Attracting and retaining qualified employees is a huge concern to Georgia’s manufacturers. According to the Manufacturing Institute, the U.S. is in the early stages of a period of dramatic population aging, and the manufacturing sector appears to be disproportionately experiencing the ramifications. In 2012, the median age in manufacturing was 44.7 years versus 42.3 years for the total workforce.

The U.S. factory sector clearly needs an influx of young talent. In addition to focusing on educational needs, the nation must convince its university graduates and younger workers that there are rewards in a manufacturing career. Tim McDonald, Lanier Tech’s Executive VP of Economic Development, shared this piece of advice to parents. “You can send your child to a technical college,” McDonald said. “With financial aid, it is potentially free. They’ll graduate with little or no debt in two years and a near 100 percent job placement rate in a career that will pay them enough to move out of your basement.”

The Georgia Manufacturing Alliance (GMA) addressed these concerns at a Workforce Development Showcase Panel Discussion and tour at Lanier Technical College on February 20th. With a filled to capacity crowd of over 60 manufacturing professionals, the Panel shared what is working in the Hall County area for apprenticeships, workforce-based learning programs, and the resources that are available. Each speaker shared a different perspective regarding workforce challenges and the specific programs that have been developed with the manufacturers’ concerns in mind.

Panel participates included: Shelly Davis, VP of Existing Industry for the Hall County Chamber; Mike McGraw, Managing Member of Ranger Manufacturing; Tim McDonald, EVP of Economic Development for Lanier Tech; Sherree Moss, Human Resource Manager of ZF Industries; and Greg Vitek, Workforce Development at Lanier Tech.

The moderator of the event, Mike McGraw, shared his views as a Strategic Partner of PrideStaff, Managing Member of Ranger Manufacturing, and as the NE Chapter Director for the Georgia Manufacturing Alliance. “With the pulse on a variety of industries, we realize that we cannot sit back and think that we are going to find the people,” said McGraw. “We must take an active role to recruit, groom, and build the market of qualified employees. We look forward to collaborating on a future event with GMA to further highlight Lanier Tech and Northeast Georgia as leading the way for workforce needs in our community.”

The panel discussion was followed by a tour of Lanier Tech’s Kubota Advanced Manufacturing Building. Lanier Tech’s 335,000-square-foot campus is the first newly constructed technical college campus in the history of technical education in Georgia. Attendees toured the Kubota Advanced Manufacturing Campus which features 8 labs where students can study a variety of fields including: Air Conditioning (HVAC), Automotive Collision Repair, CNC Machine Tooling, Diesel Technology, Industrial Systems, Marine Technology, Motor Sports Vehicle Technology, and Welding and Joining.

During the tour, attendees also met Chase Sweda, a welding and joining student at Lanier Technical College from Hall County. He was named as the college’s winner of the Georgia Occupational Award of Leadership (GOAL). GOAL is a statewide program of the Technical College System of Georgia and honors excellence in academics and leadership among the state’s technical college students.

The next Workforce Development Showcase for GMA will be a tour of GA QuickStart on April 25th in Atlanta. Georgia Quick Start is the nation's #1-ranked training program available at no cost to qualified companies. GA Quick Start has been in existence since 1967 and has trained over 1,200,000 employees.

Attendees will gain an understanding on how Quick Start can assist new, expanding, and existing industries to train their employees. This overview will be followed by a behind the scenes tour of their on-site labs which showcase the methodologies used in training such as Advanced Manufacturing, E-Learning, Media Production, and Animation. Click here to learn more.