Experts untangle supply chain issues, labor shortages at NJBIZ manufacturing panel

New Jersey is home to 287 companies that make some type of personal protective equipment, or PPE.

New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program CEO John Kennedy shared that with panel members and attendees of NJBIZ’s manufacturing panel discussion. Panel members, including Gillian Bleimann Boucard, executive vice president at Carteret fragrance manufacturer Berje Inc.; Mazars CPA Alisha Jernack, and Mark Howe, vice president of sales and marketing at Berkeley Height’s industrial equipment supplier The Knotts Co., were unaware of the in-state PPE manufacturing presence.

“Neither did I before [the pandemic], and that’s part of our problem: we don’t understand our supply chain,” Kennedy said. He’s working with U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez on legislation to support a national supply chain database, so MEPs around the country and the manufacturers they serve can source materials from places around the country they may not have known existed.

The panelists addressed several issues critical to the manufacturing sector during the Oct. 26 virtual event, including supply chain issues, raw material costs, labor challenges, and how to attract young talent.

“We often hear [that bringing manufacturing] back to the U.S. [would] be more costly. However, I would argue the point of you’re going to have faster turn times and you are likely missing out on revenue today as a manufacturer or distributor if you’re getting stuff from overseas and you’re unable to get that inventory,” Jernack said. “If you’re not able to get the inventory or you’re not able to receive it timely, then you don’t have a sale. So you can offset the increased costs by having your inventory, your raw materials, your goods closer to you. And by understanding the consumer and the patterns better and being able to have that predictability, you’re able to turn faster and the outcome of that is you’re going to have increased sales, which should offset any increase that you’ll have for additional labor costs.”

Labor costs are one thing, but a constant issue in U.S. manufacturing is staffing in general.

The Knotts Co. has been involved with FIRST Robotics, a nationwide program that introduces grade school and high school students to robotics and engineering.

“I think one thing as manufacturers can do is we could potentially develop more partnerships, not at the college level, but with the middle school and high school levels, and give them tours give them opportunities to see what see some of the high value jobs. Manufacturing gets this this bad rap of being all dirty and dangerous, when the reality of it is manufacturing has advanced tremendously. There’s a lot of technology and a lot of thought process that goes into the floors,” Howe said.

“If you don’t start building a pool now again with the amount of individuals retiring and the generational shift, we’re just making manufacturing a lot harder to get toward that future needs,” he added.

Kennedy noted that 33,000 manufacturing jobs were open in New Jersey pre-pandemic, and now 45,000 jobs must be filled. Some of these jobs don’t require degrees, and some do.

“Cost accountants are in that top five, because if you can’t make money making it, don’t make it. Engineers, we’re not producing engineers, we’re just not. Others, CNC machinists, we can’t find them, welders … but the one that comes out on top that surprises me is technical sales. Because look if you can’t sell it, what are you building?” he asked.

Replay: Manufacturing, a NJBIZ panel discussion

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Younger people need to be informed about these jobs, Kennedy explained, but they also have to learn that a manufacturing job is like a job anywhere else: “We also have to educate our young people that you don’t start at the top. I’ve worked with a lot of young people, and they get disappointed if they don’t get a raise and promotion in six months.”

Bleimann Boucard said Berje noticed that when the company had a training program for people right out of college. She said the company realized they “wanted to be people’s second job, not first job,” because they found that “a lot of expectations that people had for their first job were difficult to live up to or unrealistic.”

To stay competitive, Berje heightened its focus on retention of the people they already have.

“We’ve changed our shifts I think over three times, really listening to people, saying ‘OK, what works for families? What works for working [parents]? Constantly being flexible,” she said.