Rain previously worked for Honda, which uses FANUC robots. Honda is planning to expand its electric vehicle capabilities, including building a new factory in Fayette County. Honda has separately announced an expansion to its Troy location.
“Most of our students are already spoken for,” Rain said regarding job searches. “We generally have a handful that don’t already have employment. So if we can get a mass influx coming in — granted, we’re working hard to market ... get the buzz up — but the more we can get in, the more we can put out.”
Credit: Bryant Billing
Credit: Bryant Billing
Nick Hoffman, who recently graduated and is an apprentice at United Grinding, based in Miamisburg, said his company uses FANUC robots. He said robots are often doing tasks that are not ergonomic or are harder for a human to do.
The state of Ohio is brainstorming new ways to push more people to get the skills that will qualify them for in-demand jobs, including the many factory jobs that have come or are scheduled to come to the state. In addition to Honda, Royal Canin opens this week in Preble County, the GM DMAX plant is expanding in Brookville, and Semcorp has been hiring in Sidney.
To accomplish that goal, the state has been investing in Sinclair Community College, which is training thousands of students and has many of the high-skill workforce development programs for the region.
The most recent investment is a waiver allowing high school students interested in factory-related jobs to take certain College Credit Plus classes toward earning job credentials, even if they don’t have a 3.0 or better GPA.
Industrial machinery mechanics and machinists are among the most in-demand jobs in the state, according to the Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation. More than 2,200 openings are estimated across the state for industrial machinery mechanics, whose median salary is estimated at about $60,000 per year. Machinists earn about $47,000 per year, according to the same source, and more than 2,600 openings are estimated across the state.
Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel, who visited Sinclair on Tuesday to talk about workforce opportunities, said he wanted to make sure that when these big factories come in and some people inevitably move from smaller factories to larger ones, there are still enough people to go around.
Credit: Bryant Billing
Credit: Bryant Billing
But he said he would like to nail down better what the exact workforce needs are, and suggested it was also important to teach younger students soft skills like being on-time for work. Awareness of the technical skill needed for a modern factory job would be helpful too, he said.
He also challenged companies to offer more internships and opportunities for students.
“We have two really north stars right now here under Governor DeWine,” Tressel said. “Number one, we need to increase the workforce participation because we have so many opportunities that are coming to Ohio. And two, we want to raise the wages of our people in Ohio and give them a chance to live their version of the American dream.”
Credit: Bryant Billing
Credit: Bryant Billing
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