STRATEGIES FOR AN AGEING WORKFORCE

The present economic downturn presents both a tremendous opportunity and a challenge for most companies. Having had to lay off workers or reduce hours and keep a keen eye on expenses in order to stay afloat, the challenge for management and their remaining employees is to learn how to do more with less. The opportunity, though, is that this is an ideal time to put processes in place so that employees can work more efficiently, and to take a hard look at the assets you do have and to capitalize on them.

One of any company?s greatest assets is its people, and nowhere is this more obvious than in the metalworking industry. Unfortunately, there is a significant shortfall in skilled machinists as ageing workers move toward retirement and are not being replaced by comparably skilled younger workers. However, as Climax Portable Machine Tools recognized, older, highly-skilled workers have a vital role to play both within and outside an organization, and companies would be wise to take a lesson from Climax?s playbook.

A CULTURE OF PARTICIPATION
Climax Portable Machine Tools (Newberg, OR) has been in operation for more than 40 years and pioneered the portable machine tool concept. It specializes in developing innovative processes and machining solutions that help companies perform in-situ repair and maintenance of heavy equipment in such diverse industries as power (including nuclear, wind, and fossil), shipbuilding, and mining and construction.

The company has seen increased demand worldwide for their consulting services, sales and rentals of its custom and standard precision portable machining tools, as well as its training programs. It boasts a staff of 120 employees, including 46 machinists, many of whom have been with the company for 20 years or more.

Portable machine tools include boring bars, flange facers, linear and key mills, and circular mills. They have the same precision and strength as stationery machines, but are modular in design so they can be shipped directly to a job site and mounted to the piece of equipment to be repaired.

Often machining projects that would be seemingly impossible or highly challenging to do with stationery tools can be accomplished with a portable machine tool. As a result, these tools are being used as a supplement to stationery equipment by in-house machine shops and those that also offer field machining services.

Some of the most popular portable machine tools used for on-site machining are boring bars, auto-bore welders, and portable linear mills. For example, the exceptionally rigid LM6000 portable linear mill is designed to handle the most demanding machining conditions. Its high spindle torque removes metal at up to 7.0 cu ipm (114.8 cu cm) for fast, aggressive milling even in the vertical orientation.

Another example is the BB5000 boring machine, which bores and blind bores in cramped spaces and is the most powerful boring machine in its class, featuring up to 650 ft lb (881 Nm) of torque at the bar. Users can perform onsite precise cutter movements on a variety of metal materials. Precise control of the machine?s spindle rpm allows the operator to fine-tune cutter movements and feed rates.

One final example is a micro-processor-controlled step welding system that dramatically decreases weld time, the BW3000Z AutoBoreWelder, which uses the same mounting fixture as the BB5000 to allow a single setup for both boring and welding operations, and provides complete weld coverage at the start and finish of the bore, with infinite weld bead placement from 0.40 in to 0.22 in (1.0 mm to 5.6 mm).

Several years ago when a new president was hired, he and the executive team set long-term strategic goals for the company and made the decision that they would foster a culture where all employees are encouraged to participate in meetings and to offer suggestions for improving the company. They relied heavily on input from senior machinists on ways to improve its tools and machining processes.

For instance, one machinist suggested the company add an electric servo drive motor to its boring machine offering to provide customers with increased power and control. And when the company embarked on an expansion project that doubled its manufacturing facility, planners consulted with senior machinists who provided information about shop floor layout and the steps the crew took to complete each project.

Armed with this information and suggestions for improvement, the company?s vice president of operations, who has extensive skills in the area of lean practices, demand based manufacturing and root cause analysis, worked closely with these senior-level machinists to map out a plan for placing equipment, streamlining their workflow and having supplies on hand when needed.

Aside from improved efficiency, other benefits derived from this ?pull? approach were cost savings, reduction of waste, simplified processes, improved customer response and a marked upturn in meeting project deadlines.

SENIOR MACHINISTS CROSS-TRAIN YOUNGER WORKERS
Climax also recognized that much of what is learned often takes place through hands-on activities and that its older workers had a wealth of information to pass on. The company instituted a cross-training program, relying on its senior, journey-level machinists to train junior employees and to act as mentors. Each senior journeyman machinist who volunteered for this project was assigned a junior machinist and taught him the ?tricks of the trade? on one machine, such as the four-axis horizontal mill, for a period of six months.

Once the younger machinist became proficient at one station, he moved on to another. Cross-training enabled the company to set up a chart in the plant that provided details at a glance about which machinists were capable of running various pieces of equipment and to schedule projects according to the capabilities of workers on each shift. As jobs came into the shop, schedulers could see immediately who was available to do the work and to estimate how long it would take to complete the project. Within a short period of time, their backlog of orders was reduced considerably.

TRAINING THE CUSTOMERS? WORKFORCE
As the demand for Climax portable machine tools grew, so did the requests from its customers for training on basic operation of the equipment and safety skills, as well as for advanced techniques and tips on how to keep equipment in top condition.

Recognizing that the shortage of highly skilled machinists was a global problem, Climax established The Portable Machining Training Institute to help reverse the attrition of highly trained machinists and to keep all machinists current with the new skills they need to know.

The institute is staffed by instructors who are themselves journeymen machinists ? some of whom are nearing retirement ? and who may have helped design and build the equipment. A regular schedule of courses was developed that take place throughout the year at the facility, but instructors are also available to go to a customer?s location and conduct classes for an entire shop.

Climax also has senior machinists who lead ?train the trainer? classes in which a customer?s most senior machinists are trained to operate the equipment and who in turn pass on this knowledge to less skilled workers. These senior machinists also travel to job sites to supervise the use of Climax custom equipment. Services such as training and on-site support have been invaluable in building closer relationships between Climax and its customers.

ACTING AS COMPANY AMBASSADORS
Senior machinists often volunteer to accompany the human resources director when the company participates in career days at schools to help promote careers in manufacturing and machining. When the company participated in recruitment fairs, senior machinists often played an invaluable role in describing their day-to-day activities to prospective employees, spoke about prospects for advancement, answered questions and drew attention to projects worldwide where the tools they built were used.

Other machinists act as advisors to instructors at local community colleges to assist them in teaching the newest machining techniques, and influence curricula planning. Activities such as these raised awareness for the company, and when these students were ready to graduate and look for work, the Climax name was top of mind. It also enabled the company to attract a higher caliber of seasoned applicants.

By recognizing the value and contributions older, highly-skilled workers can offer to its organization, a company cannot only improve its own internal processes, but just as importantly, strengthen its reputation within the community and with its customers. Ultimately, they will be in a prime position to grow their business even further as the economy improves.

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Andy Becker is the vice president of business development at Climax Portable Machine Tools, Newberg, OR 97132, 800-333-8311, www.cpmt.com .