In the contemporary manufacturing jungle,
an investment in people can help turn a profit.
The signs and symbols of a manufacturing heritage are all around Northeast Ohio. Often, they exist only as reminders of the glory days, artifacts from a Darwinian-style economic adapt-or-die conflict.
Simply put, manufacturing in this region ain't what it used to be.
Toward the bottom of the manufacturing food chain, but no less vital than other components, are machine shops, also known as job shops or tool-and- die shops. Because of their positioning, machine shops are much more vul- nerable to economic nose dives.
One way for a metalworking business owner to ensure return on investment is with a human investment. That's the philosophy and practice of Steve Rose, president of Rose Training Systems Inc. of Solon. In Rose's estimation, 'industry lacks one major thing: a skilled work force.' Enter Rose Training. 'If the company owner wants his company to prosper, he's got to say, We're going to get the best people we can working here.' And he's got to make everybody in the facility believe in that.'
A Vanishing Work Force
Rose's target market is machine tool operators, who make metal parts used in the manufacture of everyday products. Whether it's your car, your bed or your kid's electric guitar, a machinist was involved in the production of everything you use.
But here's the paradox: With employment opportunities seemingly plentiful, metalworking faces a severe staffing crisis.
According to Rose, two forces are affecting the talent pool. First, teens no longer consider machining a top career choice. 'Fathers aren't saying, Go into manufacturing,' ' he says. 'They're saying, Go get a college degree and you'll earn more money than me in a better environment.' '
Metalworking carries the perception of being a dark, medieval profession seemingly carried out in a dungeon. Although many shops today provide clean, bright surroundings and have upgraded with modern, computer-controlled technology, others are beset by dirt, scrap and clutter. In this historically male-dominated industry, the implication is that real men don't need to clean up.
Second, and more significantly, the industry itself is in a state of flux. Rose explains that between 1970 and 1990, corporate America tired of manufacturing and wanted to simplify. Businesses moved from making their own parts to outsourcing production to job shops. Rose cites General Motors Corp. as an example. GM faces high overhead because of union contracts and benefits, and certain processes cannot be done efficiently in-house. 'It behooves them to outsource,' Rose says.
Outsourcing led to explosive growth in the job shop business. An entre-preneur could buy a used machine tool, scrape up some work and, presto, he had a machine shop. By Rose's estimate, there are more than 2,000 machine shops in Cuyahoga County alone. However, Rose observes, 'The problem in Cleveland now is we have all these job shops that do the same thing. We're in a work shortage. There's not as much work out there as there are companies chasing it.'
The world market is causing another wave of transition, Rose says. 'Corporations are outsourcing to low-cost countries such as China, Mexico and India. Where does that leave all the Cleveland job shops? They're in a fight for survival.'
Competition for work goes on not only among rival shops but also within shops. The belief that training will enable employees to move on to other jobs keeps shops from letting workers enhance their skills. Also, new hires may be given only limited information so they won't unseat a shop's one or two top operators. What the existing top operator is saying is, 'I don't want this new guy to get too good because the supervisor will think he's better than me.'
'There can be only one fastest gunslinger in the shop, so the new guy has to leave,' Rose says. 'But that's going to happen whether you train him or not. The problem is with this If-we-train-them-they're-going-to-leave' theory that stops companies from training people. My answer is: They're going to leave anyway. Why not make them as productive as possible while you've got them?' The only way you're going to keep a good person is by growing him or her. You've got to have an environment where people can be as good as they can be.'
Class in Session
Operated by Steve Rose and his wife, Rosaleen, Rose Training (www.rose-training.com) occupies a facility in Solon that is part classroom, part working machine shop. Joining Rose on the faculty are Stephanie Horvatich and Bill Foldery.
'My goal is to take people, whether they are a newcomer or an existing machinist, and greatly increase their job skills,' Rose says. Although the training business was launched in 1994, Rose has been around the machine tool industry since 1965. After a five-year apprenticeship in his native England, Rose moved off the shop floor and sold machine tools to an international market. That job brought Rose and his family to Cleveland in 1979.
By the late 1980s, Rose had partnered in a machine shop. 'It became apparent that there weren't many skilled workers out there,' he says. 'The only hope we had was to train our own.' The light went on and Rose knew he was born to train.
For the first year, Rose worked out of his home and went into area machine shops to hold classes. Each situation generated a new round of questions and brought a different set of demands — both of which required continuous improvement of his lessons.
'As someone said: You don't write a book. You rewrite a book.' That's what we've done with our training program over the years,' Rose says.
Students come into Rose Training classes with diverse skills, experience and learning needs. The institute has attracted students from across the U.S., women as well as men. In general, Rose teaches three things: math, programming (for computer numerical control, or CNC, machine tools) and processing (planning to make a part). Class topics include fundamentals, technologies, introduction to G Code programming and strong math subjects, such as trigonometry.
'When we teach trig, most people say they can't do it,' Rose says. 'Within three hours, the average person can do trig because we've developed a step-by-step process written at the level where people can easily understand it and get the confidence to say, Yeah, I can do this.'
'For most students it's probably the first training class they've had since they were in high school,' Rose says. 'These people are typically much more comfortable out on the machines. But the way the classroom setting works is that we're going to engage them. We're going to make sure that they stay involved in the training.'
And stay involved they do. Rose and his staff tell students up front that they will be asked questions, lots of questions, especially if they don't pay attention. 'I treat them with respect, but I put them under pressure,' Rose says. 'Only by putting them under pressure do you get anything back.'
He treats his students with tough love because he has genuine respect for machinists. 'When you work with them, you've got to find a tool that will penetrate their armor. Make them talk. Make them relate. Make them interact. Make them communicate.
'It's not like college where the professor stands there and doesn't give a damn whether students get it or not. I give a damn. If somebody leaves here at the end of the day and goes back to do a better job for themselves and their company, then I feel that I've done my job right. If they haven't learned anything, then I feel I've failed. It's that important to me.'
Rose's dedication to training machinists led to an alliance with Cuyahoga Community College.
'Tri-C contracted with Rose Training because of the positive feedback we heard about Steve's program from corporations such as Swagelok, Parker Hannifin and Kennametal,' says Michael White, instructor and CAD/CAM program manager at Cuyahoga Community College.
Students can attend classes at either the Unified Technologies Center on the college's Metro Campus or at Rose Training in Solon, says Craig McAtee, executive director of manufacturing and applied technology at Cuyahoga Community College. The cost is the same.
Training students on CNC has begun to pay off, McAtee says. Since Rose Training initially worked for corporations, Tri-C aimed at training the smaller shops. 'They are really reaping the benefits because the big guys are much of the reason the little guys are in business,' McAtee says. 'The trickle down makes it really important that we align everything with what the big guys need.'
Promise in Metalworking
Historically, manufacturing has been the lifeblood of Cleveland. But with local manufacturing in a major slump, Rose is looking to connect with companies out of state.
'You can't necessarily find customers in your back yard,' Rose says. A Rose Training joint venture with Brookdale Associates Inc., a machine tool distributor headquartered in Agawam, Mass., has already produced solid results.
'The use of Steve Rose's comprehensive CNC training program has allowed us to raise the skill level of individuals who had little or no understanding of CNC,' says Ron C. Piela, training coordinator for Rose Training Division of Brookdale Associates: 'With the demise of apprenticeship programs, the need to provide machinist training becomes even more critical in meeting the needs of the manufacturing community.'
Piela and Rose share beliefs on the relationship between technology and people. 'What's happened in Cleveland over the years is people realized they have to buy CNC machines,' Rose says. 'CNC machines are wonderful for doing precision machining but they still require the expertise to make them run. And that's where we've lacked.'
McAtee agrees. The exodus of low-skill, low-wage jobs cannot be stopped. However, McAtee says, 'Cleveland has a high-tech economy and high-tech, high-wage jobs are what we want to keep here. CNC training certainly maps right into that.'
As for the hurdles — dirty shops, the training predicament and shops without a vision — they will be addressed, one way or another. 'The only shops that are going to be around are the ones that maximize their people potential and have a vision of where they're going,' Rose says. 'Manufacturing in Cleveland can't be the cheapest because manufacturing overseas will be cheaper. Manufacturing in Cleveland has got to be the best. It's got to have the best equipment run by the best people doing the most efficient work.
'Many companies are doing nothing except sitting around saying, What should
we do?' If we in the industry do nothing, they'll be doing it in China.'