Recent News

Manufacturing at large and the cutting tools industry specifically have been quietly teaming up with high schools around the country to inform students of the rewarding career opportunities they offer. Companies within these industries have built relationships with schools to dispel the myths surrounding job viability and future prospects. From specific programs and initiatives to a broader campaign to reeducate young people on the nature of careers within the manufacturing industry, great work is being done across the country to help students and their parents realize how promising a career in the cutting tools industry can be.

WHAT STUDIES SHOW

Recent studies have exposed a great amount of disparity between what students and parents envision as promising career paths and their understanding of how the cutting tools industry can deliver. While 43% of parents agree that careers focused on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects are promising, only 20% of parents even drew an association between STEM subjects and the manufacturing industry. With these results, it was little surprise to learn that more than 75% of parents revealing that they had no knowledge of the industry’s current workforce shortage.

BRIDGING THE GAP

It was recognition of this gulf of knowledge that inspired some of the industry’s most well-known and respected companies to bridge the gap by connecting directly with high school students. Through hands-on programs and other initiatives, many organizations are now partnering with high schools across the country to discover what barriers stand between students and the industry.

A MODEL PROGRAM

One of the greatest examples of these endeavors is Caterpillar’s E4Life Program. Caterpillar did a great deal of outreach involving high school students and their parents, then created a program that not only offered them specific insight on the opportunities of the manufacturing industry but also provided help with a number of life skills, including mentoring, budgeting and financing. Still, at the core of the program, was the focus on providing students with hands-on experience in the cutting tools industry that equipped them with specific technical skills and also created real career outcomes for those involved.

At Davalyn, we are excited about the promising future of the cutting tools industry, but we are also well aware of the challenges it faces in regards to talent shortage. We believe programs like the E4Life Program provide essential education to the next generation of manufacturing talent and help spread the message that manufacturing and the cutting tools industry is on the rise and needs a new class of talent to help meet its demands. With our extensive industry experience and vast database and resources, we have always been committed to meeting even the most challenging talent demands of cutting tools organizations, and we are optimistic that these types of programs help build a new and growing pipeline of experience talent for years to come.