’s June meeting focused on how to build a competitive advantage for your business,
by considering your company’s best aRick Tirrellreas of focus.  Speaker and author Rick Tirrell challenged the audience to be able to answer the question, “What makes your company great?”  Rick used numerous examples, both from his book, The Wisdom of Resilience Builders and from his work with a variety of companies in many industries, to discuss four competitive platforms:

Relationship platform – These companies are fanatical about customer service – Mckinsey & Company, USAA, and Brooks Brothers all spend tremendous resources to know, understand and serve their customers.

Efficient Platform – The bottom line for these companies is to wring every dime from every expense and to pursue efficiency in everything they do.  Walmart, Amazon.com, and Dell in their early days, all make their mark by seeking better, faster, cheaper ways to deliver.

Creative Platform – For these companies, the development of continual innovation and new ideas is paramount.  Pixar, Apple and Cisco all focus on this platform.

Marketing Platform – Branding and image are what drives these companies. While their products may have some differentiation from the competition, trust in the company and a positive image for the brand are key drivers.  Examples include Pepsi, BMW and Proctor and Gamble.

While large companies may have the budget and resources to be single platform companies, Rick in his research has found that smaller companies are more successful in seeking two platforms as differentiators.  Manufacturers often seek to be efficient in all of their processes and procedures, but efficiency alone is not going to give them a lead over global competitors with much greater scale. 

Robbie Fantastic Flexibles   Pepper Stokes, COO of Robbie Flexibles, explained how Robbie has been successful by focusing on all of the competitive platforms, but placing special emphasis on the Relationship platform and the Creative Platform.  The   platform approach has helped guide the company to place focus on the areas where they feel they can make the most   difference.

   First and foremost, the company makes sure that their mission and customer service values are known and can be   communicated by every single employee.  The company has a set of core values: passion, idealism, commitment,   optimism and achievement; and even names conference rooms and offices after some of these values, such as the passion room.

In the relationship platform, Robbie provides a wide variety of services to their customers, sometimes even at no charge, in order to better understand their customer’s needs.  They send out roll out teams to make sure all team members understand the value of their products, and report problems and issues as an extra set of eyes to their customers. 

The relationship platform is a perfect complement to the creative platform.  In knowing their customer well, the team can then seek creative solutions to their customer’s problems.  The commitment to the creative platform drives decisions to innovate, and to invest in new processes and equipment that gives them additional opportunities to come up with new and better solutions for their customers.

While the efficient platform is not a key driver to the decision process, it is a key driver to remaining competitive in the global marketplace. Robbie excels in their pre-production process, and considered marketing the process to others, but decided against it as it was not part of their overall mission and focus.  The need for short runs means continuous improvement in their changeover times, with much success, and more work to do.

The marketing platform is not ignored, but is a key supporter to the relationship and creative platforms. Robbie outspends many of their competitors on marketing, and attends tradeshows and events to build relationships, not just sell solutions.

Overall, Pepper told the audience, that the secret to success was to “Figure out what you do great and do it on purpose.”   Rick challenged everyone to make sure that regardless of the platform or platforms, that having everyone singing from the same sheet music is a key driver to making your platforms successful. 

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Workforce in 2013: Finding the Right Fit

January 15, 2013 by

Finding the right person for the Job – KCMN January Meeting Recap

KCMN’s January meeting featured a panel discussion led by John Emmett of Manpower. The featured panelists were Lisa Kist of Robbie Flexibles, Julie Yang-Brethauer of Torotel Products, and Clint Lancaster of the National Association of Trailer Manufacturers.   John provided the attendees with Manpower’s Employment Outlook for the first quarter of 2013.  The employment outlook survey indicated that the vast majority of US employers, 72%, intend to hold steady, and 17% plan an increase, and 8% forecasting declines, which is mostly unchaged from the 4th Quarter 2012 outlook, and a slight increase over the first quarter of 2012.  Midwest manufacturers forecast closely mirrors the national outlook, with 17% forecasting gains, which is more positive than the national manufacturing average of 14% forecasting gains.

Training Resources
David Grady from Metropolitan Community College’s Business and Technology program discussed the launch of their Precision Machining Consortium Program that will launch in March 2013.  Their 16 week program concludes with the students being placed in internship opportunities.  Additional participating companies are needed, see the link here  for more information.   Rich Piper from Kansas City Kansas Community College announced plans for utilizing a $2.9 million grant for  KCKCC’s Training for Employment (T4E) program that will focus in part on advanced manufacturing skills and welding certification for the students. Rich said the new Technical Education Center (TEC) is under construction in the former Wal-Mart shopping complex at 65th and State, and hopes to be operational by the end of the year.

Discussion
All of the panelists emphasized the value of promotional activity not only for the specific position needs, but also for overall positive branding for the company and manufacturing industry overall.   Julie Yang-Brethauer noted that HR professionals should have a broad based budget allocation to promote the company and the opportunities.  She travels to universities with power source engineering grads and always has a full supply of sticky notes, highlighters and other freebies to brand the company and get their name out to the student population.   Lisa Kist noted that about 30% of their recruiting budget is focused on company promotion vs individual position reporting.  While Clint Lancaster noted that the vast majority of the trailer manufacturers are small operations, they partner with the SME, who is launching a series of videos to promote careers in manufacturing. The SME’s educational outreach site Manufacturing is Cool  has some great videos promoting manufacturing. SME also has a YouTube channel.

Some non-traditional recruiting avenues were mentioned by Lisa and Clint.  One strategy is to utilize internal office staff and train them for production positions, since their work habits and reliability are already known.  All speakers stated that retention of people within the company is also a critical part of minimizing the recruiting effort for new employees.  Lisa noted that especially with entry level workers, that having a clear path to advancement is critical in helping workers understand their options and keep them committed to enhancing their skills.  Julie stated that even when workers leave Torotel for a new opportunity, they are not ostracized for that decision, and it is important that they have a positive regard for Torotel for friends or others who may be considering a position with the company.  Torotel also utilizes ‘stay’ interviews instead of exit interviews, as it provides them with valuable feedback on how they can be more responsive to employee issues.   Training new and existing people is a must, even if there is concern that training dollars may be spent on workers who may then leave for other opportunities.  Clint noted, “People may ask what if I pay to train them and they leave? My response is what if you don’t train them and they stay?”

Utilization of interns was discussed, and was  noted that interns provide not only some new ideas and perspectives, but can also be a positive promotional focus for the company, even if they don’t become permanent employees.  However, an intern program where students were not always available for follow up on project work was less successful.

Lisa and Julie both advocated utilization of programs for transitioning active duty military to the civilian workforce as a great source of potential employees. Lisa has worked with James Madril- Johnson County Veterans Employment Representative & Disabled Veterans Outreach Program Specialist for the Kansas Dept. of Commerce – specifically for Machine Operators and Maintenance Techs.   In some cases, tax credits and training dollars are also available to help provide skills enhancement for those who may not fit the full qualification needed.

Best Practices and Takeaways from the Presenters

  • Promote opportunities through a variety of methods, vs. just running ads in the typical career outlets.
  • Make sure your internal HR person, or your recruiter if you are using them, has an accurate assessment of what skills and traits are needed in a successful candidate.
  • Know where your target employees are – and get in front of them. Utilize social media – LinkedIN, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to reach a broad audience and make your company more visible to prospective employees.
  • Community service and involvement is a great way to raise visibility and retain employees, who appreciate the opportunity to be part of something bigger than just their department.
  • Make sure your company website is up to date and provides prospective employees with information about the company and the culture.
  • Work with associations in your industry to promote opportunities both in your company and in the wider industry.
  • Get involved with area schools, both high school and higher education, including the counselors, to make them aware of potential career paths.

Bottom line, recruiting employees is not just about finding the right candidate; it’s also about positioning your company to have an inflow of the right people and skills both internally and in the wider marketplace.

Post-Script: Industry Week Magazine just published an article, Solving US Manufacturing’s New Talent Challenge, with more suggestions for the next skills gap in manufacturing: supervisory positions. Read the article here.

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KCKCC awarded $2.9 million career training grant

October 2, 2012 by

Kansas City Kansas Community College has been awarded a $2.9 million grant through the Trade Adjustment Assistant Community College and Career Training Program.  The awarding of the $2,966,045 grant was announced Wednesday by the Department of Labor.

The grant will enable KCKCC’s Training for Employment (T4E) program to transition participants to high-wage, high-skill employment while meeting employer needs by expanding and improving KCKCC’s ability to deliver education and career training programs in two years or less for eligible workers.

“This grant will enable KCKCC to create career pathways in construction and advanced manufacturing; develop articulation agreements with four-year institutions; utilize multimedia instructional techniques; and offer innovative training in financial literacy, employability and entrepreneurship training,” said Dr. Marvin Hunt, Dean of Business and Continuing Education.”

“We are thrilled to receive the grant which will enable us to strength existing programs and expand our services to the community,” said Dr. Tamara Agha-Jaffar, Vice-President for Academic Affairs. “Training will focus on many certificate programs related to construction in areas such as electrical, heating and refrigeration and building and property maintenance. We will also strengthen our advanced manufacturing training in machine technology and welding areas and add value through green-technology training.”

In addition, Dr. Agha-Jaffar said T4E will create a Transition to Employment Center to support employment services in conjunction with area employment agencies.

“T4E will expand infrastructure, offer intensive advising, add instructional talent, implement alternative instructional methods and improve learning through technology,” said Dr. Agha-Jaffar.  KCKCC was one of just two colleges in Kansas receiving the Department of Labor grants which focus on Trade Adjustment Assistance-eligible workers, veterans and other unemployed adults.  The other was award Wichita Area Technical College, which will create a consortium with training institutions in four other states.

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Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers

September 24, 2012 by

KCMN September meeting recap 

KCMN’s September meeting featured Steve M. Cohen  Ed.D.,  principle with the Labor Management Advisory Group and Marty Sawyer, CEO and co-owner of Trimac Industrial Systems LLC, who shared their best practices for planning management succession at KCMN’s September meeting.

Steve’s discussion focused on the two ways that organizations can develop. All companies are made up of individuals, and the personal dynamics between those individuals can get in the way of profitability.  Company managers can choose to create an organization, which is focused on process and hierarchy, or a community, which is more inclusive and makes room for new ideas and people.  Building a community is harder than creating an organization, but ultimately results in a stronger company overall.   Steve cited a recent Gallagher organization report that stated:

  • 25% of workers are engaged and have the company’s best interests at heart
  • 15% of workers are disengaged and may be working against the best interests of the company
  • 60% of workers are apathetic, and more likely to be influenced by the disengaged.

Many of those who are disengaged or apathetic may be technologically or technically proficient and may be very good at what they do, but lack the motivation or skills to be leaders.   Steve cautioned that creating engagement and looking at interpersonal skills of those promoted into leadership positions were much better predictors of successful leadership than technical competence.

Marty Sawyer discussed the value of having a 5 year plan in place for management transition at all times.  Business owners or managers need to be objective and realistic about creating an image of where the business needs to be in 5 years, and what kind of job description should be written to fill those leadership roles.   Too often, companies reference the people in place and figure out how to fit the job to the person, rather than deciding what the job needs to be first, then matching the skills to the position needs.
For family or privately held businesses, there are really 3 options on a long term plan:

Sell it (get your house in order/maximize sales and profitability)
Milk it (maximize cash flow/personal ROI)
Give it away (family members)

Running the business as if it were to be sold in 5 years generally produces the best results, as operations and decisions are more likely to be focused on maximizing activities that will improve the overall health of the business and reducing unnecessary costs and inefficiencies.

Common mistakes result in decisions being based on:

Obligation:  Just because someone is a 20 year veteran does not mean they have what it takes to lead the company or a team

Ego:  Some leaders do not want their successors to be more successful than they were, or may discourage excellence for fear they will be shown up by an employee

Peter Principle: Promoting someone who is technically successful, or good at managing small groups; does not guarantee they will be successful in a leadership or strategic role in the company.

Ultimately, successful transition comes from being realistic about the gaps in knowledge and leadership skill within your organization.   In some cases, bringing in a ‘hit man/woman’ to come in for 2-3 years to make organizational changes can help bring new perspective into the business and root out behaviors that are ingrained and counter-productive.  Steve noted that “Sacred Cows make the best burgers” and “Culture eats strategy for lunch every day”.

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KCMN Quality Panel – Making Quality Programs Work for You

June 15, 2012 by

KCMN’s June meeting featured 3 manufacturing company leaders who shared the results of their quality program implementation. Curtis Lopez, of Missouri Enterprise, who has more than 20 years’ experience in quality management and systems led the discussion. Steve Shockey, President/Owner, Evans/EVCO is certified with the ISO 9001:2008/AS9100 quality management system requirements. Mike Miller, Certified Manufacturing Engineer (CMfgE), Plant Manager, said that Webco Manufacturing, Inc. had held the ISO 9001:2000 registration since 2005. Dave Thornsberry , Quality Manager/QMS-ISO 9001, led Computech Manufacturing’s successful registration for ISO 9001:2008 without exclusions including several successful follow-up surveillance audits.  While all 3 company representatives spoke of the value of their quality registrations, they also noted that a specific return on investment calculation was nearly impossible to make.

The value of implementing a QMS system is that it does provide a framework from which to address quality issues, or non-conformance within the plant. The system also provides management with more information when internal audits bring non-conformance to light.  In addition, some companies can see boosts in sales, as some customers and potential customers see QMS certification as an indication that companies have high quality standards and so have systems in place to assure those standards are met. However, certification is not a guarantee of new business, and some companies may initially lean towards a particular standard for suppliers, and then back away from it.

Some best practices shared by the panelists:

  1. Quality systems must be internalized by all employees, from top management to floor personnel.  No system works unless top management is committed to making changes and sustaining the system.  All 3 companies noted that this did have to involve making some personnel changes due to some employees being unwilling to change the way they do things or by not following the processes.  Computech noted that trying to conform without taking the next step to registration would not work, the organization must be all in for an effort to be successful.
  2. Don’t wait until the last minute.  Webco does internal audits monthly, and recommends that internal audits be performed no less than quarterly.  Steve noted that if you wait until right before an annual audit to review your processes, it will be too late to correct issues.  Internal nonconformance can be a good thing – it gives you the opportunity to understand where the problems are and work towards a solution.
  3. Look at your internal processes first, rather than try to re-write all of your processes around the standard.  Evans/Evco’s first attempt at a QMS certification was hamstrung due to too much reliance on trying to interpret the standard rather than trying to fit existing processes to the standard.
  4. Utilize your QMS system in employee development.  Utilizing information from internal audits can reveal opportunities to provide additional training and development for employees. In doing a root cause analysis, you can bring in employees to help develop solutions.

Finally, the cost of implementing and maintaining a quality system is not just a dollars and cents calculation.  There is an opportunity cost to tying up employee’s time with issues that are caused by a lack of good quality system.  There is a cost to business that is not awarded or lost due to the lack of a quality system.  Just as not all of the benefits can be qualified to the penny, the costs are not always easily measured, but the speakers agreed that the long term benefits are a more efficiently and effectively run operation.

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A & E Custom Manufacturing Featured in the Christian Science Monitor

May 14, 2012 by

The article focuses on the trend towards re-shoring of some production runs back to the United States, especially in sectors where automation can reduce labor costs, and quality is critical.  The article is online at http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/new-economy

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Product Development: Finding the Right Path

March 7, 2012 by

KCMN’s March meeting featured three speakers who shared their company’s path from innovation to revenue for new product development.  The consensus shared by all three speakers is that there is no ‘one path’ to success.  However, there were some key themes that emerged during the discussion:

Get the whole company involved.  Drew Lericos from Robbie Manufacturing follows a stage gate process that includes a development team from diverse areas of the company, from sales, marketing, production, procurement and human resources where all have input throughout the process.  Jason Grove from Dimensional Innovations discussed their internal process innovation team who works in parallel with the manufacturing team to develop new products as well as custom projects.  While Steve Hall from Boelte-Hall noted that they are less formal in their process, all functional areas are responsible for continual innovation, as they operate in a rapidly changing market, where their top customers are buying products and services that were not even offered by the company 3 years ago.

Make your message consistent. A real challenge to the process of product development is finding the balance between encouraging enthusiasm from all areas of the company and making sure that customers aren’t getting confusing messages, and competitors aren’t getting a front row seat to your new strategy.  Boelte-Hall uses a color coding system to note confidential projects to all employees.  All three companies noted it’s important to make sure that the sales force is educated/trained on the new products, and can learn to approach different buyers within the same company.  The key to getting sales staff on board is for one or two sales people attaining success with a new product or market, which then helps the rest of the team realize that they too need to get on board or miss the boat.  Overall, internal marketing is just as important as external marketing.

Expect flexibility in the budgeting process.  Regardless of the process used, knowing the true cost for a product development process can be a challenge.  There are specific costs, such as equipment purchases, education and training, product development personnel time and raw materials.  It is more difficult to measure the opportunity cost, of time spent on one product when there are competing priorities for everyone’s attention.  Something that is projected to have 3 trials may end up needing 8.  However, there are federal R & D tax credits available, so documenting and tracking costs is an important part of the process.

Listen to your customers – sometimes.  While getting customer input throughout the process is important, it is also important to think about unmet needs that customers may not be telling you about.   Robbie has found success by taking a product that solves a problem in one area, that can also be used to solve a different customer problem with minor changes.  Steve Hall from Boelte-Hall noted that conversations with customers indicated they had no interest in a new process Boelte was considering. Boelte-Hall invested anyway and now those same customers buy products using that process on a daily basis.  While all 3 companies vary in their depth of research, they all agree that some level of customer and market research are important to guiding the both the decision to move forward, and the changes that need to be made along the way.  The key is to focus on solutions, vs. preferences.

Failure is an option.  Some product introductions may not meet expectations.  Drew Lericos from Robbie noted, “if your culture does not permit failure, you will not succeed at innovation”.  Jason Grove from Dimensional Innovations said they try to use the “fail fast, fail cheap” mantra to guide their process in order to try new developments with a smaller scale vs going company wide all at once. Steve Hall noted “Every one of our successful innovations had an element of failure somewhere in its development.” When things do not work out, it’s important to look at what areas can be improved the next time around so mistakes are not repeated.

Don’t give up too early. Lastly, Steve Hall reminded the audience not to give up too early.  In some cases minor changes can make a doomed project viable.  In other cases, it makes sense to consider timing in the marketplace.  An innovation that was not successful one year may be resurrected as market conditions shift in the future.

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Marketing: It’s not just about the ads

February 20, 2012 by

KCMN’s  February meeting featured two speakers who discussed the role of marketing in a successful manufacturing company.  Speaker Rich Delaney, of 20/20 Marketing made the point: marketing is not just about running an ad somewhere, it’s about having a plan to respond to your customers, and to spread the word about what makes your company valuable.  Rich noted that too many times marketing is ‘what those people in the marketing department do’.  He believes that in order to successfully grow your top line, that all aspects of the company need to be involved in promoting the company and responding to customers.   He gave the example of a company who wanted to spend $100,000 on a new customer service tool, but had never asked their customers whether this tool would benefit them, or result in their spending more money with the company.
Steve Hasty, with A & E Custom Manufacturing talked about the factors which have led to their growth over the past five years:

  • Have a plan.  Don’t be piecemeal in your efforts and understand how all of the things you do tie together around your brand or message.
  • Have a website.  Make sure the site reflects the image you want to convey, make it easy to reach a real person, and make sure you are able to measure your site metrics.  (Can’t manage what you don’t measure)
  • Ask your customers where they want to go, and then help them get there.  Rather than focus on what you can sell them, make sure your solution is the best solution for them.  This may mean re-training or rethinking your sales team.
  • Use current technology.  A & E has all but eliminated the use of brochures for video and live demonstrations and utilizes ipads for communication across all levels of the company.
  • Network, network, network.  Being involved in organizations both in and out of your industry gives you many more opportunities for collaboration.   No one can do everything, so knowing how to work with other firms to offer your customers a complete solution is a win for both companies.
  • Use the media.  Public relations is more critical today when reporting and research budgets are being slashed, and reporters are increasingly looking for content to help them tell the story.  A & E’s exposure in industry publications has brought them new opportunities, as well as re-enforced a positive image they have with current customers.
  • Go to your customers.   Steve stressed the importance of looking to current business for growth, not just trying to find new customers.   Make sure you have regular and open communication, and serve as a resource.   One example is A & E has started looking at trade shows  not only in their industry, but at shows that their customers are attending.

Of course many of the headlines revolve around social media.  Social media can be a great vehicle for staying in touch with customers, but is not a panacea, it is just another channel.  Ad Words campaigns typically have little value, unless they can be focused around a particular competency, skill or product that is unique or in high demand.     Bottom line, the value of a particular marketing tactic is only as good as the overall plan that is developed with all functional areas of the company’s input.

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A & E Custom Manufacturing Technologies Featured on NBC Action News

February 13, 2012 by

KCMN members A & E Custom Manufacturing Technologies was featured in a story highlighting some of the many themes we have discussed in recent meetings:

- the opportunity to grow your business with shorter lead times

- the need for skilled workers

- the trend towards work returning from overseas

You can view the video by clicking here!

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Education and Training for Manufacturing Success

January 16, 2012 by

KCMN’s January 2012 Education Forum featured four higher education institutions, and for manufacturing companies, who discussed their approach on building a 21st century manufacturing team.

The four presenting schools Johnson County Community College, Kansas City Kansas Community College, Metropolitan Community College – Business & Technology, and Pittsburg State University, all emphasized their desire to be responsive to the needs of the region’s manufacturers.  For example, Pittsburg State utilizes an industry review board to look at ways to improve the curriculum and respond to changes in the marketplace.  KCK Community College, JCCC and MCC can tailor customized training programs for even small employee groups.  The community colleges emphasized that a program of study could be developed outside of a traditional degree program, which traditionally has more appeal to a working adult with additional responsibilities.   For employees looking to take their careers to the next level, Pittsburg State has developed a program to work with students who have earned a technical associates degree to earn a Bachelor’s degree that includes both technical and managerial coursework.

One area of discussion was improving front line supervisory skills.  Torotel was very pleased that their partnership with JCCC greatly improved all measures of behavior and leadership skills of their supervisory people, as measured by a pre and post training employee survey.  As a result of better supervisory behavioral and leadership skills – communication, problem solving, delegate, interpersonal skills, feedback, change, authority, and accountability the percentage also improved in 25% and better in five months.  This was accomplished despite a limited budget for training.

Cost of training programs is always a concern in an era of tight budgets. JCCC works with KS Workforce Partnership and can help you determine if training funds from the state are available.  The school also can serve in partnership with MCC when there is a cross state need identified, and they are working towards more cooperation.  KCK Community College’s Rich Piper will identify the right institution for your needs, and will recommend another institution if the in-state tuition makes the program too expensive.  Pittsburg State offers in-state tuition to MO residents in counties in the Metro KC area.

An extended discussion focused on the needs to increase the worker pipeline.  Ben Boone of ATK Small Caliber Systems says that going through the process of Lean increases stress on the labor force, and increased skills attainment by the workforce is critical to making the effort successful.  Forty percent or more of skilled workers are eligible or approaching eligibility for retirement.  Rich Piper noted the declining state of shop classes and other hands on programs at the high school level.  In schools without these kinds of outlets, there is a much higher rate of drop-outs, especially among boys. Tom Goodpasture of Pride Manufacturing stated that getting involved in education and the development of the next generation of workers is critical as well.  He noted that ‘If you are not at the table, you are likely to end up on the menu”

All of the manufacturing company panelists agreed that having a plan for both current and future workers was important.  As Dr. John Iley of Pittsburg State noted, classroom work can only cover so much.  Students also need co-op and internship opportunities to apply what they are learning.

Jason Grove with Dimensional Innovations has hired and continues to hire Pittsburg State interns and grads, and has been very happy with the results.  Developing and running an intern program is challenging, but it also carries many rewards, including new perspectives on the business and new enthusiasm from the younger workers. He stressed the importance of forming a two-way relationship with your educational partner. When both sides benefit, the outcomes are greatly improved.

Tom Goodpasture with Pride Manufacturing has had an active training program in his facility in order to respond to growing demand for skilled workers.  It is vital to cross train employees, and to utilize training as way to keep workers engaged. Tom also strongly recommended involvement in both the national and local dialog.  Elected leaders need to understand the concerns of industry, and appreciate the feedback.

Ben Boone emphasized that it is critical to capture the knowledge of older workers, and a key way to do this is by training them to capture their processes.  For example, MCC offers a course in digital literacy where older workers can learn to use excel and other technology to help document their work.   The manufacturing panelists strongly emphasized talking up education to your workers, and making sure that the culture values those who continue to improve their skills.

All of the speakers emphasized that the worker shortage is only going to get worse.  It is important to do what you can to encourage both improved skill sets/cross training of current workers, but also finding ways to advocate for earlier involvement, at the high school and even junior high level.  As a nation, we have avoided tracking kids into particular areas, but a range of skill sets is being ignored at the peril of our future competitiveness in manufacturing in the US.   If all of the jobs that went to China returned to the US, we would not have the workforce to fill them.

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