“If people go away, then the future goes away,” Graves said in an interview Friday.
Once again, finding and keeping skilled workers tops the list of issues that Dayton Region Manufacturing Association members think about.
The annual DRMA survey also notes business costs, regulations, succession planning and other concerns remain on manufacturers’ minds.
Graves, a member of the DRMA’s government relations committee, has 18 employees at her Kettering company. But she always has her eye on “gaps” where new employees may be needed.
Said Graves, “For us, getting skilled workers is probably the most challenging, just because we have both production, which needs workers to be really skilled in electronic assembly, and also engineering.”
“The pool of talent available is very small,” she said. “It’s just a challenge, if you lose someone, to replace them.”
For Prime Controls, it is possible train people willing to work and learn. But in some fields, like engineering, software and hardware design, companies need people with degrees, established skills and experience.
“We’re strengthening our bench in engineering, because our director of engineering is within five to 10 years of retiring,” Graves said.
Her business makes inspection equipment for the metal forming industry, mostly for manufacturers and metal stampers who make cans or work in the automotive and other sectors.
The manufacturing industry faced a setback after losing roughly 1.4 million jobs during the pandemic, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently found. Since then, the industry on a national level has made what the chamber called “significant strides” toward recovery.
The chamber found that while durable goods manufacturing has seen a stronger recovery compared to nondurable goods manufacturing, as of January 2024, “a gap persists, with 622,000 total manufacturing job openings yet to be filled.”
Another the other issues identified in DRMA’s survey:
International trade and global competition. Specific concerns include the effect of trade agreements, tariffs, fair/free trade policy, and international currency manipulations, a DRMA statement said. “Members want a level playing field in international trade with as little volatility as possible.”
Corporate tax rate and tax code. DRMA said its members support the idea that lower corporate tax rates encourage growth. Therefore, “members support reforms to the tax code to make it simpler and less burdensome.”
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