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Posted On: 07/24/2007

Radio programs offers expert's viewpoints on manufacturing skills gap

PlantServices.com

John Ratzenberger, executive producer and host of the Travel Channel’s “John Ratzenberger’s Made in America” and former “Cheers” star, joined Terrence Egan, director of the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association Foundation (FMAF), recently to discuss the manufacturing “skills gap,” the need for qualified workers, and why it’s important to introduce young people to careers in manufacturing. They spoke on “America’s Business,” a syndicated radio program hosted by Mike Hambrick. The full interview is available by visiting www.fma-foundation.org.

During the interview, Ratzenberger, co-founder of the Nuts, Bolts & Thingamajigs Foundation (NBTF), a charitable organization dedicated to introducing young people to the pleasures of tinkering, addressed the importance of introducing young people to manufacturing jobs in order to train tomorrow’s workforce.

“We must encourage kids when they graduate from high school to look at manufacturing as a career,” he said. “Part of the problem is the media and Hollywood often portray manufacturing in a poor light, denigrating anyone who works with their hands. I also think the industry goes about it the wrong way. I’ve seen pamphlets, printed books and handouts and they are all rather dull.”

According to Ratzenberger, the NBTF’s approach is to start with the media and talk about programming that honors people who work with their hands. “We need to do a better job of informing children that it’s not a bad thing to work in a factory,” he said.

Egan noted how the FMA Foundation, an educational and charitable organization that provides scholarship and grants to high school and college age students preparing for careers in metal forming and fabricating technology in manufacturing, has joined forces with the NBTF to promote manufacturing to youth by sponsoring 20 camps nationwide that introduce young people ages 12 to 16 to careers in the industry.

“The FMA Foundation is dedicated to reaching younger people through camps and extending that pipeline to an age where kids are finding out who they are,” Egan said on the program. “By teaming up with local trade or technical schools, children who attend typical summer camps also can learn about designing three-dimensional parts or building something. The camps give the kids a tangible experience to make something that they can be proud of and take home with them at the end of the week.”

Egan believes one key to attracting kids to manufacturing is through technology, stressing that the FMA consists of many technology companies. He cited members that cut steel with laser lights, specialize in plasma cutting, do laser welding or operate robotics.

“Let’s get kids off the gaming consoles and show them they can use technologies even more advanced than those little boxes on their TV,” he told listeners.

“Let’s teach them that they can learn how to operate the most advanced technology in the world.”

"America’s Business," sponsored by the National Association of Manufacturing, is a one-hour radio program heard on more than 80 stations that delves deep into the issues that shape manufacturing and business in the United States and abroad.

The mission of the Nuts, Bolts & Thingamajigs Foundation is to avert a growing crisis in America, one that is occurring because too few young people now develop the kind of manual skills required by industries, workshops and engineering practices. More information is available at www.nutsandboltsfoundation.org.