Amid all of the challenges facing the U.S. automotive manufacturing, the situation in one sector was described this week by experts in blunt terms.

"There's a dire shortage," said Doug Richman, vice president of engineering at Kaiser Aluminum, about the tool & die industry.

He continued: "Industry progress is limited by talent today."

The tool & die issue is a particular concern for Michigan, which has the largest concentrations of openings in the U.S. in the Grand Rapids-Wyoming area. The second largest concentration in the country is in Metro Detroit.

And it's a sign of where the U.S. auto industry is headed with its manufacturing employment base, which is changing rapidly due to automation and technology.

"There is an excess of 2 million jobs that will not be filled because we lack the appropriately skilled, educated talent," said David Cole, director emeritus of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor.

CAR issued a report this week that drills into how that affects automotive tooling.

With the tool & die industry - which is the first manufacturing stop for engineered vehicles, making the molds for which auto components are made - the problem is acute, threatening to curtail its ability to compete globally, CAR experts said this week at their first West Michigan conference on that segment of the supplier base.

"Tooling is a constraint, moving forward," said Kristin Dziczek, CAR's director of industry, labor and economics group.

CAR said it estimates that the hours of tool and die build required to support launch and product refreshes at just the Detroit Three automakers will increase by 60 percent between 2017 and 2019. "Both captive and independent tool shops will struggle to meet the coming demand," according to the report.

Yet the number of automotive tool and die makers fell 4 percent between 2013 and 2014, and projections call for another contraction by 2024. That followed nearly a decade of no hiring in the trade.

However, the report says, "the top line erosion in employment levels obscures what is going on under the surface of the labor market."

According to CAR:

A vast majority-- nearly three out of every four tool and die makers--are over the age of 45.

The share of tool and die workers under the age of 35 across all industries is just over 2 percent.

Roughly 2 in 5 current tool and die workers are either eligible to retire--or will be eligible in the next 5-7 years.

Retirement attrition creates a need to hire thousands of new tool and die workers to backfill these positions.

"Seventy-seven percent of the current tool & die workforce is over age 45," said Dziczek. "We're driving a lot of replacement hiring."

At the same time that the industry in Michigan is looking at an inadequate employment base, it's also facing a number of other pressures.

One is global sourcing. China is one country that is a key competitor, as it aggressively sets up shops and finds workers.

Another is materials changes, along with how they're processed. New materials and new technologies are resulting from "lightweighting," or the effort to trim weight from vehicles in order to improve emissions, said Dziczek.

"The processes are changing dramatically," Dziczek said.

That's prompting changes in skills for the tool & die manufacturing workers, who need to be partners in the engineering process. From the CAR report:

"Tool and die makers possess a broad array of mechanical, mathematical, analytical, and engineering knowledge. They must have an understanding of the production process, and be adept at using computers and electronic tools. Tool, die, and mold makers must utilize well developed problem-solving skills, good judgement in decision-making, and work well within a team manufacturing environment. "

In 2016, the average annual wage for a tool and die worker in motor vehicle manufacturing was nearly $66,000--with a 10th-to-90th wage percentile range of $52,970 to $78,160, according to CAR.

Solving the employment problem in Michigan's the tool & die industry is a goal of CAR and many of the companies attending the conference in Grand Rapids.

They will work with the state and OEMs to increase participation in apprenticeships and target the training needs by younger people on the job today, given how it can take up to 10 years for a die setter to reach proficiency.

"We live or die by the quality of our tooling," said Richman.