What more does Joel Leonard do?

Again I apologize for having to take blog posts to share what I do, but so many do not understand what I do or why I am fighting the maintenance crisis. Also, as more are seeing the challenges, issues and nuances, more are looking for guidance, information and resources to combat the maintenance and skills crises. So some major organizations are seeking my counsel to develop strategies and approaches to mitigate these crises. For example last week,the NC Department of Public Instruction invited me to join them develop a similar NC Manufacturing Day similar to the October 5 National Manufacturing Day so that parents, students and manufacturers connected and expose students to current and future opportunities. However, I informed them that a one day event is a step in the right direction, but to generate serious results they needed to develop a campaign with a series of events and activities to spur more to develop the skills needed to get and succeed in manufacturing jobs. So then they agreed that i needed to help develop a manufacturing marketing plan for North Carolina. Then this week since I chaired my first National Defense Workforce Advisory committeem, i asked committee members to help me not only develop a NC plan but a template that other states and regions could use as a model for their own future promotional efforts. We will be creating resource kits that will include instructional articles like how to host an open house, plant tour, job fair, videos with industry pros, job profiles, salary information, industry trends and other resources to help change the US cultures to be more tsupportive of manufacturing and skilled trades. We have to begin to show workers more respect and the best way to do that is for more to better understand these functions. So if you have suggestions of potential content or resources for these resource kits, please pass on to [email protected]. Yesterday, i delivered a new conference program called "Zombie-Land in the Maintenance Department?" to rave reviews from Greater Philadelphia Facilties Management Show. Dennis Elmsley, president of MaintenanceShows.com is a major resource at helping the industry advance knowlege and technology to generate higher levels of productivity. I look forward to providing the Zombie-Land session in the future as yesterday's audience got excited to go back and implement some of the suggested strategies to remove Zombies in their operation. In two weeks I will returning back to Kuala Lumpur to teach another CPMM class to Malaysian and SE Asian engineers and more importantly pick up more ideas to advance workforce development here in the United States. Again if you have suggestion on what more I can to fight the maintenance and skills crises, please share.