YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Evolving workforce challenges continue in manufacturing, but Alex Hertzer, executive director of the Mahoning Valley Manufacturers Coalition, says the organization has shifted emphasis along with the changes.
Coming out of the pandemic, Hertzer says manufacturing needed to hire people. More than five years later, the MVMC focuses more on retention, especially for those who have additional skills.
Hertzer says there are college graduates without the life skills and soft skills to succeed in a team environment and mid-skill leveled industrial maintenance techs that are struggling to keep up with rapid innovation as nearly all companies are investing in robotics.
He also sees tariffs and foreign trade policy pushing more products to be made here instead of imported.
“I think we’re going to see some onshoring,” Hertzer says, “and what that means is technology that wasn’t created in our country is going to need to be integrated here.”
So Hertzer says manufacturers in the coalition are talking about how to get more students in career and tech centers and more focus on pre apprenticeships, like the MFG Ready program starting this school year at Warren G. Harding and East Liverpool high schools. The program exposes students to manufacturing over 18 months, including a paid summer internship. and provides a mentor.
“The goal with this is to give the students time to understand the environment, understand the opportunity, talk to people, have a mentor and build their skill set at the same time,” Hertzer says.
Secondly, Hertzer says the MVMC started frontline leadership training this summer, helping employees gain the skills they need to become good leaders and supervisors.
They’ve learned how to run the machine and troubleshoot and develop hard skills. But they may not understand that as a supervisor, they’re accountable for the results of the team, not just themselves, he says.
He notes 90% of the interactions manufacturing employees have daily are with their frontline leaders and if they are not equipped or are overwhelmed, those can be negative, creating tension on the floor.
Employer Resource Network
A third emphasis with the MVMC this year has been the Employer Resource Network. Started 20 years ago in Michigan, the ERN provides onsite success coaching to help employees with life’s challenges.
Hertzer says this program will be the sixth in Ohio and it is used successfully in nine states. It’s a cost saver. From a turnover rate standpoint, Hertzer says the costs of lost productivity, advertising for a new $15 an hour employee, uniforms and training is $7,800. One or two employees retained is about the same cost as participating in the
ERN.
By early 2026, Hertzer says MVMC would like to see a success coach hired for the program that will work with a number of employers in the Mahoning Valley. The program is a partnership with Goodwill Industries, which has been involved in other regions of the country.
“The ERN is really a wraparound, holistic approach to supporting employees,” says Shelley Murray, CEO of Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries Inc.
With the recent emphasis on mental health in the workforce, Murray notes collaboration is needed.
Carol Holmes-Chambers, Goodwill’s community solutions director, says the ERN fits with the workforce solutions identied in the organization’s recent community needs assessment. Mental health and substance use disorders present barriers to people securing and maintaining employment, she says.
“A lot of the conversation has been around workforce, upskilling people, making sure they’re prepared to go to work and that they have the job skills and training,” Holmes-Chambers says about the joint efforts in the Mahoning Valley. “But the barriers usually get in the way of people staying there… because they’re human people with lives.”
She says it is important for employers to understand they need to have supports in place for their workers so their employees thrive and contribute to the success of the
business.
Additionally, Holmes-Chambers says the stigma attached to those who have been in jail or those going through recovery is too often becoming a barrier of employment in the local area. Employers may not know Ohio offers Certificate of Qualification for Employment, which can help employees overcome disqualifying prior convictions down the road. Stigma can leave people out of the workforce, but a supportive culture at a workplace can overcome it, she notes.
Western Pennsylvania
The Lawrence Mercer Manufacturing Coalition is focusing on workforce development collaboration efforts. With $900,000 in funding from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor, the LMMC began planning in 2023 to create an organization similar to the MVMC. The LMMC formed as a nonprofit in January 2024.
About two years later. the LMMC has 22 members, including the six founding companies ELLWOOD, G.W. Becker Crane, Hall Industries, Wheatland Steel Processing, Blair Strip Steel Company and Berner International. Regional partners like Penn Northwest Development Corp. and Forward Lawrence have also been involved.
Julie Michael Smith, LMMC project manager, has been among those leading the efforts at the LMMC and says the group has been focused on training and filling existing workforce needs as well as on education.
The LMMC is collaborating with Butler County Community College and Pa. Career Link to develop a 130-hour preapprenticeship program for entry level production workers, a program that is awaiting approval from the Pennsylvania Apprenticeship Training Office. Once approved, the program will begin this fall at the BC3’s new campus in Lawrence County, Smith says.
The LMMC is also working with the New Castle School of Trades, Laurel Tech and the Penn College of Technology, as well on a preapprenticeship program for high school students that is expanding into Mercer County this school year.
Middle school students are working on entries for a What’s So Cool About Manufacturing video contest.
Smith says too many young people believe products show up from Amazon and do not understand that someone makes those products. And their parents and teachers – those with the power to influence their careers – often have misconceptions about modern manufacturing and the well-paying careers available.
A website called Talent Factory is promoting manufacturing careers, helping young people ages 16 to 24 understand modern manufacturing.
While more details are expected about its initiatives at the LMMC’s semi-annual event in October, Smith says she is excited about what the LMMC has been able to achieve in a short time.
Pictured at top: Alex Hertzer, executive director of the Mahoning Valley Manufacturers Coalition.