••• SPONSORED SECTION •••
North Carolina has shifted from a traditional economy based on agriculture, furniture and textiles to a global economy that is driven by knowledge-based enterprises.
But manufacturing remains an essential part of this economic transition.
Key N.C. manufacturing industries include advanced manufacturing, aerospace, automotive, aviation, defense, life sciences, software and information technology. In partnership with the state’s universities, community colleges and training programs, help develop workers equipped with the skills that are in demand across the globe.
Business North Carolina recently gathered manufacturing leaders from around the state to participate in a roundtable discussion about the needs of manufacturing and its future. The conversation was moderated by Executive Editor Chris Roush. This transcript was edited for clarity.
The discussion was sponsored by:
- Mertek Solutions
- The Rise Companies
- Robeson Community College
Executive Editor Chris Roush moderated the roundtable. What follows is an edited transcript
WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE STATE’S BIGGEST MANUFACTURING ISSUE?
CASPAR: The No. 1 challenge that I would say is it’s going to come down to people, but it’s how do we engage those people and how do you have the right levels of employees all the way through your operation. Is that engagement and involvement in how we work through that to the manufacturing process. That’s the biggest challenge that I have, because if you have the right people, everything else will work.
HARRIS: We always hear the workforce is the biggest issue, and I think that is really addressing the tight labor markets and once you find the right people, how do you keep them? How do you engage them and how do you keep them engaged in the work that you’re doing? That’s also addressing the quickly changing technologies. How do you train them? How do you take who they are and train them the way they need to train to be the person you need them to be? I think that’s the biggest challenge here.
EVATT: Based on what I have seen in North Carolina, and this is not common to just this state, is that there’s a lot of talk about what future technologies will present. I think there’s a lot of uncertainty there, particularly how artificial intelligence relates to manufacturing.
Is it going to be a revolution like robotics? Is it going to be less impactful? That tends to be the most common thing I am seeing in the manufacturing space.
FOSTER: We’re very similar, but the talent pipeline is the No. 1 thing that I look at today. So what we’ve done is to engage with North Carolina apprenticeships. We’re working with colleges. I think the shortage that we’re going to see across the state and in the country is in the skills of the trades, the electricians, the mechanical, HVAC.
So we’re trying to have that partnership with community colleges and then have apprenticeship programs for students or employees that don’t necessarily want
to go to a university for four years.
The other piece is retention. So we’ve addressed the retention piece over the last three years. We have profit-sharing now for all of our employees. We have tuition reimbursement for all of our employees. We go on a trip with all of our employees. In two weeks we will be going to the Dominican Republic.
So our turnover rate is one of the lowest in Guilford County at about 2%. So really retention is very important, but I think more importantly you have to be able to attract talent and get them in your pipeline.
MINTZ: I see challenges not only with the workforce but also the adoption of technology. We have a lot of smaller manufacturing companies who need to understand things like robotics and automation in the way that is needed
to help them to continue to grow and
be profitable.
CAMPBELL: The biggest challenge is having a trained and qualified workforce. During our advisory board meetings we often hear companies express the need of just maintaining that well-trained workforce to fill their needs. This has led us to focus on training and development of a skilled manufacturing workforce and making the training more accessible as well. So a big part of it is making sure that these people are able to work. We’ve started stackable credentials and all sorts of things where they don’t necessarily have to go all the way through to a two-year degree.
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW ROBESON COMMUNITY COLLEGE IS WORKING WITH COMPANIES IN ITS REGION TO PROVIDE EMPLOYEES?
CAMBPELL: So recently we hired an apprenticeship coordinator to go out in the field and develop these relationships. We also try to include all of our manufacturing locals in our advisory board. We’re also fixing to build a large building that will be focused on advanced manufacturing, and we’ve asked the local manufacturing industry to come in to help us with that. We’re going to build a flexible workspace to help accommodate some of our local industries. And we really wanted that input on the design so we can make sure that we have the capability to train students with the skills that they need. We really need their feedback to tell us exactly what they’re looking for in these students so when they go out and become employees, they’re ready.
We rely heavily on their feedback.
KATHRYN, WHAT ARE SOME OF THE THINGS THAT JELD-WEN DOES TO GET GOOD WORKERS? HOW DO YOU GET THEM INTERESTED?
CASPAR: It’s actually a little bit different depending on what level of employee that you’re looking for. We have a lot of automation that we’re trying to integrate into our process. You’re obviously trying to find people at all levels to understand the engineering side of it and the maintenance side in order to work through these technical phases. So with that, it’s really great if you can find a school to partner with that is close because then that means that the people want to live in those areas, and a lot of our manufacturing locations are in more rural locations.
In North Carolina, we’re in North Wilkesboro, and we’re one of the largest employers in Wilkes County. So you have to attract people that want to live in those areas. Because if not, you can have issues with the retention of those people. It’s a matter of finding someone who’s got that good baseline. You don’t have to have an employee that necessarily knows robotics, but if they understand the entries and flow in different pieces, we’re open to training them with some of the different applications.
A lot of times, you’ve got to find that partnership with either a recruiting group that knows that specific skill set and recruits for that. So that’s kind of your very technical skills.
When it comes to our hourly workforce, we have to assess what the market dynamics are. What are the other employers in that region and what is the pay scale? What are the benefits? And then we have to make sure that we stay on top of making sure that we’re competitive in the total package. It’s not just what the hourly wage is. It’s what are the benefits that come along with that and how that works. It’s constant work.
And then with that, the engagement side is once you get an employee, what are the training opportunities that you have? You want your employees to clearly know how they can grow from the operator to a skilled machinist to a manager and making sure that we have that structure in place. And that’s how you’re going to recruit but more importantly to retain.
DERRICK, WHAT IS RISE DOING TO RETAIN WORKERS?
EVATT: Rise has been acquiring different manufacturers with a focus in North Carolina in the South. A lot of these companies that we’re taking over have ownership groups that are either aging out or moving on. Their workforces have been with these plants and factories sometimes 20, 30 or 40 years, so they have a lot of culture built into themselves. So what we try to do is make sure we recognize that culture, get into the rhythm of that. We emphasize that not just with our production supervisors, but also our line leads. And it can be small things such as recognizing personnel, rewarding that either monetarily or doing other things in team building up that culture of recognition. That is one of the hardest things that I’ve seen in manufacturing environments, especially because there’s a lot of pressure to produce. Obviously you’re focused on revenue targets but coming back recognizing high-performing personnel not only helps retention, but also for development. You want to make sure you’re bringing up these rock stars in your group. That’s something that owner Harry Smith and his crew are really emphasizing, especially among our management team, is trying to make sure we recognize that.
JENNI AND PHIL, CAN YOU TOUCH ON “INDUSTRY 4.0,” THE NEW REPORT FROM THE N.C. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND N.C. STATE’S MANUFACTURING EXTENSION PARTNERSHIP AND WHAT IT CALLS FOR MOVING FORWARD?
HARRIS: It’s all about paying attention to what those new technologies are. From the workforce side, it’s also looking at the potential for untapped labor pools. For the first time in history we’ve had five generations of people working together. So how do you incorporate all of that and make that work?
Derrick mentioned recognizing those older workers because that’s what they appreciate, rewarding the younger workers the way they appreciate it, and redirecting the experience and the expertise that the older workers have while also being open to the innovation of the younger workers. Being able to address that and really looking at untapped labor pools, the people who are getting out of jail, the people that maybe haven’t been to work and military spouses, all of the vocational rehab workers. Manufacturers need to look at those areas of talent for your workforce instead of just going back to the same place and looking at the ways to accommodate what their needs are. That’s some of the areas around the workforce.
MINTZ: There’s this need to recognize that adopting technologies is important as well. But we’re still dealing with smaller companies. They’re just apprehensive about adopting technology and not quite sure whether they need all those types of things. So we did some surveys about other states and what they would do to try to be supportive. There are states that have programs that actually help with technology. We wanted to put something together for our state and for our leaders about what needs to be done so that North Carolina can keep up.
PHIL, YOU HAVE A BROAD STATEWIDE POINT OF VIEW. ARE THERE MANUFACTURING AREAS WHERE NORTH CAROLINA IS NOT IN THE GAME WHERE WE CAN GROW?
MINTZ: The interesting thing about North Carolina is that we are everywhere. We are all of these things. We don’t have a factory that builds cars yet, but we’re so broad in terms of manufacturing diversity it’s hard for us to kind of say if we’re not good at one thing.
HARRIS: Yeah, you make a really good point. When we talk about advanced manufacturing, we’re making pieces of parts, but we’re really making pieces and parts for so many subsectors of the other industries, of the pharmaceutical industry, the automotive industry, the aerospace and aviation industry.
MINTZ: We’re still holding on to some of the traditional things like furniture and textiles. We’re in textiles in a specialized way. We’re continuing to maintain some manufacturing facilities in that area. But again, we are integrated into so many different industries, it’s hard to say that we’re not doing something. In the tech area, like artificial intelligence, that’s an area that we may grow.
HARRIS: I think anything clean energy related is our biggest opportunity.
GEOFF, CAN YOU TELL THE OTHERS ABOUT HOW YOU STARTED YOUR COMPANY BASED ON WHAT PHIL SAID ABOUT SMALL MANUFACTURERS? I WOULDN’T CLASSIFY YOU AS SMALL ANY MORE, BUT WHAT DID YOU HAVE TO DO TO GET UP AND RUNNING?
FOSTER: I think reaching out to the community and getting on advisory boards is important. So when I got on those advisory boards, I was able to get a feel for what industries were coming to the area, what skills are needed. And I think that was really key where I still sit on probably too many advisory boards. But with that I get a lot of information about what’s coming and what kind of training is needed.
I also think attending career fairs is important. Going to these career fairs, I’ve been able to tap into some talent. I’ve been teaching at North Carolina A&T for 20 years, so I kind of cherry pick my best students. Now, we’re reaching out to other schools and other universities where we can hire top talent that’s already in the state. Their parents or their grandparents live here, so I think you know avoiding relocation is important
I would go to bat saying we’ve got some of the best colleges in the country, and I think sometimes we overlook the community colleges, which are really strong.
I think you really have to have a blueprint. And that takes time. It wasn’t something that happened overnight.
I think there’s some great resources that you have to utilize in the career services field. I think there’s a lot of talent that is right there knocking on the door.
RAMAH, I’M INTERESTED IN YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT RELOCATION. ARE YOU FINDING AS A COMMUNITY COLLEGE THAT MOST STUDENTS WANT TO FIND A MANUFACTURING JOB NEAR THE COLLEGE?
CAMPBELL: You have some students that indicate they’d like to go to larger areas. But for the most part, we have plenty who would like to stay local.
We do start recruiting them straight out of high school, and a lot of those tend to want to stick around home. And they know that at a very early age. So you will have a few but for the most part, I think our students here have wanted to stay local, which is a major advantage to us.
KATHRYN, HOW HAS YOUR PLANT IN NORTH WILKESBORO GROWN IN THE LAST FIVE TO 10 YEARS IN TERMS OF PRODUCTION OR EMPLOYEES?
CASPAR: It’s grown significantly because we added additional capacity. We make fiberglass doors at that facility. Think of your front door of your house, and maybe your back door. It’s grown because we also make all of the parts. We actually make the fiberglass skin and then the whole door, the glass and all those pieces. We’ve been slowly adding more presses over the years to increase our capacity to grow that market sector. So there’s been a lot of growth with that.
We do have a mixture of robotics, but there are still a lot of manual operators. Our biggest struggle is we actually deal with the conditions because the presses get really hot. And we know in the summer, it can get pretty hot. There’s differentials and different allowances that you have to make for that.
We offer at quite a few of our sites a different work schedule. We found quite a few of our sites where we need to implement a 24/7 operation. We actually do it in a way where you work for 10 hours and then three 12 hours so both parents can work without having to have childcare. It really helps a lot to actually recruit different people that you wouldn’t be able to hire by having those different shift schedules.
I have other locations that we work where we have to work the 12-hour shifts and working in a rotational, but we have a lot of success with modifying shift schedules to help us with being able to recruit new employees.
DERRICK, ARE YOU DOING THE SAME THING?
EVATT: We’re looking at modifications there and the way we’re across different industries and manufacturing. That makes it a little bit more complicated because we do have two different workforce needs. You don’t just have internal manufacturing and production, but you have field service personnel, who obviously have to be a lot more flexible. But I think the name of the game in 2024 is flexibility with your workforce. The more rigid you are, the less you will likely find those hidden resources, whether it’s personnel that don’t work standard shifts or just don’t prefer them. Obviously, childcare is important as well.
FOSTER: I do the same thing with continuous work schedules. So we have three 12-hour shifts on the weekend, and then during the week, it’s three eight-hour shifts. Because my workforce is so young, not many of them have childcare concerns, or their parents take care of their kids. So I’m not seeing that today. Probably when their parents aren’t around anymore, that’s going to be an issue. But right now, most of our employees are under 30 years old, and their parents help with their childcare.
WHAT ARE YOU MOST EXCITED ABOUT IN TERMS OF THE FUTURE OF MANUFACTURING?
CAMPBELL: We’re really excited about building strong partnerships with our community and being able to serve their needs with better programs, better pathways and a new curriculum that focuses on automated design and manufacturing. We want to make sure our students are able to adapt to new technology and go out very skilled into a position where they are more than qualified. We want to make sure we go above and beyond to provide them with what they need.
MINTZ: I’m excited about the continued growth in manufacturing. There’s a lot of massive factories being built and a lot of jobs are going to be created from all of that. It just goes to show that it feels like this is a place for companies to move to where they want to grow here.
EVATT: One of the industries that was touched on a little bit was renewable energy and electrification. I think they are in an excellent position to grow.
There are a lot of these large plants that are being built by the manufacturers. They’re needing regional and local support. They have to have manufacturers that are local. My background is supply chain, and a lot of the manufacturers don’t want to have to do all of their manufacturing within their own house. They want to have local partners and smaller businesses that can feed into those sub assemblies. We’re really excited to fit into that.
FOSTER: What I love about the new manufacturing is a lot of them are biotech and a lot of them are for EV. We’re 65% biotech. And these large facilities need suppliers, and they pay well, and we’re able to pay our employees well. So we’re able to be competitive. So that’s the exciting piece where we’re creating jobs but they are high-paying jobs. So there’s no turnover. Ten years ago, we couldn’t compete on hourly wages so we had a lot of turnover. Everyone knows that when you’re training people, there’s a cost to that. So we can train people one time and five years later, they’re still there and they’re growing. You know, you don’’t have that turnover and all those costs and training. So when I see companies that are coming, they’re not small companies. They are strong with growth and the future with EV, sustainability and biotech, that’s exciting for me. Twenty years ago, we were not doing anything like that.
HARRIS: I think that two major things are the amount of employer engagement in these conversations. We are seeing a whole lot more of it, and they’re being very open and honest about what they need from the workforce and from their supply chain to keep them competitive.
The other thing that I’m excited about is the potential for lawmakers to look at policies to continue to support the growth of business in North Carolina and continue to make North Carolina No. 1. There are things that if we don’t look at those strategies in the “Industry 4.0” report, it’s going to harm North Carolina.
CASPAR: From my perspective, I do think North Carolina has a lot to offer. Personally, I’ve lived in six different states. And I have manufacturing facilities in 15 different ones. So I see a lot of different environments, a lot of different opportunities. And I think there’s a lot that as a state we have to offer. I think there’s something to say about the strong education in our university and colleges and the community colleges. There’s a lot of draw to the state because you’ve got people that are willing to relocate, but then at the same time you have a strong base of people that live here who want to stay here. Either way, it’s going to come down to how we engage with that.
There’s a lot to offer. My family has decided it’s our home. This is where we’re staying. ■