From the Wall Street Journal, April 22, 2017, Page A3.

Article titled: "Northern New England’s Good Jobless Numbers? They’re Bad
New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont are struggling with a worker shortage"

Apparently, SigSauer is one of them. I hope this does not manifest itself with QC and availability problems. Especially with the forthcoming U.S. Army P320 contract.

Excerpts from article relevant to Sig:

"To cultivate new New Hampshire workers, gun-maker SIG Sauer Inc., of Newington, is paying students to attend on-site classes to learn machining skills, and the company still can’t fill all the positions it has."

“Those who have the significant skills, we’re losing them,” said Jeff Chartier, SIG Sauer’s chief human-resources officer. “And it’s a challenge to try to replace them at the same speed.”

Here is the link to the article. However, it's a subscriber-only site and full access is allowed only for WSJ subscribers. The above excerpts are the only mention of SigSauer specifically.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/n...d-1492786479?tesla=y

It's not a mystery. Expanding and growing and getting your hands into everything ("The Complete System Provider") will do that to you.

The purpose of the post was informational. It's a structural labor problem many other businesses in Northern New England and many other parts of the country are having. Has nothing directly to do with Sig's expansion per se. It's not intended to be a Trash Sig post.

Expansion of your own business is what American companies are supposed to be doing. Some factors are within their control and some aren't. Labor shortages are not within their control. Note that Sig has established their own training classes for the necessary workers. Not as good as finding experienced workers with the desired skill set, but it's not like there is a choice.

As a country, this is going to be one of the challenges in getting our industries going again under a pro-business President. All we seem to have left is unemployed pajama boys with bachelor's degrees living at home with their parents. Making a living with your hands had been disparaged for decades in this country.

My father was a skilled machinist working on nuclear submarines. I have a B.A. and worked in IT for 40 years. If I had a kid, I'd send him to a top notch trade school to learn a skilled trade. The upcoming demand will be tremendous. Then again, if I had a kid, he wouldn't be a pajama boy either.

quote:

Originally posted by Nipper:

As a country, this is going to be one of the challenges in getting our industries going again under a pro-business President. All we seem to have left is unemployed pajama boys with bachelor's degrees living at home with their parents. Making a living with your hands had been disparaged for decades in this country.

No lie there.
The company I own a 1/3 of the share in is food production. You work with your hands. We have machines but they require physical, hands on work.
It amazes me that when I bring someone in, usually younger, that they can't or won't do it. They want a desk job or something to the degree of sitting around.
I've been working with my hands since I was 16 and enjoy it. It's not as easy as it used to be after 30+ years but still needs done sometimes.
I have repeatedly told my daughter that there's nothing wrong with working and getting your hands dirty. Luckily, it has stuck.

No dang kidding.

Diesel mechanics are also in short supply/ huge demand. The crap the EPA mandated for emissions has newer trucks less reliable than old beaten ones.

We have our own business in New Hampshire and it is hard to find workers.
In our line of work you must be able to pass a drug test and not have a drink driving.
That is a very hard find. They also only want to work eight hours and no overtime.
The pay is good but the work is hard.

If what the article says is true that they are losing good workers then maybe they need to increase pay or incentives.

quote:

Originally posted by Dusty78:
If what the article says is true that they are losing good workers then maybe they need to increase pay or incentives.

Sometimes it's not even that Dustin. I've increased pay, set up an attendance incentive program and it still doesn't matter.
I've found that a lot of people just don't want to work anymore.
I get the 8 hours and no overtime also. What should take 6-7 hours gets drug out to 8. Call offs and ask for volunteers for overtime? My dog is sick. I have to wash my hair. Blah blah blah.
They all wanna buy that Escalade and wonder why they can't. I bought my first car in 1985 when I was in High school. I worked, saved my money because that's what I wanted.
If jobs were fun, everyone would have one.

Sig has jobs posted all the time up here with starting rates of around $15-$18 or so, which isn't bad for entry level. But, like everyone has mentioned the jobs are working with your hands; packing, assembly, engineer, tool crib, testing, CNC...

These aren't the type of jobs sought after by millennials. Sig has partnered with the local community college for job training and they host in house job training. The current younger working generation was sold on four or more years of college is required to get anywhere in life, not job training and apprenticeship programs.

quote:

These aren't the type of jobs sought after by millennials. Sig has partnered with the local community college for job training and they host in house job training. The current younger working generation was sold on four or more years of college is required to get anywhere in life, not job training and apprenticeship programs.

There are always exceptions in the millenial generation. I know plenty of pajama boys as well. My future son in law struggled in college got his degree and hated every minute of it. My daughter did a lot of his work. He finally got his chance to work in Elevator maintenance which is a union job with decent pay. He is terrible with paperwork but pretty much can fix anything. I wish Sig would relocate here, we have a lot of people who would love those manufacturing jobs.

The millennial thing pisses me off. I'm 34. I have a 9-5 job and I have a side business. It's not uncommon to work 60-70 hours a week in either position. The concept of "people don't want to work" is fucking true. I don't like being lumped in the category of millennial, but they're a bunch of pussies who don't understand that you need to put in sometimes, it's not just gonna happen for you. Honestly, I work with people who are 40+ and they suck too. Candy assed bitch made people who do-not-want-to-do-shit.

That's all.

If you look at the sig jobs the vast quantity of the unfilled openings are CNC machinist jobs. They want 3 years experience in general. And lots are off shifts.
You have to grow these. The pool in that area is fairly small and not growing. Companies have forgotten about the apprenticeship and building a bench of new people. Now they will have to learn again.

These stories are a lot of BS. There are workers ready and willing to fill these jobs. Companies do not want to pay them and they are not willing to hire people with fewer skills and train them.

What companies DO WANT is to hire foreign workers at 40% of the pay with marginal skills using the H1B visa system, so they keep conjuring up these stories. There are people who can learn the necessary skills with training in apprentice programs. Companies did not plan on replacing older workers, so now they come up with this BS. People who want to work are out there.

What they need to say is that we cannot find skilled workers who deserve to be paid the going rate for skilled workers, so we want to bring in Chinese and Indian workers with skills at the rate that we want to pay.

quote:

Originally posted by Dusty78:
If what the article says is true that they are losing good workers then maybe they need to increase pay or incentives.

Problem in many industries is that the old experienced guys are retiring. Some companies are giving incentives to delay retirement.

We're rapidly using up the older generation of skilled workers, with no qualified replacements in sight. This is an American story, not just a Sig story.

Don't look at $28,000 to $35,000 a year and put yourself in that position. These are entry level jobs and people have to work their way up the ladder. When I started out in the job market a pizza and board game with another couple was a night out. I have one child who is a senior in HS and another a junior in college, trust me the guidance counselors in HS are not steering them toward being a plumber, electrician or CNC worker. They are guiding them into college whether they need it or not.

Yeah bunch of bs. I watched Ruger practically force older guys with all the knowledge to retire so they could replace them with temps. Pay them less, free to let them go whenever they please, and offer fewer benefits.

Part of the problem is that young people aren't steered towards learning a trade. Working with ones hands is looked down upon and younger people are told that a college education is absolutely necessary to make a living. I was told many times that I just need to get some kind of degree, it didn't matter what it was.
I'm sure that there are quite a few people who wish they had the income of an auto mechanic instead of the one they got with being a political science major.

quote:

Originally posted by 10round:
Sig has jobs posted all the time up here with starting rates of around $15-$18 or so, which isn't bad for entry level. But, like everyone has mentioned the jobs are working with your hands; packing, assembly, engineer, tool crib, testing, CNC...

These aren't the type of jobs sought after by millennials. Sig has partnered with the local community college for job training and they host in house job training. The current younger working generation was sold on four or more years of college is required to get anywhere in life, not job training and apprenticeship programs.

If I thought I could make the move from Ohio and could get by on that wage, I'd love to do it. I've been in IT going on thirty-four years and I'm totally tired of it.

Too many liberal arts degrees, too few vo-tech certificates. The unions don't do apprentice programs like they used to. Men raised by single women want girlie jobs.