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Skilled workers needed to run high-tech CNC machines
Intructor Steve Henkelman programs a CNC machine at Grand Rapids Community College. Graduates of the 18-week class are quickly hired by manufacturers.
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Kai Ryssdal: For all the talk about the long, slow decline of American manufacturing, the fact of the matter is that lots of stuff is still made in the U.S.A. That includes places like Michigan, where reports of manufacturing's death turn out to have been greatly exaggerated. Because even if you drive a foreign car, there's a decent chance that thousands of parts in it were made right here. And a lot of those parts -- and a lot of parts for everything else in your life -- were made possible by one particular kind of machine.
Dustin Dwyer of Changing Gears explains.
Dustin Dwyer: CNC stands for computer numerically controlled. And what the computerized machine does is it machines things. That sounds ridiculous unless you know that machine is not just a noun. It's also a specific manufacturing process. It's when you cut away -- or sculpt -- a material.
Peter Zelinski: Machining is at, or very close to, the foundation of manufacturing.
This is Peter Zelinski. He's senior editor at a magazine called Modern Machine Shop. And he says, even if you've never heard of it, CNC machining is essential to your life.
Zelinski: Any product you pick up and touch, it's not too many steps away from a machining process.
Most of the parts in your car engine come from a CNC machine. Medical devices, your kitchen cabinets -- CNC machine. Your computer case, your iPhone earbuds -- well, no. But the mold that created them -- CNC machine. Zelinski says the growth of these machines represents the biggest change in manufacturing over the last 20 years. The people who run them are factory workers. But they also have to be computer programmers.
Steve Henkelman: So, that's T1. M6 is a miscellaneous function.
Steve Henkelman is a teacher at Grand Rapids Community College. He's explaining the CNC machine's programming language. The machine itself looks like a big gray box, with a computer hanging off the side.
Trent Ohren is one of the students here. Ohren says he has friends who do other, more traditional, manufacturing work. CNC machining is nothing like it.
Trent Ohren: They're in more of the automotive, so going to the bar right after they get out of work, as opposed to when I do, it's night and day difference. They're covered in oil and I smell like daisies.
And the pay's not too bad either. Trent could come out of this 18-week class and get a job that pays $10-15 an hour. More experienced machinists can make $50,000-60,000 a year. And they don't need a four year degree to get there. Right now, manufacturers are desperate for these workers.
Mike Hellman: These are the CNC machines.
Mike Hellman is one of the people looking for a skilled CNC machinist. He's head of human resources for Display Pack, a company in Grand Rapids. Display Pack makes that impossible-to-open clear plastic packaging. The molds for the packaging are made on CNC machines.
Hellman's been looking for a machinist for three months with no luck. Only a couple years ago, Display Pack had to lay off machinists.
Dwyer: Where did those people go? Did you try calling them?
Hellman: Some, yes. Some were working, had other jobs, or had moved away or just gone.
Last year, the Manufacturing Institute surveyed companies, and found that as many as 600,000 jobs are going unfilled in this country because there aren't enough good workers. And the biggest chunk of that number is for skilled production workers, including CNC machinists.
Peter Zelinski says it's one of the biggest problems U.S. manufacturers face.
Zelinski: It wouldn't be competition from China. The number one concern right now is finding skilled people.
And that's really the future of manufacturing in this country -- smarter workers, smarter machines, with computer numerically controlled machines at the heart of it all.
In Grand Rapids, Mich., I'm Dustin Dwyer for Marketplace.
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Hello,
I have a background in CNC manufacturing and understand both Machine and Computer languages. I recently developed a CNC app for Android devices geared to produce accurate customer specified angles\chamfers, and quality parts. This has been a huge problem in the machining industry due to the complex mathematics involved to produce correct angles.
Over the years of being a CNC supervisor I have noticed that the mathematical skills have become a rare find in machinist today. Unfortunately this is projected to become more scarce as current veteran machinist prepare for retirement. This produces a huge demand for knowledgeable machinist in the industry today! This app takes past proven knowledge and wisdom of the veteran machinist and puts it in the hands of the average unseasoned machinist. The result is a highly accurate production floor that reduces machine scrap and reinforces on time delivery of quality parts. This is the first of many applications I have slated for development geared for manufacturing. You can review the beta version of our newly developed app (FoolBox) on the Google Play app market. Our goal is to bring the U.S. Manufacturing industry back to the top, produce superior quality over our competitors, and empower all machinist with the skillsets necessary to complete projects from conception to shipment.
-Cheers!
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fo0lb0x.techbench&feat...
Hi ,
I came across this web site and this message board while searching the information on CNC operator jobs in US. I don't know if anyone will still read this comment but I thought it's worth a try. Actually I wanted to find out more information on the process of hiring the CNC operators/programmers from European countries ( EU).
A very good friend of mine works at this job for about 8 years , has experience and and associate degree as well as a high school diploma acquired in specialized technical school related to this type of skills. Excellent and experienced at his job he is looking to move to US and has asked me to help him in this matter.
Does anyone here have any advise that I can relate to him?
Thank you in advance.
You can also e-mail me at : anastasia.minova@aol.com
At I.O., Inc., we are proud to use CNC manufacturing and to employ CNC operators to machine the frames and slides of our Hellcat .380 auto pistol. Thanks in part to CNC, we are able to manufacture the entire firearm, including all its parts, here in America. Even the CNC machines themselves are made in America. But it can be difficult to find qualified CNC operators to hire, even here in the Charlotte, North Carolina area. For more on how we use CNC right now, you should click here:
http://ulrichhwiegand.com/cnc-manufacturing-of-the-io-inc-hellcat-380/
Caught this story a bit late (am behind on my podcasts), but very glad to see that people have already brought up the subject of wages.
If there truly is a shortage of skilled machinists, then Economics 101 states that wages for these skilled workers should be going up, since demand is greater than supply. If wages are NOT going up, then there is no true shortage, no matter how much screaming and whining you hear from employers trying to undercut the market.
If you're going to charge what the market will bear for your product, then you will pay what the market demands for its labor.
From a high of $27.00 to a new low of $18.00 I have seen the trade decline and I would ask, When did the the top guys make the 60k-70k? I did back in 2004 but since losing that job with a new owner, I have seen the pay evaporate to where it is now. So much for the education. I'll be driving 50 miles back to work tomorrow paying $4.15/gal in a 22mpg truck, for the amount listed above.
This aired shortly after a story about how a no-longer-hot quarterback would "only" get $10-15 million playing for another team. If we generously allot 2,000 hours of professional quarterback work, a ten million dollar salary would come to $5,000 an hour and a fifteen million dollar salary to half again as much. Pardon me for thinking that this sort of compensation might encourage more CNC operators and programmers to apply for these positions than a burger-flipping $10/hr or a still mediocre $30/hr.
More broadly, we seem to be suffering from economic illiteracy in this country. Homeowners complain that they can't sell their houses but, no, they wouldn't dream of cutting the price to something people in the area can afford in cash or are at all likely to be able to afford for the life of a mortgage loan. Employers are mystified that people aren't flocking to fill their open positions when the people with the skills to fill them are earning more at their current positions and the people who could acquire those skills in short order could earn more as a short-order cook. Then the President proclaims some tripe about how we need to train more people in what are clearly dead-end, low-paying positions so that we can "globally compete". Hello? There is something called an equilibrium price where supply equals demand. There is also something called comparative advantage, where local competition rules the day and there are mutual benefits to trade. Somebody please hand the President a copy of Ricardo.
Again, and again they identify the problem and the answer is there in front of them $10-15$/hour. Tell me about what the $60,000 career involves. Does the $10-15$ have a pathway to the $60,000??
The last tour I attended at the St. Louis Technical College, “Ranken” in the manufacturing area was filled with young students operating the CNC milling machines, lathes etc. Where are these students heading in the workplace? Boeing, Lockheed Martin, these are Careers not jobs. Two year program or the age old Apprenticeship equals a career not a 10-16 week “right in time” training for a $10.00 job with a $4000.00 loan to pay at the end on a $10.00 wage! Look up Blum mfg in NC for a success story in mfg Pay a living wage and you will not have to look for 3 months they will arrive at your doorstep
I simply loved this story about how the worm turns. In 2000, my teeny mfg. co. company closed.
Obviously, the political leadership in Pittsburgh wanted no parts of heavy steel fabrication industries, in western Pa., rather opted for 'high tech'. You know, off snoring to Malaysia.
One of the last projects we did however, was to help a CNC company re-locate to a new, larger facility. They had received a state grant to expand their facilities, along with their circuit board template line (used to make millions of silicon circuit motherboards). The avg. 1999 yr. CNC operator salary then was $70K/yr.. So they, took the grant, moved to the new facility, and expanded their (local) employment; (required by 36 month terms of the grant), and kept on growing their volume.
Directly following their 36th month, 300 container trucks showed up, unbolted the CNC (laser cutting) machines, and loaded them up (along with {5} of the best machinists), and shipped everything to Malaysia. Then put up a for sale sign on the facility.
Ref: NAFTA, Pa. Department of Labor & Industry (Layoff notices), Federal Register, Pa. DEP Water Quality Mgt. Permits.
My question to Marketplace regarding this story (What, in 2012 are we competing for?).
The technology? Or the Labor?
James R. Kester, Pittsburgh Pa.
I simply loved this story about how the worm turns. In 2000, my teeny mfg. co. company closed.
Obviously, the political leadership in Pittsburgh wanted no parts of heavy steel fabrication industries, in western Pa., rather opted for 'high tech'. You know, off snoring to Malaysia.
One of the last projects we did however, was to help a CNC company re-locate to a new, larger facility. They had received a state grant to expand their facilities, along with their circuit board template line (used to make millions of silicon circuit motherboards). The avg. 1999 yr. CNC operator salary then was $70K/yr.. So they, took the grant, moved to the new facility, and expanded their (local) employment; (required by 36 month terms of the grant), and kept on growing their volume.
Directly following their 36th month, 300 container trucks showed up, unbolted the CNC (laser cutting) machines, and loaded them up (along with {5} of the best machinists), and shipped everything to Malaysia. Then put up a for sale sign on the facility.
Ref: NAFTA, Pa. Department of Labor & Industry (Layoff notices), Federal Register, Pa. DEP Water Quality Mgt. Permits.
My question to Marketplace regarding this story (What, in 2012 are we competing for?).
The technology? Or the Labor?
James R. Kester, Pittsburgh Pa.
An interesting follow-up to this story is that a school district in South Carolina that already has CNC equipment is shutting down this program in favor of a culinary arts program.
More information on that story is available at the link below:
http://www.thestate.com/2012/01/24/2125465/woodworkers-to-protest-loss-o...
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