Training is extremely important to the future of manufacturing in the United States, yet in many states it has fallen by the wayside. At Connecticut Spring & Stamping (CSS), the situation had become so desperate that to meet its capacity and continue to grow, the company has had to replace formerly state-funded training with its own programs.

Training for skilled manufacturing positions has been hit by a perfect storm of budget cuts and the mistaken idea that all young workers should go to college. Today’s off-the-job training has a near-exclusive focus on nonmanufacturing skills, which doesn’t fit the demand for trained workers to fill well-paid manufacturing positions vacated when baby boomers retire.

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