WALL STREET JOURNAL: …Gary Miller has observed manufacturing’s evolution firsthand. When he started at Ohio-based Kyocera SGS Precision Tools Inc. in 1989, it employed 550 production workers. Despite shedding half its workers, it now produces twice as much, thanks to higher-skilled employees and equipment such as computer-controlled machine tools, which cost up to $500,000 each.
Mr. Miller, KSPT’s director of training, struggles to find technicians with the electrical and mechanical skills needed to maintain the complex machines. One electrical maintenance role went unfilled for over a year as he searched for someone with an associate’s or bachelor’s diploma, ideally in manufacturing engineering.
“Back 15 years or so, the machines weren’t as sophisticated as they are now,” he said. Having that job unfilled put “a very big impact on our bottom line.” … (more)
