While capital investments matter, so do boots on the shop floor

摘要

If there is access to capital, manufacturers can buy technology-albeit that there could be a lengthy delivery date-but aside from access to raw materials perhaps the biggest challenge for companies today is finding capable employees to work on the shop floor. From conversations with multiple companies, including several in this feature, staffing is a vexing issue. It is far from rare to hear of manufacturers that have some lines idled not for lack of work, but lack of workers, most notably machine operators.