Coalition aims to get young people interested in manufacturing

Coty Hartwell, 25, wanted to be a machinist like his father since he was a little boy, but he does not think that is usual for his generation.

“I don’t think too many kids my age like to get dirty and do this kind of work,” Hartwell said. “I think they are geared more towards ‘Let me sit on the phone and make phone calls,’ things that would drive me crazy. I have to be doing something with my hands.”

This third year-apprentice is a rare young face in the machine shop at Colonial Machine in Kent, Ohio, CEO Matt Metcalf said.

“A lot of our employees are reaching 60, 65 years old and they’re thinking about retirement,” he said. “We’re trying to find people to fill their shoes and try to catch up to all the years of experience we’re losing.”

Colonial Machine is a company with almost 40 employees that makes molds for the rubber industry. Metcalf said the company’s biggest challenge has been finding skilled workers to take over for their aging workforce.

His company is not alone. So many local manufacturers have had this problem that they joined together to create the Portage County Manufacturers Coalition, said Metcalf, who is also treasurer of the group.

The goal of the coalition is to help manufacturers train future employees in much-needed skills such as machining and welding and to get young people interested in jobs in manufacturing, Brad Ehrhart, president of the Portage Development Board, said.

It became apparent to the board that manufacturers needed a new way to attract qualified workers around 2012, he said. After looking at solutions other communities were trying, they settled on the coalition model, Ehrhart said.

“The coalition is a grassroots effort of people who have a problem and are trying to solve it,” Ehrhart said. “Their goal is to get into the pipeline, even to the grade school level, to tell kids and their parents and their guidance counselors and their teachers manufacturing has never died. It’s just changed.”

Mark Trushel is President and CEO of Mantaline Corporation and Chairman of the manufacturers coalition. He says manufacturing has not properly marketed itself to youth.

“The military recruiters have all done better jobs than we have at being visible and touting what they have to offer,” he said. “It’s our shot to start and try to do that.”

College and the debt that often comes with it are not for everyone, Trushel said. He wants to tell students they can have a good career without the loans.

“I sit probably a quarter mile from Crestwood High School,” he said. “My guess would be somewhere between 45 and 60 percent of their graduates are going to go on to college and that’s great, but that leaves 40 percent of the graduating class that are doing something else.”

Last year, Mantaline had two men from the high school apply, but Trushel hopes to attract more students like them through this program.

The coalition took their first step toward recruitment on Oct. 3, National Manufacturing Day, he said. Coalition representatives went to four high schools to talk to students during lunch about opportunities in manufacturing. The group has three more trips planned throughout the month of October.

Many companies have training programs to give incoming workers the skills they need for the industry. Trushel said some also offer tuition reimbursement for college degrees to fill other skill gaps such as engineering.

Back at Colonial Machine, Metcalf believes the key is getting high school students convinced that manufacturing can give them a good future.

“[Some kids] might get left behind if they don’t realize they can go right down the street and get a pretty good job that can help them succeed in life,” Metcalf said.

Hartwell believes Colonial Machine will give him the stability he is hoping for in his future.

“It’s a career, not just a job,” Hartwell said. “It’s somewhere you can hang your hat and know tomorrow, a year from now, 20 years from now, it will be here, God willing.”