Aspot check at CareerBuilder.com shows dozens of job openings at cabinetry and architectural millwork firms. As the recovery edges forward, the competition for qualified labor will spike. A contract offer rejected by 96 cabinetry workers last month reflects increased worker confidence in their job security. You won’t walk out if you can quickly be replaced.
One reason for the shift is the growing need for more highly skilled workers. Prior to the recession, woodworking shops were comfortably staffed. As the recession ebbs, woodworking operations have learned to run lean. These days there is not a worker to spare, and there is lots more automation.
While that reduces the dependence on labor, it raises the value of those fewer workers who remain. They must be trained on technical systems that can automate production.
Virtual Drafting and Cutting
When visiting a custom woodworking shop, it is increasingly common to find a room with subdued lighting and a brace of consoles manned by remote control woodworkers. These are the guys — and gals — who deconstruct architectural and designer drawings into the components that can be cut and routed at the keyboard and screen.
Instead of serving years of apprenticeship at the elbow of a master craftsmen, the new breed of workers can take their generation’s native knack for computers and get to work. Still, it takes a craftsman’s touch to transform the architect or designers’ vision into something cut from a block of wood. And it takes weeks of learning to adopt the programs that drive the CNC machines.
Resources come from suppliers, such as Cefla, which opened a new lab and training center with its big North American headquarters; or Stiles Machinery, which helps woodworkers earn Continuing Education Credits at its training centers, to cite just two examples. And there are organizations, like the Woodwork Career Alliance at the Architectural Woodworkers Institute, which sets standards for training curricula. The Woodwork Career Alliance received a $75,000 U.S. Forest Service Wood Education and Resource Center (WERC) grant encouraging innovation and the sharing of processing and marketing knowledge with wood products manufacturers in the Eastern U.S.
Marketing Woodworking Careers
Another key group is WoodLINKS, founded to help establish a consistent standard for high school and secondary education in woodworking. WoodLINKSUSA.org has a strategy for providing the wood industry with skilled workers — positioning our field as a desirable, fulfilling and high-tech career path.
Individual wood industry companies can support WoodLINKS locally by providing advice, encouragement, materials and opening doors to make students and teachers aware of the advanced woodworking technologies being used today. Research shows it is a profoundly effective way to win young people over to any field. And this helps get students to see the appeal of working with their hands, and their heads simultaneously.
One reason for the shift is the growing need for more highly skilled workers. Prior to the recession, woodworking shops were comfortably staffed. As the recession ebbs, woodworking operations have learned to run lean. These days there is not a worker to spare, and there is lots more automation.
While that reduces the dependence on labor, it raises the value of those fewer workers who remain. They must be trained on technical systems that can automate production.
Virtual Drafting and Cutting
When visiting a custom woodworking shop, it is increasingly common to find a room with subdued lighting and a brace of consoles manned by remote control woodworkers. These are the guys — and gals — who deconstruct architectural and designer drawings into the components that can be cut and routed at the keyboard and screen.
Instead of serving years of apprenticeship at the elbow of a master craftsmen, the new breed of workers can take their generation’s native knack for computers and get to work. Still, it takes a craftsman’s touch to transform the architect or designers’ vision into something cut from a block of wood. And it takes weeks of learning to adopt the programs that drive the CNC machines.
Resources come from suppliers, such as Cefla, which opened a new lab and training center with its big North American headquarters; or Stiles Machinery, which helps woodworkers earn Continuing Education Credits at its training centers, to cite just two examples. And there are organizations, like the Woodwork Career Alliance at the Architectural Woodworkers Institute, which sets standards for training curricula. The Woodwork Career Alliance received a $75,000 U.S. Forest Service Wood Education and Resource Center (WERC) grant encouraging innovation and the sharing of processing and marketing knowledge with wood products manufacturers in the Eastern U.S.
Marketing Woodworking Careers
Another key group is WoodLINKS, founded to help establish a consistent standard for high school and secondary education in woodworking. WoodLINKSUSA.org has a strategy for providing the wood industry with skilled workers — positioning our field as a desirable, fulfilling and high-tech career path.
Individual wood industry companies can support WoodLINKS locally by providing advice, encouragement, materials and opening doors to make students and teachers aware of the advanced woodworking technologies being used today. Research shows it is a profoundly effective way to win young people over to any field. And this helps get students to see the appeal of working with their hands, and their heads simultaneously.
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