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November 05, 2008
By: CartPro
Category: Business Tips, Future Trends, Material Handling, Warehousing, fulfillment, logistics
By the end of this decade — that’s only two short years away – industry experts are predicting a 50% shortfall of material handling workers. Worker shortages are already being felt in manufacturing, logistics, transportation, warehousing and fulfillment venues; and it’s only going to get worse (see our November 3 post). The Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA) and other industry leaders are spearheading initiatives to build awareness of material handling job opportunities in America’s high schools and colleges, but they can’t do it alone. Each of us must work to change public opinion and entice young people into our industry if we are to survive.
In building awareness of job opportunity in the material handling industry, we will need to update our image with school counselors, students and the public at large. Our efforts to attract new workers are burdened by the outdated perception of material handling workers as unskilled manual laborers lagging at the bottom of the payment and benefit scale. Times have changed. Material handling jobs offer good pay, good benefits and a growth industry, an appealing triumvirate, particularly during the current economic downturn that is forcing many industries to lay off workers.
Of added benefit is the ability of material handling to offer jobs across the educational spectrum. While college grads and MBAs increasingly populate our industry, there is still great appreciation for the individual who moves right into the workforce out of high school, determined to work hard and make something of his life. It’s how many of today’s leaders in the material handling industry got their start, and we haven’t forgotten. The increasing emphasis on automation and system integration in our industry should appeal to the computer-savvy teens and 20-somethings poised to enter the workforce. Material handling jobs can offer young people the opportunity to reap immediate reward from their prodigious self-taught computer skills. And many employers will help workers increase and improve both their technical and business skills through educational assistance programs. The “you learn while you earn” approach can be particularly appealing during a tough economy.
So how can you help get the word out? Visit guidance counselors at local high schools, tech schools and community colleges. Let them know what material handling has to offer their students and leave some brochures they can pass out to students. Volunteer to speak at career day programs. This is a great opportunity to talk directly to students. Invite vocational high school or community college classes on a tour of your facilities and explain job opportunities. Offer summer internships or initiate a co-op (work/study) program through local high schools, community colleges or universities. This is time-honored way to give interested students a taste of the real work world, and many co-op students become full-time employees.
Attracting future workers to the material handling industry is everyone’s job. Get out there in your community and start spreading the word. Our future depends on it.
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November 03, 2008
By: CartPro
Category: Future Trends, Material Handling, Warehousing, logistics
With the economy down and unemployment up, jobs are a hot topic this election. As industry starts to feel the economic pinch, plants are closing, workers are being laid off and some companies are facing bankruptcy. But there are jobs aplenty in the material handling industry and the associated industries of logistics, fulfillment and warehousing.
There’s a severe shortage of qualified industrial workers in America, particularly in material handling fields, that holds promise for job-seekers. The material handling industry is expected to be “50% short in terms of employees needed by 2010,” said Virginia Wheeler, executive director of the Material Handling Industry of America’s (MHIA) Education Foundation. The growing worker shortfall guarantees job security well into the next decade for people going into material handling jobs in warehouses, fulfillment centers, logistics operations, and factories.
“Our industry is begging for people,” said Dan Quinn, MHIA VP for education. He feels America’s high schools are undercutting the value of the trade jobs that built and continue to build America. “A lot of schools measure themselves on the percentage of students who go on to college,” Quinn criticized. “Schools should embrace the concept that non-college-bound students are still valuable contributors to the economy and society.”
The reality is that many high school students are not interested in pursuing a college education for a wide variety of reasons. Many simply prefer hands-on, physical work to sitting at a desk. Many are anxious to get out on their own and lack the interest in four more years of schooling. Many do not have the financial resources to consider college but must provide for themselves immediately after high school graduation. As the recession deepens, finances are expected to play an increasing role in education/work decisions. Some high school juniors and seniors, like Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s future son-in-law, have already been forced to drop out of school to help support their families. Some employers are offering their employees the opportunity to complete their high school education through GED programs.
It’s unfortunate that many high school guidance counselors are so focused on college that they ignore the positive opportunities available in material handling industries. Raising awareness of job opportunities is one of the primary challenges facing the material handling industry, said Alan Howie, author of Fundamentals of Warehousing and Distribution. “. . . the essential problem is we have to get the message out there that . . . work in the material handling industry is much more than a manual labor job. It’s a career in a high-tech industry. Our challenge is to build awareness of all of this in the schools and colleges.”
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September 29, 2008
By: CartPro
Category: Future Trends, Material Handling, Warehousing, logistics
Particularly in a tight economy everyone wants to know where the jobs are and where they’re going to be for the next decade or so. Material handling and the related fields of logistics and warehousing are growth industries that offer good job potential now and into the future. International development is predicted to drive 5% annual growth in the worldwide material handling industry for each of the next five years (see our Sept. 22 post). In the U.S. retiring baby boomers are creating critical worker shortages in logistics and warehousing. However, automation and increasingly sophisticated technology are also creating a need for more highly skilled and more highly educated workers.
While the value of experiential education is still recognized, a bachelor’s degree is the new entre into a professional career; and a master’s degree, the ticket to climbing the career ladder, according to Mike Ensby of Clarkson University’s Engineering & Global Operations Management Department. “The three most important credentialing letters today seem to be ‘MBA,’” he said in a recent interview with Modern Materials Handling, particularly if you’re aiming for the boardroom.
Companies do still hire people right out of high school, and many professionals who began their own careers that way seem to place greater value on certified skills than college degrees. But material handling is in a state of transition. Industry experts say the drive to automation and integrated systems will increasingly demand a workforce with advanced technical skills. Tomorrow’s warehouse worker is more apt to operate a computer than a forklift.
In the coming decade, high school grads may find themselves stuck in a career track that rarely rises above skilled labor, such as order fulfillment. “Going into the future, not many people will have much success in their career progression without professional development of some kind,” Ensby said.
Next time: What courses will catapult your material handling career to success? What will employers be looking for?
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