Articles Tagged with ''skilled trades''

As I write this month’s column, I’m attending Plumbing Manufacturer’s International annual Manufacturing Success conference in Louisville, Kentucky. PMI has done a great job with its programming content this year, especially with keynote presenter Andrew Winston, a corporate environmental strategist and author, who discussed how today’s companies are now expected to take a stand against the world’s social and environmental problems — and in doing so, earn a profit.

As anyone in the profession knows, the plumbing industry is rapidly changing. Demand for plumbing services is reaching unprecedented levels, but so too is competition.

We have all heard the axiom — “those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.” That is so far from the truth when it comes to the trades. In fact, in order to teach the trades, most instructors need to have at least a few years of actual work experience.

You are a dealer in hope when you give your customer a sense of optimism by anticipating their fear, tackling their needs while offering great value and meeting their concerns on their terms.

Some years ago, a wholesaler hired me to do a seminar in a New England hotel for about 100 of his contractor customers. After the seminar, the owner of the company invited me and a bunch of his employees out for a nice dinner. There were about 15 of us.

Johnson Controls celebrated National Skilled Trades Day by confirming a second cohort of schools receiving funding as part of its Community College Partnership Program. Last year, Johnson Controls agreed to fund $15 million over the span of five years to help support the community college’s HVAC, fire, security and digital academic programs.

The competition took place during the annual SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference, held June 22-23 in Atlanta.

During the workshop, girls of 6-14 years of age learned about the design and engineering elements of plumbing and designed their own showerheads using modeling clay. 

Stanley Black & Decker recently released its Makers Index, a study that revealed many of the reasons young people aren’t currently considering jobs in the trades, which has left many businesses struggling to find good workers at various skill levels.

My shop teacher was a wiry man who loved hand tools. We spent a week making a buzzer base. He taught us how to saw, sand and varnish. He introduced me to a Brace & Bit hand drill and went on and on about how this was better than an electric drill. “Can you feel the wood? It’s alive!” he said, and I could.