Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Login
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Resin pricing news
    • Videos
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • CEO Issue
    • Diversity
    • Best Places to Work
      • 2022 winners
    • Processor of the Year
    • Rising Stars
    • Women Breaking the Mold
      • 2022 class
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • K Show Livestream
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Resin Prices
    • All Resins
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
News
July 28, 1997 02:00 AM

TRAINING TOPS FIRMS' WISH LIST, SURVEY SAYS

Christina Stehno PLASTICS NEWS STAFF
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print

    CHICAGO — It's summer now, but some companies would like to send their employees back to school early.

    According to a June 17 survey conducted at NPE 1997 by DuPont Engineering Polymers, nearly 45 percent of the 942 respondents believe finding and keeping skilled workers is the most pressing challenge facing their businesses today. A similar survey taken at NPE '94 did not show any one outstanding concern by employers, with only 24 percent of the 345 respondents voicing worry about keeping skilled employees.

    ``The low unemployment in the [United States] makes it a challenge to find qualified people,'' Erik Fyrwald, director of engineering materials for DuPont Automotive in Troy, Mich., said in a post-show telephone interview.

    The challenges of education and global competitiveness are ``very related,'' Fyrwald said.

    ``With the increasing sophistication of the processes, the increasing sophistication of the parts and the increasing sophistication in the use of information technology tools, you need increasingly capable people to run and operate your plants,'' he said. ``With the competitive pressures, we need to involve fully all of our employees as businesspeople with areas of specialty, and that requires more skills and education.''

    According to Mark Brown, vice president of NPE exhibitor Burger Engineering Inc. of Olathe, Kan., it is ``becoming more difficult to find skilled people.''

    Burger is a metalworking firm that makes special machines, precision injection molds and computer numerically controlled machining equipment. The company offers an apprenticeship program and works closely with the National Tooling and Machinery Association of Fort Washington, Md., to teach machining skills.

    The DuPont poll found that 80.6 percent of the respondents believe training and certification are greatly or somewhat needed for shop-floor workers.

    ``In-house training costs and mobility of people cause manufacturers to spend lots of time training people, and then [those people] leave. This way all employees would be at the same level,'' said Hank Bornhoff, sales manager for Future Design Inc. of Brampton, Ontario, an auxiliary equipment manufacturer.

    Lou Borrelli, customer service manager of Polyshot Inc., said, ``Certification is significantly needed in our industry.

    ``It would help the industry if all workers were doing certain things and were schooled in the same knowledge about machining and processes. More education is needed, and certification could help lead to some of that. There are more advantages to both the company and its customers if workers are trained correctly.''

    Polyshot, based in Henrietta, N.Y., makes runnerless molding systems.

    However, one category of respondents did not name keeping skilled employees as the top challenge for their businesses. Global competition concerned 25.4 percent of suppliers of resins, compounds and additives; only 19.2 percent worried about skilled workers.

    Nearly 61 percent of the poll's total respondents believe North America offers their companies the most potential for growth of any region worldwide.

    ``So much is going on right now in North America, especially in Mexico and the United States,'' said Steven Dively, national sales manager of industrial coatings maker Armaloy Corp. in Dekalb, Ill. ``In our business, it's here where we need to concentrate our efforts.

    ``If I had to rank other markets important to us, I'd say that Asia is second and Europe is third,'' he said. ``But in my viewpoint, North America has the most opportunity for us. It keeps our facilities busy.''

    Notably, only 3.8 percent of respondents are worried about environmental compliance, making that issue their least concern, according to the DuPont poll.

    But Dave Brown, vice president of operations at Palmer Paint Products Inc. in Troy, Mich., considers environmental issues to be some firms' greatest challenge.

    Palmer uses mostly polyethylene to package its arts and crafts paints, but it also uses PET and polystyrene.

    ``We are worried about how long it will be before we are required to use other materials or we will need to use more recycled [products],'' Brown said.

    ``A few years ago, Wal-Mart had a whole section for recyclable materials. We thought that everyone would pick up on that and it would hurt market share or shelf placement, but it went away,'' he said, adding that he still worries about that push coming back.

    DuPont polled the respondents during the NPE 1997 show, which ran June 16-20 in Chicago.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    DOJ files criminal charges against ABC Polymer over worker death
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    Private equity buyer HIG outbids rivals for Avient's distribution unit
    2
    Material Insights: Despite one big increase, more resin prices now poised for decreases
    3
    Charter Next Generation buys Ohio films business
    4
    Industry asks court to quash Canada's single-use plastics ban
    5
    Numbers that Matter Live - August 2022
    SIGN UP FOR TO RECEIVE THESE EMAILS AND ENEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Urethanes Technology
    • European Rubber Journal
    • Tire Business
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2022. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • CEO Issue
        • Diversity
        • Best Places to Work
          • 2022 winners
        • Processor of the Year
        • Rising Stars
        • Women Breaking the Mold
          • 2022 class
      • Newsletters
      • Resin pricing news
      • Videos
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • K Show Livestream
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
      • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Resin Prices
      • All Resins
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified