SPRINGFIELD, Illinois – The Illinois Manufacturers’ Association (IMA) Education Foundation and the Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center (IMEC) will host the first annual Moving Makers Forward: Manufacturing Workforce Solutions Summit on June 8, bringing together industry experts and leaders from Illinois’ top education institutions, state agencies, non-governmental partners and more to share solutions to overcome the worker shortage and hire talent needed to help businesses across the state grow and thrive.
The summit will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Bone Student Center, 200 N. University St. in Normal, and will include presentations and panels focusing on removing barriers that impact recruitment, developing talent pipelines, establishing relationships with local school districts to promote career and technical education programming, improving company culture and driving advancements across organizations.
“Good employees are key to a company’s success, which is why it’s so important manufacturers collaborate to find ways to overcome hiring challenges that have threatened the growth and success of our industry,” said Sarah Hartwick, Vice President of Education & Workforce Policy and head of the IMA’s Education Foundation. “This summit will allow manufacturers across Illinois to come together to share innovative strategies and creative solutions to attract and retain workers, from partnering with schools to develop career technical education programs, to exploring ways to improve meaning, purpose and value for employees. By learning from each other, manufacturers can continue their strong investment in their local communities.”
The gathering continues efforts by the IMA’s Education Foundation to better understand the workforce challenges facing Illinois manufacturers and to identify potential solutions. This includes a six-week statewide tour last fall that brought together educators, business advocacy groups, employers and local manufacturers to discuss the issue. From those meetings, IMA was able to identify specific barriers as well as solutions, detailed in a new report released in conjunction with this week’s summit.
While each region of the state faces unique workforce challenges, several common themes emerged including a lack of interest in manufacturing careers across numerous demographics; difficulties identifying and recruiting employees; problems retaining workers amid an upcoming wave of retirements; a skills gap resulting in a need to focus on basic math, reading and literacy; and limits on public education institutions that prevent schools from being able to quickly respond to workforce training needs.
The solutions identified to address these challenges fell into two primary camps: state-funded financial incentives to support the long-term stability of Illinois’ manufacturing workforce and changes to the state’s public education system to better meet the needs of an ever-changing workforce. Specific policy recommendations include:
- The IMA must work with the governor’s administration to develop and implement a statewide campaign to increase the number of people entering high-demand manufacturing occupations.
- The state of Illinois must find ways to provide student loan forgiveness for students who stay in their communities following high school to work in the manufacturing sector.
- The state should create opportunities for flexible grant funding to support organizations already utilizing effective workforce tools through established regional networks including educational institutions, employers and local economic development organizations.
- The state must continue to prioritize and release funds for the Employer Training Investment Program (ETIP).
- The state must fund additional advance manufacturing academy grant opportunities in addition to the two sites funded in 2021.
- The state must establish a statewide career development experience continuum that incorporates career exploration in early grades and evolves into work-based learning opportunities in middle and high school. This includes working with community colleges and providing opportunities for students to graduate from high school with an industry recognized credential or an associate degree.
- The legislature must provide for flexibility within high school graduation requirements for students who choose approved programs of study through career pathway models.
- The legislature must provide for flexibility within the school day to allow students to participate in work-based learning experiences such as job shadowing, internships and pre-apprenticeship opportunities.
- The state must prioritize the expansion of competency-based pilot programs select school districts are currently utilizing to allow for adoption in additional schools. These programs allow students to demonstrate knowledge and skill of required courses and can be used to demonstrate a student’s skill level to employers that is often not captured through current standardized assessments.
“Solving the labor challenge for Illinois manufacturers is going to take an ‘all hands on deck’ approach to make sure we meet the changing demands and skills needed to keep this industry thriving,” said David Boulay, IMEC President. “We are honored to be part of a diverse group of partners and resources that are working together to find the solutions needed to address these challenges.”
About the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association (IMA)
The Illinois Manufacturers’ Association is the only statewide association dedicated exclusively to advocating, promoting, and strengthening the manufacturing sector in Illinois. The IMA is the oldest and largest state manufacturing trade association in the United States, representing nearly 4,000 companies and facilities. For more information, please visit http://ima-net.org/.
About the Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center (IMEC)
IMEC is a team of improvement specialists who are dedicated to changing lives and creating a positive impact on Illinois’ workforce and economy. With a mission to drive growth through enterprise excellence, they help organizations become more effective and efficient by identifying issues, developing and implementing solutions, and providing the necessary support that will allow them to excel in areas of leadership, strategy, customer engagement, operations, workforce, and measurement and results. In 2021, they assisted over 1,600 companies and help create or retain over 5,679 jobs, resulting in over $450M aggregate impact to the Illinois economy. IMEC has seven offices statewide and 48 full-time industry improvement specialists. For more information, visit www.imec.org.