Challenges

• Senior people are retiring, leaving a gap in both knowledge and experience.
• People are graduating with academic and technical skills, but without the practical experience or wisdom to know how to make things work.
• Potential liabilities restrict the ability to bring young people onto manufacturing worksites
• There is a lack of training for manufacturing management at the post-secondary level, including strategic thinking, understanding of manufacturing, entrepreneurship, finance, technical and operational management, and the management of innovation.
• Middle management and supervisory skills need to be improved.
• Smaller companies frequently lack basic business management skills associated with communication, marketing, business planning, risk management, decision-making, human resources, financial skills, productivity improvement, and business applications.
• Advisory services for small businesses are often too general or too academic to assist in solving practical business problems.
• Smaller companies are unsure how to access management and leadership expertise.
• Companies outside major urban centres report difficulties attracting professional staff or outside experts to provide basic managerial support.
• There is a lack of mentorship programs, internships, and role models.
• Many smaller owner-operated firms lack the knowledge or capacity for proper succession planning.
• Smaller companies report difficulties in training employees to assume management responsibilities.

“Young people know what, but not as many know how.”

“It’s hard to teach management skills in-house.”

Recommendations for Action

Manufacturers must work with secondary schools, colleges, and universities to raise the level of practical experience in modern manufacturing. More practical experience for both teachers and students is needed in engineering, technical education, and business programs.

Colleges and universities must expand their co-op and internship programs, and manufacturers must work with educational institutions to provide interns with the experience and knowledge they would value in a new employee.

Secondary schools, colleges, and universities must expand their programs in entrepreneurship and basic management skills. These skills should be taught as part of vocational, technical, and engineering programs.