Equipment Upgrades Equal Workforce Upgrades

Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry Secretary Julia K Hathaway announced the award.

Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was recently awarded a JOBS1st PA Tech Grant of $148,970 to upgrade equipment in the Machine Tool and CAM Technology and Automotive Collision Repair Technology Applied Science degree programs. Funds will be used to purchase a CNC VMC and a CNC turning center for the manufacturing program.

PMPA wrote a letter to support the grant application in June. The letter noted that the grant would “build regional capacity in small and mid-size businesses that do precision machining.”

How important is that? According to PMPA research, “We know of 45 precision machining firms (NAICS 332721) in Pennsylvania with annual sales ranging from $250,000 to $33 million. The average industry shop within PMPA has about $8 million in sales. A recent study shows that 80 percent of manufacturers cannot find skilled talent to fill their production jobs. As a result, there are more than half a million manufacturing jobs open right now. The demand for trained workers continues to grow in Pennsylvania and the pipeline of skilled workers needs to be strengthened and enlarged to address advancing technology and skills in this changing industry.”

The addition of the CNC VMC and CNC turning center does just that. The equipment upgrades at Thaddeus Stevens are the means that Thaddeus Stevens will use to deliver “workforce upgrades” to its local market area in Pennsylvania.

PMPA is proud of our support of the grant request to make this award become a reality. The skilled workforce issue is the top challenge facing our industry. PMPA is working on many fronts to help solve this challenge.

What are you doing to help meet the skilled workforce challenge that your shop faces?

Originally posted on PMPAspeakingofprecision.com blog.