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Business Journals
09-05-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
Real-world solutions for manufacturers navigating talent shortages and training barriers
Ask any manufacturer in Southwest Ohio about their biggest challenge today and you'll likely get the same answer: people. The skilled labor shortage is no longer a looming threat, it's a daily reality. And while many businesses are scrambling to plug holes with short-term fixes, the truth is that sustainable workforce development requires a long-term, strategic approach rooted in real-world solutions. At TechSolve, we work with hundreds of manufacturers each year, ranging from small shops to global suppliers and one thing is clear: The companies seeing real results are those investing in talent development as part of their core growth strategy. Why short-term fixes fall short Temporary staffing, sign-on bonuses and crash-course training might fill gaps in the short term, but they rarely build a workforce that's ready for the future. Technology is advancing, supply chains are tightening and customer expectations are rising. Manufacturers need employees who are not just present, but prepared and engaged. To close the skills gap, companies must commit to continuous training and development, upskilling existing employees and building stronger connections with local talent pipelines. A continuous learning culture isn't a quick fix, it's a mindset shift. Local resources are available Southwest Ohio is home to some of the most impactful workforce resources in the country. Yet many manufacturers aren't taking full advantage. Here are three tools we consistently recommend: Ohio TechCred This statewide program reimburses businesses for training employees in tech-focused skills, from CNC programming to cybersecurity and far beyond. Employers choose the credential and training provider, submit a simple online application and get reimbursed once the training is complete. TechCred reduces the financial barrier to upskilling and makes continuous learning more accessible. Career-technical education (CTE) partners When manufacturers and educators collaborate, great things happen. Butler Tech, among others in our region, are leading the way in aligning training with real industry needs, offering programs that prepare students for in-demand careers in manufacturing and logistics. These programs are more than talent pipelines — they're long-term partnerships. TechSolve's workforce services As a designated Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) center, TechSolve helps companies connect the dots between workforce needs and solutions. We work with manufacturers to map out training plans, identify available funding and navigate the often-complex landscape of workforce programs. Whether you're applying for TechCred, partnering with a school or building an internal training model, we're here to guide the process. TechSolve offers in-person and online training programs. Collaboration is the competitive edge Solving the workforce equation isn't just about internal changes, it's about building bridges. Manufacturers who partner with educators, government programs and workforce organizations are creating stronger, more sustainable pipelines. And they're seeing the results in productivity, retention and competitiveness. At TechSolve, we're committed to helping manufacturers build and retain the talent they need to thrive, not just today, but five and 10 years from now. That means sharing best practices, making the most of public resources and helping leadership teams integrate workforce strategy into their overall business plan. The workforce challenge isn't going away, but it can be solved. With the right resources, partnerships, and commitment to long-term success, manufacturers can turn workforce development from a roadblock into a growth driver. We understand the frustration of dealing with skills gaps and turnover – it's costly and disruptive. With the right training and leadership development, your culture can become a driver of growth. To learn how TechSolve can support your workforce strategy, visit our website. Dan Catalano is the president and CEO of TechSolve, a Cincinnati-based organization dedicated to helping manufacturers solve operational challenges through continuous improvement, advanced technology adoption, and workforce development.
Miami Herald
23-04-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Trump touts manufacturing while undercutting state efforts to help factories
Steve Whalen loves his home state of Delaware and he's proud to manufacture computers there that police officers use to "catch bad guys." He said tariffs on imports from China and other countries, along with sharp cuts to government spending and the winding down of a program for small manufacturers, will make it harder for him to do that. "We got into business to keep costs low for the 'good guys,' but tariffs or anything else that raises prices keeps us from doing that," said Whalen, co-founder of Sumuri LLC in Magnolia, Delaware, which makes computer workstations for police and government investigations. Whalen has to buy materials overseas, often from China, and he said the tariffs could force him to triple his price on some workstations to $12,000. Tariffs are the main tool President Donald Trump is wielding to try to boost manufacturing in the United States, calling the achievement of that goal "an economic and national security priority." But the higher levies have led to retaliation and suspended shipments, and Whalen said they are just one of several Trump administration actions squeezing his small manufacturing business. The wave of federal spending cuts, which has affected grants to state and local governments, could make his customers put off purchases. And the administration has moved to cut off funding for a $175 million state-based program that provides expert advice to smaller factories like his. The Delaware version of that program, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, helped Sumuri fit expanded product lines into the limited space in its small-town factory. "We were really having a tough time trying to figure out how to utilize our space efficiently," Whalen said. "They came here and helped us organize and optimize, and it made a huge difference." On April 1, the Trump administration cut off funding for 10 such manufacturing programs that were up for renewal in Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota and Wyoming. Other state MEP programs will expire over the next year. The administration gave a reprieve to those 10 states until the end of the fiscal year after objections from Democrats in the U.S. House and Senate. The National Institute of Standards and Technology, which manages the program, extended funding for the 10 states "after further review and consideration" and will "continue to evaluate plans for the program," said agency spokesperson Chad Boutin. The program has come under fire from Republicans since the George W. Bush administration first tried to end it in 2009, and again during the first Trump administration, but Congress has continued to fund it. The conservative Heritage Foundation said in a 2023 book that MEP's functions "would be more properly carried out by the private sector." 'Dots don't quite connect' Buckley Brinkman, executive director of the Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing and Productivity, which works with his state's MEP program, said it didn't make much sense for the administration to shutter the program as it seeks to boost the number of U.S. manufacturing jobs. "It's one of those things where the dots don't quite connect," Brinkman said. "I mean, jeez, here's a part of government that doesn't cost a whole lot, in the grand scheme of things - less than $200 million a year - that's returning 10-to-1 to the national treasury, working on a priority for the president." A 2024 Upjohn report found an even higher return: 17-to-1 on $175 million in the 2023 fiscal year, creating $3 billion in new federal tax revenue. In Wisconsin, which has lost more than 138,000 manufacturing jobs since 2000, some parts makers report that business is booming as manufacturers seek to avoid tariffs by finding U.S. alternatives to Chinese manufacturers, Brinkman said. But more broadly, he doubts that the tariffs will spark a manufacturing boom in the state. "Do we want all this manufacturing back? Do we have the will to get it back? The answer to both those questions is 'no,'" Brinkman said. "Even without the tariffs we don't really want Americans doing a lot of those jobs that are in Chinese factories right now." In Delaware, the MEP helped Sumuri manage its expansion, but unpredictable tariffs and budgets are now a bigger danger, said Jason Roslewicz, Sumuri's vice president of business development. He's had to devote two employees to monitoring supply lines, tariff news and competitor pricing to stay afloat. "We went from putting things together in a basement to a 19,000-square-foot facility, doing exactly what we're supposed to do here in the U.S., and it's all in danger of coming apart because of this problem," Roslewicz said. Other small manufacturers express similar concerns. TJ Semanchin, who owns Wonderstate Coffee in Madison, Wisconsin, said his business roasting and distributing coffee is in crisis because of the tariffs. Wonderstate's costs have almost doubled between tariffs on imported coffee and packaging materials from China, plus a cyclical rise in coffee prices. "I'm borrowing money to pay for this and at some point we'll have to raise prices. We'll have no choice," Semanchin said. But many Republican state officials, and even some Democrats, have backed Trump's tariff push, including Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who credited the Trump administration with "reshoring manufacturing and restoring this middle class which has been eviscerated over the last 20 years." "There's dislocation in the short term, there's long-term opportunity," Youngkin said in an April 15 interview on CNBC. He said his state is hearing more interest from manufacturers looking to build or expand local factories since Trump took office. For instance, Delta Star recently announced a plan to add 300 jobs building power transformers in Lynchburg. "The president has been clear that there will be some level of tariffs, and folks are coming, and that's good for Virginia," Youngkin said in the CNBC interview. Virginia's MEP program, called Genedge, claims successes in streamlining production and quality control for local factory products including TreeDiaper, an automated tree watering device made in Ashland, and for advising EDM, a Lynchburg plastic product assembler that needed more efficient production to keep overseas competition at bay. But Virginia's MEP is one of the state programs slated to expire in the next year. Long-term trend The slide in U.S. manufacturing jobs has continued on and off since 1979, and many experts say tariffs will not bring them back. Despite a modest bounce back under the Biden administration, the number of manufacturing jobs has declined from nearly 20 million in 1979 to less than 13 million today, even as the total U.S. workforce has grown from 89 million to 159 million during that period. Manufacturing faces labor shortages, with many factories operating below capacity because they can't find enough workers, according to Jason Miller, a professor of supply chain management at Michigan State University. That doesn't bode well for a mass reshoring of factories from China and other countries, but Miller doesn't expect that to happen anyway. "Firms are not planning on reshoring much of the work that was offshored 20 to 25 years ago," Miller said. "I'm not concerned about having enough workers for manufacturing jobs that would be reshored because this isn't going to happen." In a 2024 survey by the libertarian Cato Institute, 80% of Americans said America would be better off if more people worked in manufacturing, but only 25% said they personally would be better off working in a factory. The Chinese government has poked fun at the idea with memes of American workers struggling to make Nike sneakers with sewing machines. Joseph McCartin, a labor historian at Georgetown University, said the idea of a manufacturing rebirth is a "mirage being conjured to attract the support of workers who have been underpaid in an increasingly unequal economy for the last 40 years, and are desperate for some hope of renewed upward mobility." Manufacturing "isn't the magic wand to make that happen," McCartin said. "What we need is to raise workers' wages and make the economy less prone to producing inequality," McCartin said. "That mission is not at all what Trump is about. He is dealing in stale nostalgia." ____ Stateline reporter Tim Henderson can be reached atthenderson@ Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump touts manufacturing while undercutting state efforts to help factories
Employee Jericho Talatala assembles a forensic computer workstation used in police investigations at the Sumuri LLC plant in Magnolia, Del., which could be hurt by tariffs and reduced government spending. Tariffs meant to encourage U.S. manufacturing could have the opposite effect because many materials are imported from China. (Courtesy of Sumuri LLC) Steve Whalen loves his home state of Delaware and he's proud to manufacture computers there that police officers use to 'catch bad guys.' He said tariffs on imports from China and other countries, along with sharp cuts to government spending and the winding down of a program for small manufacturers, will make it harder for him to do that. 'We got into business to keep costs low for the 'good guys,' but tariffs or anything else that raises prices keeps us from doing that,' said Whalen, co-founder of Sumuri LLC in Magnolia, Delaware, which makes computer workstations for police and government investigations. Whalen has to buy materials overseas, often from China, and he said the tariffs could force him to triple his price on some workstations to $12,000. Tariffs are the main tool President Donald Trump is wielding to try to boost manufacturing in the United States, calling the achievement of that goal 'an economic and national security priority.' But the higher levies have led to retaliation and suspended shipments, and Whalen said they are just one of several Trump administration actions squeezing his small manufacturing business. The wave of federal spending cuts, which has affected grants to state and local governments, could make his customers put off purchases. And the administration has moved to cut off funding for a $175 million state-based program that provides expert advice to smaller factories like his. USDA cuts hit small farms as Trump showers billions on big farms The Delaware version of that program, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, helped Sumuri fit expanded product lines into the limited space in its small-town factory. 'We were really having a tough time trying to figure out how to utilize our space efficiently,' Whalen said. 'They came here and helped us organize and optimize, and it made a huge difference.' On April 1, the Trump administration cut off funding for 10 such manufacturing programs that were up for renewal in Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota and Wyoming. Other state MEP programs will expire over the next year. The administration gave a reprieve to those 10 states until the end of the fiscal year after objections from Democrats in the U.S. House and Senate. The National Institute of Standards and Technology, which manages the program, extended funding for the 10 states 'after further review and consideration' and will 'continue to evaluate plans for the program,' said agency spokesperson Chad Boutin. The program has come under fire from Republicans since the George W. Bush administration first tried to end it in 2009, and again during the first Trump administration, but Congress has continued to fund it. The conservative Heritage Foundation said in a 2023 book that MEP's functions 'would be more properly carried out by the private sector.' Buckley Brinkman, executive director of the Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing and Productivity, which works with his state's MEP program, said it didn't make much sense for the administration to shutter the program as it seeks to boost the number of U.S. manufacturing jobs. 'It's one of those things where the dots don't quite connect,' Brinkman said. 'I mean, jeez, here's a part of government that doesn't cost a whole lot, in the grand scheme of things — less than $200 million a year — that's returning 10-to-1 to the national treasury, working on a priority for the president.' A 2024 Upjohn report found an even higher return: 17-to-1 on $175 million in the 2023 fiscal year, creating $3 billion in new federal tax revenue. In Wisconsin, which has lost more than 138,000 manufacturing jobs since 2000, some parts makers report that business is booming as manufacturers seek to avoid tariffs by finding U.S. alternatives to Chinese manufacturers, Brinkman said. But more broadly, he doubts that the tariffs will spark a manufacturing boom in the state. 'Do we want all this manufacturing back? Do we have the will to get it back? The answer to both those questions is 'no,'' Brinkman said. 'Even without the tariffs we don't really want Americans doing a lot of those jobs that are in Chinese factories right now.' I mean, jeez, here's a part of government that doesn't cost a whole lot, in the grand scheme of things … that's returning 10-to-1 to the national treasury. – Buckley Brinkman, director of Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing and Productivity In Delaware, the MEP helped Sumuri manage its expansion, but unpredictable tariffs and budgets are now a bigger danger, said Jason Roslewicz, Sumuri's vice president of business development. He's had to devote two employees to monitoring supply lines, tariff news and competitor pricing to stay afloat. 'We went from putting things together in a basement to a 19,000-square-foot facility, doing exactly what we're supposed to do here in the U.S., and it's all in danger of coming apart because of this problem,' Roslewicz said. Other small manufacturers express similar concerns. TJ Semanchin, who owns Wonderstate Coffee in Madison, Wisconsin, said his business roasting and distributing coffee is in crisis because of the tariffs. Wonderstate's costs have almost doubled between tariffs on imported coffee and packaging materials from China, plus a cyclical rise in coffee prices. 'I'm borrowing money to pay for this and at some point we'll have to raise prices. We'll have no choice,' Semanchin said. But many Republican state officials, and even some Democrats, have backed Trump's tariff push, including Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who credited the Trump administration with 'reshoring manufacturing and restoring this middle class which has been eviscerated over the last 20 years.' 'There's dislocation in the short term, there's long-term opportunity,' Youngkin said in an April 15 interview on CNBC. He said his state is hearing more interest from manufacturers looking to build or expand local factories since Trump took office. For instance, Delta Star recently announced a plan to add 300 jobs building power transformers in Lynchburg. 'The president has been clear that there will be some level of tariffs, and folks are coming, and that's good for Virginia,' Youngkin said in the CNBC interview. Virginia's MEP program, called Genedge, claims successes in streamlining production and quality control for local factory products including TreeDiaper, an automated tree watering device made in Ashland, and for advising EDM, a Lynchburg plastic product assembler that needed more efficient production to keep overseas competition at bay. But Virginia's MEP is one of the state programs slated to expire in the next year. The slide in U.S. manufacturing jobs has continued on and off since 1979, and many experts say tariffs will not bring them back. Despite a modest bounce back under the Biden administration, the number of manufacturing jobs has declined from nearly 20 million in 1979 to less than 13 million today, even as the total U.S. workforce has grown from 89 million to 159 million during that period. Manufacturing already has made a comeback Manufacturing faces labor shortages, with many factories operating below capacity because they can't find enough workers, according to Jason Miller, a professor of supply chain management at Michigan State University. That doesn't bode well for a mass reshoring of factories from China and other countries, but Miller doesn't expect that to happen anyway. 'Firms are not planning on reshoring much of the work that was offshored 20 to 25 years ago,' Miller said. 'I'm not concerned about having enough workers for manufacturing jobs that would be reshored because this isn't going to happen.' In a 2024 survey by the libertarian Cato Institute, 80% of Americans said America would be better off if more people worked in manufacturing, but only 25% said they personally would be better off working in a factory. The Chinese government has poked fun at the idea with memes of American workers struggling to make Nike sneakers with sewing machines. Joseph McCartin, a labor historian at Georgetown University, said the idea of a manufacturing rebirth is a 'mirage being conjured to attract the support of workers who have been underpaid in an increasingly unequal economy for the last 40 years, and are desperate for some hope of renewed upward mobility.' Manufacturing 'isn't the magic wand to make that happen,' McCartin said. 'What we need is to raise workers' wages and make the economy less prone to producing inequality,' McCartin said. 'That mission is not at all what Trump is about. He is dealing in stale nostalgia.' Stateline reporter Tim Henderson can be reached at thenderson@ SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump Administration Reverses Funding Cuts for Program That Supports Small Manufacturers
The Trump administration will walk back its decision to pull nearly $13 million in funding from the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program. The public-private partnership supports small and medium-sized manufacturers, which make up about 98% of firms in the U.S. Funding will now continue 'through the end of the fiscal year,' according to an announcement by U.S. Representative Sharice Davids (D-KS-03). Most Read on 132-Year-Old Pyrex Plant Closes for Good After Four Shutdown Delays Northrop Grumman Expands Manufacturing Capacity in Alabama Illinois Pipe Plant Destroyed by Fire ABB Opens $40 Million Manufacturing Facility in New Mexico On April 1, the Trump administration initially decided to cease funding for MEP centers with contracts up for renewal in 10 states. A statement by U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) identified the affected states as Hawaii, Delaware, Kansas, Iowa, Mississippi, Maine, New Mexico, Nevada, Wyoming and North Dakota. Davids called the Trump administration's reversal a temporary solution and pointed to her recently introduced Defend American Manufacturing Act as a way to provide long-term certainty for state manufacturing offices. The legislation would mandate that the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), which oversees the MEP program, renew and award MEP centers' contracts annually. Davids said the measure would free the program's funding from 'politically motivated decisions.' Funding will continue for now, but the national network of 51 MEP centers still faces an uncertain future as further cuts loom in the Trump administration's proposed fiscal year 2026 budget. A letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick co-signed by Baldwin and 14 other senators said dismantling the MEP program 'undermine decades of federal investment in domestic manufacturing resilience,' including $175 million in fiscal year 2025. The letter also referenced a report from the Upjohn Institute and Summit Consulting, which found that the MEP program delivered a financial return of more than 17:1 on the $175 million in federal funding it received in fiscal year 2023. Authorized by President Ronald Reagan in 1988, the MEP program has contributed to $34.2 billion in cost savings, $152.2 billion in new sales and supported the creation and retention of over 1.7 million jobs. The Department of Commerce section of Project 2025 mentions cutting funding for the MEP program. Thomas F. Gilman, who held two positions in the Commerce Department during President Donald Trump's first term, wrote the section. Click here to subscribe to our daily newsletter featuring breaking manufacturing industry news.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trans Congresswoman Sarah McBride just got Trump to reverse himself in victory for Delaware
President Donald Trump may have signed an executive order erasing federal recognition of transgender people, but one trans member of Congress just reminded him that she exists — and that she fights to win. Keep up with the latest in + news and politics. Rep. Sarah McBride, the first-year Democrat from Delaware and the first out transgender member of Congress forced the Trump administration into a high-profile reversal this week after it tried to slash funding for a critical manufacturing support program in her home state. The Trump administration's National Institute of Standards and Technology informed McBride on April 1 that Delaware's Manufacturing Extension Partnership — a program that helps small and mid-sized manufacturers grow, innovate, and retain jobs — would lose federal funding. Related: Transgender Rep. Sarah McBride calls out 'weird' obsession by Republicans in whose minds 'I appear to live rent-free' 'The Trump administration thought it could quietly dismantle this critical program — but we didn't let that happen,' McBride said in a statement. 'Cutting support for small and mid-sized manufacturers wasn't just misguided, it was unacceptable.' The move was part of Trump's broader effort to dismantle large portions of the federal government — including programs that help working families — while advancing an explicitly anti-LGBTQ+ agenda. As The Advocate previously reported, one of Trump's first actions after returning to the White House in January was signing an executive order declaring that the U.S. government would no longer recognize transgender or nonbinary people. But while Trump's administration refuses to acknowledge McBride's identity, it couldn't ignore her power. Within hours of learning about the planned cuts, McBride organized a letter to Trump Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, signed by 86 House Democrats, demanding the administration reverse course. The letter argued that stripping funding from the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership, created by Congress in 1988, was counterproductive — especially from an administration that claims to support American manufacturing. Related: Donald Trump, who has been on a mission to strip transgender people of all dignity, complains 'everything is transgender' 'To manufacture at home, we must support American manufacturers,' McBride and her colleagues wrote. On Tuesday, NIST informed McBride that funding for DEMEP and nine other affected MEP centers would be renewed through the end of the fiscal year — a victory McBride called only a first step. A press release from McBride's office noted that DEMEP has supported $42.5 million in new investments in Delaware and helped retain over 400 manufacturing jobs in the past year alone. One of those success stories is SUMURI, a digital forensics company that provides investigative tools to law enforcement agencies worldwide. 'Without DEMEP's help, we would have imploded,' said SUMURI co-founder Steve Whalen. 'We're grateful to our Congresswoman for fighting for this funding — because DEMEP will continue helping small businesses across our state, just like they did for ours.' McBride's fight against the funding cuts is just the latest example of how LGBTQ+ leaders are resisting Trump's sweeping attacks and winning. 'We are grateful to our Congressional delegation for their leadership in protecting DEMEP's federal funding for at least another six months,' DEMEP's Fiduciary Board chair Lora Johnson said. 'This welcome reprieve will ensure that DEMEP can continue to provide critical services to our state's manufacturing sector, offering support that helps our manufacturers grow sustainably, solve problems, and create jobs here in Delaware.'
