The need for Manufacturing Maintenance Technicians throughout the US

[A_G]

Thanks so much , for sharing your experiences. I agree that we all seem to be
struggling . Just looking at the age groups of 20 and 30 year olds . Are they concerned today about pensions and health insurance ? I would imagine the ones
with families . It seems like they are more concerned about immediate things such as a high hourly wage .

Myself and everyone I know realize that pension are a thing of the past. 401k is fine but you can also do an IRA yourself so I don't care if the company has a 401k. Most health insurance nowadays seems to be fairly bad ie high deductible. I think hourly pay rate is more important

 

[TWS]

After struggling for many years to find talent, we hired 2 A&P (Airframe and powerplant )
mechanics. We will spend the first 6 months training them on the industrial systems and equipment that we utilize at our facility. They were line mechanics for major carriers. (Think outside work year round.). They now work inside in a conditioned environment. We also bumped their pay about 20%. Smartest thing we ever did.

 

[BOWILLY]

Pay is good. I mean, everyone works for money, right? It isn't the greatest motivator. The new guy needs to see some effort from his employer in helping him acclimatize to the new environment. Is there OTJ training? A mentoring program? Is there any documentation as to what the new guy is to learn? Is there any way he can contribute based on his experience? I've been the new guy a few times. Running into the " we don't do it that way here" mentality really makes one want to pack up and try again elsewhere.

 

[mk42]

Pay is good. I mean, everyone works for money, right? It isn't the greatest motivator. The new guy needs to see some effort from his employer in helping him acclimatize to the new environment. Is there OTJ training? A mentoring program? Is there any documentation as to what the new guy is to learn? Is there any way he can contribute based on his experience? I've been the new guy a few times. Running into the " we don't do it that way here" mentality really makes one want to pack up and try again elsewhere.

Agreed. Good pay is a big part of what gets me to take the job. But the job has to not suck to get me to stay.

 

[mylespetro]

I'm in my early 30s, and I can say for most people around the same age that I know (both in this industry and otherwise), pay is the #1 factor these days. With the cost of living skyrocketing and wages stagnating, employers don't really have a foot to stand on if they want to pretend to be surprised when someone quits to take a better paying job, especially if there are other benefits/intangibles.

I've been very fortunate to work for a small engineering company that pays me very well for my area (relatively low compared to the rest of the country) and are very flexible and great to work for, but even being paid as well as I do it's just barely enough to keep up with the cost of living these days, so the thought of being paid what some places think they can get away with paying their maintenance/tradespeople is unimaginable to me. If I could make as much (or near) working at a fast food place what you're paying people, why would I subject myself to the more stressful job?

 

[Puddle]

This is an issue in the UK too. I'm the in-house machine whisperer at a manufacturer and we've been struggling for skilled engineers for years now. Because there's a shortage, wages have been increasing and to start with the company didn't want to pay the going rate, so we only ended up having the people either at the start or end of their career apply. Now the wages have gone up but the quality of engineer we're finding is still not great so we've ended up employing technicians rather than engineers and had to attempt to train them on the job.
The whole thing seems so strange to me, we've hired engineers who are 30 years older than me who don't know half of what they should and never seem to have any drive to get the job done. Then we hired technicians on less money and they're smashing off jobs left right and centre five minutes after they've been shown how to split a chain and how to use a taper lock bush.

 

[cardosocea]

This is an issue in the UK too. I'm the in-house machine whisperer at a manufacturer and we've been struggling for skilled engineers for years now. Because there's a shortage, wages have been increasing and to start with the company didn't want to pay the going rate, so we only ended up having the people either at the start or end of their career apply. Now the wages have gone up but the quality of engineer we're finding is still not great so we've ended up employing technicians rather than engineers and had to attempt to train them on the job.
The whole thing seems so strange to me, we've hired engineers who are 30 years older than me who don't know half of what they should and never seem to have any drive to get the job done. Then we hired technicians on less money and they're smashing off jobs left right and centre five minutes after they've been shown how to split a chain and how to use a taper lock bush.

The UK is a weird place when it comes to valuing their people... In the last place I worked at, I left because of a one time bonus (3-ish k) not being paid after delivering and saving the company ****loads of money.

They dragged their feet over that miserable amount (they paid dividends and bought businesses that year)... on the final minute on site they made me a good offer, but by then I was far too ****ed to accept it and left. I've kept in touch and my departure over 3k or so is coming up to 300k in Systems Integrator and consultant fees, downtime and recruitment.

As if it wasn't enough, my departure meant that a lot of projects were put on hold indefinitely which meant that other key positions on site decided to nope out so they wouldn't deal with the fallout without the process control expert in house.

All because of 3k... LOLOL

 

[janner_10]

The UK is a weird place when it comes to valuing their people... In the last place I worked at, I left because of a one time bonus (3-ish k) not being paid after delivering and saving the company ****loads of money.

They dragged their feet over that miserable amount (they paid dividends and bought businesses that year)... on the final minute on site they made me a good offer, but by then I was far too ****ed to accept it and left. I've kept in touch and my departure over 3k or so is coming up to 300k in Systems Integrator and consultant fees, downtime and recruitment.

As if it wasn't enough, my departure meant that a lot of projects were put on hold indefinitely which meant that other key positions on site decided to nope out so they wouldn't deal with the fallout without the process control expert in house.

All because of 3k... LOLOL

I was exactly the same but over a £37 phone bill! Years ago, pre-roaming. I used the work phone to navigate whilst driving to Poland one Christmas.

The MD made me pay it back once the January bill arrived.

I started looking, landed on my feet and was out the door in 5 weeks. Best thing that ever happened as it turns out.