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Employer Quotes
The quotes below are from employers in this industry: Manufacturing
They are talking about this topic: Occupation-Specific Skills
The quotes below are about this issue:
Employers who represent machine technology and mechanical design and drafting occupations need electronic technicians who understand mechanical components and who are trained in mechatronics. They also say skilled drafters are in short supply.
| "There's been a national shortage of CNC programmers. Maybe it's because programmers come from the machinists and CNC operator tool and die makers. But regionally, statewide, and nationally business cannot find enough CNC programmers because they're not trained as a skill set. They're trained as part of a skill set, to be a machinist. As a result of the shortage, the Twin Cities area has developed quite a number of CNC programming consultant companies who are just doing programming. But I think we need to address the issue of supplying the skill set of CNC programmers. Because that's where business does its business mostly, on quoting work and being successful in setting up the machines to match what the quoting time was. And they have to be very productive and skilled. We've talked about this issue statewide and it keeps, I think, being caught up in a group of skill sets that doesn't get enough attention." | Northeast |
| "We only have CNCs and our manual equipment. And that's the thing, if you can just change parts on a CNC that's one thing, but to be able to take a drawing, program it, set it up, run it, and inspect it—that's useful." | Northeast |
| "Yeah, and that's the thing, we only have CNCs and our manual equipment. If you can just change parts on a CNC that's one thing, but if you're able to take a drawing, program it, set it up, run it, and inspect it—that's useful." | Northeast |
| "I recruited once for a manual machinist, and I did not get a single applicant. I had a lot of people come in and say, 'Well, I used to do manual machining, but I'm a CNC now.' But that's just a stepping stone back into the CNC department." | Northwest |
| "We're expanding our CNC department, so we will need more of the CNC programmers and operators." | Northwest |
| "Our business has turned from a manual side to a CNC side, so we want our people to understand blueprint reading and computer technology." | Northwest |
| "We hired probably a dozen electronic technicians from the outside, and we have six to twelve going through an internal full-scholarship program at [MnSCU college]. They get paid to go to class, and then—when they actually become electronic technicians—they earn about six more dollars an hour. So, electronics and maintenance is really our bread and butter. But automated systems would be our number one need though." | Northwest |
| "It is similar to what we're doing with the engineering. It is basically a familiarity with electronic components. It is a basic foundation." | Northwest |
| "When we advertise in the papers, we'll get some people that have been out there in the job force. They don't have the degree, but they're kind of a mechanic. They've learned by doing. But they don't both sides—they're either a mechanic or an electrician—and we need people that can do both. The best way to put it is that we do a lot of molding, so we have a lot of molding machines. And when we call the factory because we need service on the machines, they don't ask whether it is an electrical problem or a mechanical problem. They say that they'll send a technician. And that's the kind of people we need, and that's what these mechatronics programs put out." | Southwest |
| "We're always looking for more. And I think where that falls apart is when you talk about secondary schools. I think you could poll a hundred guidance counselors and ask, 'What is mechatronics?' And maybe one of them will know the answer." | Southwest |
| "We could use electronic technicians that are not just very narrowly taught in some areas, but that have wider, more open knowledge. And I'll use that position to move them up into engineering. And some of my comments have been focused because I look specifically for them for my department, for my engineering group. The ones that we're really making use of are the electronic technicians who come out of a two-year degree, and that's not easy to find around here." | Southwest |