03/08/2009
Strategies for leveraging scare resources
By Paul Studebaker, Editor In Chief
Plant Services
When we planned this article in August, 2008, we imagined it as a practical guide to dealing with a shortage of maintenance talent and the missing generation of replacements (we call it the Maintenance Crisis). Since then, the economy has continued to deteriorate, spilling thousands of experienced manufacturing professionals into unemployment at the same time that many older workers lucky enough to have the option are staying on the job.
Worker's eagerness to work and willingness to continue has taken the edge off the Maintenance Crisis, but the economy has taken its place. Today, the need for industrial maintenance departments to work smarter and be more resourceful is driven by budget custs, layoffs and hiring freezes. This won't last forever.
"Many issues have changed since the downturn, but we continue to work on the shortage because it's not going to go away," says Jeff Owens, president and CEO, Advanced Technology Services (ATS,
www.advancedtech.com). "Staffs are skinnier than before and retirements are coming."
The young people you'll need might be laid off. Some of the older workers who are staying aren't the most skilled, and as the economy comes back and 401(k) account balances recover, more will retire.
Whether driven by demographics or economics, the winning strategies are the same. Don't just hunker down, try to get by and wait for the recession to be over. Here are ways to cope with manpower and material shortages, stay (or get) proactive, and be ready to take advantage of returning activity as the economy rebounds.