Lack of technical people

[devarajan]

Hi!,
it is indeed sad that more and more youngsters are interested in going for the computer based educational courses for the lucrative package offered for employees in that field.
This is creating a shortage in other fields, specially in the plastic field.
It has become a difficult job to find a good candidate for recruitment.
There are many cases of youngsters doing computer courses and jumping fences.
This is the status in India to-day. How is it at other places?

devarajan.

[Tom]

Who needs technical people? in the USA, especially in manufacturing, they have been all laid off.

[Will Call]

The problem I see in the US is companies are so caught up on requiring a BS degree that they hire someone with little to no experience over someone with a lesser degree accompanied with 4 year certification, hundreds of hours of specialized training and 35+ years experience. It makes absolutely no sense.

[Made_In_Ohio]

I am a younger fellow who is purposely not taking online classes because I feel that this takes away from my learning experience. I am a very hands on person. I attended Terra Community College's Plastic Technolgy / Color Matching of Plastics program and I learned so much in my labs and having hand on experience with the machines. I could not imagine going to work without this experience. I am now working towards a Engineering degree and I will not be taking any online courses and will be enrolled in a co-op program to get more field experience.

Just wanted to let you know that there are a few of us in my generation that are working hard to become good technical people.

The problem I see in the US is companies are so caught up on requiring a BS degree that they hire someone with little to no experience over someone with a lesser degree accompanied with 4 year certification, hundreds of hours of specialized training and 35+ years experience. It makes absolutely no sense.

I agree with you that this is wrong but I guess it will be good for me after I graduate.....

[nickcuk]

Over 25 years, I have always recruited technical people at A-level standard (below university), and trained them up as colourists, formulators, technicians, etc. I have never seen a taught course that is worth the time / money for the majority of the plastic and rubber industry.

[Tom]

Nichuk,

I think many of the courses available in plastics are very worthwhile. They transfer a lot of knowledge in just a few hours. In those few hours it is impossible to train someone up to a useful technician level, but the courses are great starting points.

As to whether someone should think about a career in plastics; it is not an opportune time in the US right now.

[110Ton]

As to whether someone should think about a career in plastics; it is not an opportune time in the US right now.

The days of the huge 100+ press custom molder are over. The future belongs to niche-market and highly technical specialty molders.

All the big-name Custom Molding shops in the region are struggling to keep presses running. Shops like *ordon and *ebster Plastics are revolving doors for temp workers... Even the technical staff are hired on a rotating basis. They don't have enough work to keep everything going so they hire people when an order comes in then they let everyone go.

ON THE OTHER HAND:

We have a shop here in our region that specializes in thermoplastic "inserts" that get fed to their stable of LSI molding machines. They are struggling to find good trainable workers.

Another shop does plastic optical parts. In fact I know TWO plastic-optic companies in the region... both trying to find people who know plastic, and people who know optics.

There is a small company that molds gears up to 5" in diameter and nothing but gears. Again, can't get enough usable people in the door.

I specialize in electrical safety products and insulators for high-voltage applications. I have two captive lines, four specialty lines I manufacture for customers, and a few custom jobs here and there. I also specialize in rebuilding machinery.


Someone will be along to argue the point with me shortly I'm sure... but consider this: It's slow now. NOW is the time to hire someone and begin training them.... while you have time to breath. You don't want to be teaching someone your process while trying to get a double-urgent rush order out the door and have them crash a press on you.

[Louis]

Some random thoughts...

Good technical people will always be needed until automation reaches the point where they are eliminated.

IMHO The days of people making things for people by people are limited, although it is still taking place in low labor markets.

There may always be a need for people to play a hands on role in some manufacturing, especially low volume, or instances where people to elect to continue "making things" where others are doing it with machines, but volume, quality and uniformity dictates automation.

Take a look at the auto industry.

Of course there will still be the need for people to keep those machines running, so employment will move to servicing the machines and servicing the people that service the machines.

[plastoc]

Our shop has lost all of our high volume jobs to China and Mexico. We now do alot of new Tool sampling and specialized short runs, mostly tools from China. This has been a change for about the last 3 years.We must charge outrageous prices- Will we survive ?

[Jim]

The injection molding industry is still doing ok in some regions of the US, but automation and small custom molding seems to be the name of the game. I still prefer to hire someone who has a good mix of schooling and practical molding experience over someone with a B.S. degree who knows nothing except theory. There are some very good schools in my neck of the woods who attempt to mix hands on machine training with theory, but as we all know, real world molding is a completely different animal. I believe that the molding industry in the US will pick up, but it will take some time. A Polymer Science degree, nowadays, does not ensure a good job.