The Value of Aligning Efforts to Promote Manufacturing Careers

Will Adams (left), a junior technician with Index Corp., is part of the inaugural class of the company’s Index Technician Development Program, which includes hands-on training at its headquarters in Germany. (Photo credit: Index Corp.)

Will Adams, a 20-year-old junior technician at Index Corp. in Noblesville, Indiana, provides an exceptional example of what happens when manufacturing is supported as a profitable, high-potential career option at home, at school and in the workplace. Only a year and a half out of high school, Adams is well into a successful career that has afforded him the opportunity to travel the country and currently is providing him the chance to spend a year in Germany to participate in the CNC machine tool builder’s apprenticeship program. His journey to date provides key insights into how young people can be encouraged to pursue a future in manufacturing.

“From a young age, I always enjoyed and was interested in math,” Adams says. “It just clicked for me. In high school, I started getting interested in engineering as a way to apply math. It was fun and I love getting an understanding of how things work.”

This interest was supported and nurtured by Noblesville High School, the Indiana high school where Adams obtained his secondary education. The school prepares students for STEM careers through its use of curriculum developed by Project Lead the Way, a non-profit focused on using real-world experiences to provide in-demand skills.

“The programs at my high school were great,” Adams explains. “I had classes ranging from designing blueprints and creating CAD drawings to calculus and other advanced math. And they all had a focus on tying what we were learning to the real world.”

During his sophomore year, Adams attended a Manufacturing Day (MFG Day) event at Index’s North American headquarters in Noblesville. While there, he and his classmates heard from some of the company’s younger employees, experienced a range of technology and got to see the reality of a modern approach to manufacturing. His interest in a manufacturing career was further piqued, though he didn’t initially think of pursuing a career specifically with Index.

As he progressed through high school, Adams was undecided about what would come next. Many of his classmates were planning to attend college, but he saw it as an enormous amount of debt that might not be necessary for the life he wanted to pursue. Adams’s father is a professor at the Indianapolis campus of Lincoln Tech trade school and encouraged him to pursue vocational training as a first step after high school. By his senior year, Adams had decided to follow that path.

Will Adams (left) traveled to Germany in late October 2023 and has started a customized, one-year apprenticeship program designed to provide him with expertise across Index’s full range of machines. (Photo credit: Index Corp.)

In addition to his math and engineering coursework, Adams took four years of German in high school, becoming generally fluent in the language. As luck would have it, one of his classmates accepted a marketing internship with a German manufacturing company during their senior year. One day, Adams was discussing his plans with her, and she suggested that she could help him make a connection where she was interning. When she mentioned that the company was Index, he took her up on her offer.

“Index is always looking for opportunities to engage with our community and local schools,” says Cris Taylor, president and CEO of Index Corp. “When our industry talks about bridging the skilled labor gap, we tend to focus on manufacturing internships and apprenticeships. But in this situation, we would not have connected with Will if we hadn’t also had a marketing internship. Every time we engage with young people and educate them about manufacturing, it helps to move us forward.”

Following the introduction, Taylor and Adams met for two interviews, discussing career options at Index and Adams’s plans. This led to Adams joining the company following his graduation from high school in 2022. For the first 10 months of his employment, Adams spent his mornings working a half day at Index. In the afternoons, he attended an expedited program at Lincoln Tech that provided a basic overview of operating mills and lathes.

“Every time we engage with young people and educate them about manufacturing, it helps to move us forward.” — Cris Taylor

In late 2022, a new opportunity arose. As part of its skilled labor development program, Index was developing the ITDP (Index Technician Development Program) for an early 2023 launch. This new program is designed specifically to help people with a technical aptitude transition into a manufacturing career. It includes six months of mixed classroom and practical instruction, followed by two months of in-depth, hands-on training at Index’s global headquarters in Germany.

While it might not be practical to attempt fully replicating the German approach training approach in the United States, the model does offer insight into ways we can begin to address the U.S. skilled labor shortage.(Photo credit: PM)

Adams was offered the chance to join the inaugural class and jumped at the opportunity. As discussions progressed, though, the scope of Adams’s career plan grew. Given his extensive knowledge of the German language and desire to gain more practical experience in using it, Index offered to extend Adams’s time in Germany from two months to a full year. Adams traveled to Germany in late October 2023 and has started a customized, one-year apprenticeship program designed to provide him with expertise across Index’s full range of machines.

While many 20-year-olds are working to find themselves and discover a plan for their future, Adams has already enthusiastically charted and struck out on a course.

“Once I get back from Germany, I’d like to spend 10 years putting what I learn to work in the field,” Adams says. “I enjoy traveling and helping shops succeed, so that’s my plan for the next decade. During that time, I want to continue building my knowledge and get to the point where I could eventually move into management.”

Looking at Adams’ path, there are many factors that contributed to his journey: supportive parents, a robust high-school STEM program, MFG Day, access to a solid post-secondary vocational school and Index’s commitment to supporting young people’s career development in both technical and non-technical jobs. His story is testament to the cumulative impact of employers, educators and parents working together to educate young people on the opportunities provided by manufacturing careers.

In Germany, 8% of Index’s workforce is currently in paid training. (Photo credit: PM)

5 Tips to Start Reaching Young People

Some manufacturers have a strong desire to engage with young people, but struggle with where to start. Launching a new initiative can be daunting, especially for companies that are extremely busy or smaller in size. Here are five tips to get going:

Pick a driver. First and foremost, identify who will be leading your efforts. Ideally, they should be passionate about bringing young people into manufacturing and effective at connecting and communicating with them. That person will coordinate activities internally and serve as a primary point of contact for external partners.

Connect with local schools. Whether it’s a teacher, career counselor or administrator, establishing an ally in the local school system will be essential to success. Someone at the school will be very grateful for any assistance in getting kids excited about their career options. Contact the administration at the local high school for their help in identifying that person.

Make time for MFG Day. Holding an inaugural MFG Day event can be intimidating, especially for those who have seen other companies host hundreds of students over a full day. In reality, it’s fine to start small. Invite your contact at the local schools to bring one or two dozen students to your facility. Or, if you want to have a trial run, look up other companies holding events in your area and ask if you can participate at their facility to get some experience. Also, remember that while MFG Day is officially the first Friday of October, a MFG Day event can be held at any point during the year.

Host family and friends. MFG Day isn’t the only way to get young people into your facility. Hosting a family and friends open house gives your team members a chance to share their work with their loved ones, and many of them love taking advantage of the opportunity. When children of manufacturers see the cool things their parents do, it helps to correct misperceptions among the next generation and erode the longstanding stigma that can be associated with our industry.

Ask for help. Lastly, realize that you don’t have to figure it all out on your own. Local chapters of trade organizations, such as PMPA, NAM, NTMA or AMT, can provide insights and assistance in your quest to reach young people. Likewise, partnering with local trade and technical schools can provide much-needed expertise. You might even find an unlikely partner in a company you might otherwise consider a competitor, as collaborating to overcome the skilled labor shortage lifts the whole of our industry.

Landscape Source: PM