We've had to get creative.
Michael Casey of cast iron cookware maker Lodge Manufacturing says the company tries to turn workplace mistakes and failures into training opportunities.
"Failure is not a bad word. Repetitive failure is," said Casey at a manufacturers forum in Chattanooga where a panel focused on workforce issues which are impacting many businesses amid low unemployment.
Carri Smith of Valmont Industries, which makes infrastructure and irrigation equipment in Marion County, Tennessee, said 85 percent of its workforce is skilled labor and it struggles to fill those positions.
At the forum co-sponsored by Elliott Davis, Baker Donelson and First Tennessee Bank, "We've had to get creative."
Smith said Valmont has partnered with Marion County Schools and makes a point of getting out in the community.
"The biggest thing is exposing the students," she said, adding that the company tries to change the impression they may have of manufacturing. "Advanced manufacturing is different from what they're exposed to."
Blake Freeman, director of the Hamilton County Department of Education's Future Ready Institutes, said it's important to show students there are a lot of options available to them.
"We're also pushing them to gain industry certifications that are seen as viable in the Chattanooga workforce as well as a jump-start to their dual-enrollment courses," he said about the new institutes.
Freeman said that next year there will be 27 institutes which challenge the traditional approach to education in high schools by developing career-themed small learning communities. Almost half of all high school freshmen will be involved in some way with the new institutes.
Lucinda Curry, director of apprenticeship works for the Robert C. Byrd Institute for Advanced Flexible Manufacturing at Marshall University in West Virginia, said in about 80 percent of the cases in manufacturing, apprentices are existing workers who are "looking at the opportunity to move up," she said.
Mario Duarte, the Chattanooga Volkswagen plant's director of industrial engineering and production systems, said workforce development is an important piece of the automaker's business model.
He said that apprenticeship programs at VW rely on partnerships with the state, city and Hamilton County.
In the near future, Volkswagen will adjust its training efforts as it meets worker needs to make both combustion engine and battery-powered vehicles, Duarte said. He noted the vehicles are built on "totally different technology."
Casey said that Lodge, which has a production plant in South Pittsburg, Tennessee, works with the school system there to show students the technology.
"We need to ... show them about what we're doing," he said.
Jennifer Goodman, a CPA and shareholder with Elliott Davis, said it's critical for leaders across manufacturing to discuss key issues and trends affecting the local economy.
She said the forum fosters "collaboration and insights in an effort to advance an industry that has a significant impact on our community."
Employers in metro Chattanooga employed 34,700 workers in manufacturing jobs during March, or more than 13 percent of all jobs in the 6-county area. Nationwide, manufacturing provides 8.5 percent of all jobs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.