Page 30 - Wire Rope News & Sling Technology - February 2019

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“In chapters seven and eight I also Ken Forging Offers an Opportunity to Stay and Grow
talk about GPS Educational partners At Ken Forging, in Ohio, as with many small manufacturing firms, they
and Cardinal Manufacturing as being are having some problems filling positions in areas where there is a need.
two unconventional models of putting “That’s the story all over,” says JoAnn Whetsell, Ken Forging marketing
a school inside a business – and a busi- director. “But the reality is that we have an excellent pay schedule, excellent
ness inside a school. Both of these exam- health benefits, three different shifts to choose from, and if they wish to have
ples happen to be in Wisconsin as well.” overtime hours they can also get that. Yet still, we can’t fill every opening.
Students leaving college now aver- “Once workers join Ken Forging, though, they don’t want to leave,” says
age tens of thousands, if not hundreds Whetsell. “In our forging department, Danny has been here now for 31 years.
of thousands of dollars in student loan Does that say anything?
debt. Those entering programs to find “Ken Forging has staff who have stayed in place for 16, 17, 18, 20, even
work in manufacturing typically owe 32 years.
much less money through other routes “We not only offer equal opportunity, but also listen to our employees.
for gaining an education, including We’re extremely safety-conscious. And we give our new hires a trial benefit.
starting in community colleges or tech They do not have to stay if they don’t like it here. That gives them something
schools in addition to having employers to work on.”
glad to help them with the cost as they According to Whetsell, people stay because Ken Forging has a very good
proceed with valuable training. work culture. “In fact the president and owner of our company also hap-
Terry Iverson reminds us as well that: pens to have been a worker in the plant – this is only his 49th year with
“In addition, for every one worker in the company.”
manufacturing, there are another four
employees hired elsewhere. And new re- make anything in this country any- understanding the issues. Iverson feels
search suggests impacts on the economy more. Recent years show manufactur- that in this country we’re so self-ab-
are even larger than that if we take into ing employment is up. sorbed, tuned into immediate gratifica-
consideration the entire manufacturing “As I have told my kids for a long time, tion, that understanding the whole sto-
value chain plus manufacturing for oth- there are no black and white answers to ry isn’t something that we want to do.
er industries’ supply chains. This may anything,” adds Iverson. “Everything “Likewise, when we discuss issues
cause manufacturing to account for one is a shade of gray. And in negotiation with our kids we need to help them un-
third of the GDP and employment. there should be win-win situations. derstand that there are different sides
“Sometimes it takes more time to get to issues, pros and cons. They need to
More automation, more jobs? the big picture. People inherently want know how to research details to make
“Despite the misconception that ev- to understand immediately and make an educated decision.
erything has ‘gone overseas’ and we decisions on a moment’s notice. Things “People tend to think that absolutes
make less stuff here, the GDP has gone don’t work that way. Everyone should go on for decades. but we know that
up with other indicators. Automation get something out of the deal. The only isn’t true,” adds Iverson.
has actually resulted in us making things truly black and white are death “Everything changes. Chinese wag-
more here. But because employment and taxes.” es are rising, they’re making more
numbers have gone down steadily since Decisions in turn should be based on products and acquiring more skills.
1980, everyone thinks that we don’t all the facts, as well as studying and Their wages have actually gone up.
This in turn means their cost of liv-
ing has gone up. China now has a
steadily growing middle class thanks
in part to the tremendous growth in
their manufacturing.”
Now there is competition for work-
ers. But also, every year things do be-
come more automated.
Instead of putting people out of work,
quite the opposite typically happens
– more workers are needed to manu-
facture the parts involved with the
automation. With the rise in the use
of robots and drones, there is a greater
demand for parts, tools, and programs
for running this technology.
More workers are needed to manufac-
ture parts for such equipment as well
as to service the new automation. “And
the labor for that type of work com-
mands a higher wage,” says Iverson.
“Such work has become sophisticated.
We eliminated several low-paying jobs,
for example, but may have also created
Students, administrators and instructors from Frank H. Peterson Academy, celebrate the one or more high-paying jobs. At the
CHAMPION Now organization with founder Terry Iverson and Lego Robotics Guru Mark
McCombs from Renaissance Jax. Photo © Mark McCombs, Renaissance Jax continued on page 32
30 Wire Rope News & Sling Technology February 2019