For skilled autoworkers, job opportunities abound

Josh Brown, 23, works 50 hours a week in an auto supplier line, making front and rear suspensions for General Motors. He wants to take on more technical roles and is taking engineering systems courses at Columbia State Community College in Spring Hill for his associate degree. He likes the work, as well as the prospect for increased wages.

“There’s a lot of demand for this work,” Brown said.

Brown’s father worked in material handling at GM until the company laid off about 2,000 workers during the Great Recession. Since then, the state’s unemployment rank has dropped to 3.2 percent from 11 percent, GM has ramped up production again, and several new manufacturers have moved operations to Middle Tennessee or expanded in the area.

The strengthened sector has benefited from an uptick in consumer demand, but it is now fighting for skilled workers. Just a few years ago, workers might have stayed with a lower-paying job because they did not want to risk job security, but now they are more emboldened to leave, said Jan McKeel, executive director of the South Central Tennessee Workforce Alliance.

“It is easier now to be a job seeker than to be an employer,” McKeel said. “If you’ve got the skill set, you can weigh your options. As a result, you see folks leaving for increases in wages now."

Bridgestone Americas has seen three large tire manufacturers announce plans for plants near its existing facilities in recent months, said Andrew Honeybone, Bridgestone Americas human resources vice president. As unemployment rates shrink nationally and U.S. manufacturing expands, the company has had to rethink its recruiting methods and take a more aggressive approach.

“We need to put on our sales hat and let people know why Bridgestone is where they need to be,” Honeybone said. “The demand for the skills has not changed. The only thing that has tightened up is the supply."

More: Fairview High's mechatronics degree program may receive state funding

In years past, the company could find talented individuals who were not employed, but that is no longer the case. Bridgestone must actively recruit people from other companies, and the company has sought to make better initial hires to avoid turnover.

“Our tire plants are full," Honeybone said. "Making sure we are getting hiring right, versus just churning people through the system and hopefully they stick around, is a big focus for us.”

Perceptions of manufacturing jobs shift

Part of the solution to growing the workforce involves changing the mindset around manufacturing. For many families in Middle Tennessee who worked in the auto sector, they have experienced layoffs or stalled wages for labor-intensive or repetitive jobs, McKeel said.

“We were hit by the recession in 2009 and 2010 and 2011," McKeel said. "There were so many families devastated by the layoffs. They got out of manufacturing.”

If multiple family members lost auto-related jobs, the next generation may have shied away from a trade that lacked security and advancement, McKeel said. But the factory jobs have changed vastly in the past decade, and wages, after years of stagnation, have begun to improve.

"You didn’t want to be in manufacturing. Plants are shutting down, people are moving overseas," Honeybone said, referring to mindsets developed in the 1990s. "You are going to see, regardless of your political affiliation, a resurgence in manufacturing based in the U.S., and those are good jobs.”

The automation that is improving manufacturing efficiencies has shifted the workforce needs nationwide. Companies need fewer line workers and more craftsmen with advanced technological skills and the ability to operate, program and fix new robotic tools.

“There is a misconception that automation eliminates jobs,” McKeel said. “It makes for different jobs.”

Brown said his father, who spent 30 years with GM, supports his decision to pursue manufacturing, but he also has encouraged him to seek higher degrees that will help him advance in the trade.

"He just really wanted me to go to school," he said.

Solutions

Government leaders, employers and educators have sought to respond to the manufacturing workforce needs. At Maury County high schools and at Fairview High School in Williamson County, students can obtain an associate degree in mechatronics, allowing them to enter the field upon graduating. Funding for the programs came from Gov. Bill Haslam's $10 million Labor Education Alignment Program grants.

The classes are full, with 40 students in each grade level participating, said Dave Allen, Williamson County director of career and technical education.

"They will graduate with a degree in engineering systems technology," Allen said. "This is also a fantastic background for students who want to go on into a four-year program."

Those students who choose to go into the field directly could see annual incomes exceeding $50,000, McKeel said.

McKeel credits the Tennessee Promise program, which eliminates tuition costs for community colleges, and Tennessee Reconnect, which helps adults complete degrees or gain new skills, with helping to confront the state's labor issues.

“Tennessee has done so many things right, especially in manufacturing," McKeel said. "We are changing the mindset, where whatever stage of your life you are in, you do need more training, be it Tennessee College of Applied Technology or community college or a four-year school. I think that is a game changer."

Reach Jamie McGee at 615-259-8071 and on Twitter @JamieMcGee_.

Tennessee auto and parts manufacturing employees

High: June 2000, 1.3 million

Low: June 2009, 623,300

December 2017: 941,500

Average annual wages in 2016

First-line supervisors of production and operating workers: $70,870

Assemblers and fabricators: $46,590

Machinists: $50,910

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics