Former lab technician Annette Helmich is thrilled to have a new, indemand skill and a full-time job to go with it – welding machinery.
While Ms. Helmich started learning her new craft by spending four weeks
at a local community college, she says she polished her welding skills on the factory floor of her new employer, AGCO Corp. The Jackson, Minn., global manufacturer of agricultural machinery which took over iconic names such as Massey Ferguson and Allis-Chalmers, is one of a number of manufacturers revisiting an old idea. Instead of relying on
community colleges or private schools to get skilled workers, companies are again running their own training programs.
Two factors lie behind this return to in-house training: a quiet renaissance in some niches of America’s Rust Belt and a shortage of highly skilled blue-collar workers. For some US manufacturers, business is booming and
schools can’t provide enough skilled workers. The shortfall provides a rare opportunity in this economy for good-paying jobs and the potential for secure
employment.
“We tried that route” of recruiting at schools, says Dave Dehrkoop, AGCO’s chief technical engineer for welding. Now, AGCO is developing factory-floor training programs at its facilities worldwide.