Joe Raver, president and CEO of Hillenbrand, parent company of Batesville Casket Co., discusses legislative priorities for the Indiana Manufacturers Association at the Statehouse on Thursday. He was joined by manufacturing leaders including Chris Trainor, senior vice president of Hillenbrand, left, and Brian Burton, president of the Indiana Manufacturers Association. CNHI News Indiana photo by Scott L. Miley
INDIANAPOLIS — At the two I-74 exits to Batesville, there are signs advertising truck driving jobs for the Batesville Casket Co.
The jobs pay at least $75,000 annually, the signs read.
Despite the seemingly significant pay, the signs don't always bring in job applicants.
"We can't find people to take jobs that are $75,000 to $95,000. So it's a challenge," said Joe Raver, President and CEO of Hillenbrand, the parent company of the well-known casket manufacturer.
One factor that could fill open spots is coordinating employers with the development and teaching proper skills for manufacturing jobs, Raver said.
"I think if there was a better alignment and coordination among business, government and education, that would be the biggest thing. We have some real misalignment in terms of how incentives are done in the state. We have a state that is a great manufacturing state but we're not developing a workforce for these really good jobs," Raver said.
On Thursday, Raver joined with members of the Indiana Manufacturers Association in announcing legislative priorities for the 2018 session. Topping the list is realigning the state's workforce development policy, notably matching education with manufacturing.
Among the priorities, the association urged legislators to create incentives, such as a income tax credit, for out-of-state workers to live and work in Indiana, and for the legislature to help fund high school counselors in providing students with career readiness goals while underscoring Indiana's need for manufacturing workers.
Manufacturing represents 20 percent of the state's labor force; yet only 4 percent of the enrollment in career and technical courses are geared to manufacturing, said Brian Burton, president of the 1,400-member Indiana Manufacturers Association.
"Without a change in our workforce system in Indiana we expect that we will not be able to fill 60 percent of the open positions that will occur over the next decade," Burton said.
"It is critical that policymakers are aware of the opportunities and challenges facing the driving force behind Indiana's economy, which is manufacturing," Burton added.
Manufacturing jobs average $73,000 a year compared to $46,000 a year for all other sectors combined, he noted.
Last session, the Indiana General Assembly passed Senate Bill 198 which requires the governor's office to create by Oct. 31 a plan to reconfigure workforce development programs and funding for secondary and post-secondary education and adult training as well as retraining to focus on the needs of Indiana employers.
The bill, which Gov. Eric Holcomb signed into law, also requires the Indiana Department of Education to create a pilot program for instruction in the existing Indiana Career Explorer (ICE) job assessment program for eighth-grade students.
The manufacturers association said that only 1 percent of the students who took the ICE assessment were directed to careers in manufacturing.
In August, the Department of Education announced the program would begin in 16 schools. The program is to evaluate college and career readiness through classroom instruction for eighth-graders to explore in-demand jobs, assess current skills, explore possible career pathways, and develop a plan to achieve goals.
Holcomb has also been promoting his "Next Level Jobs" initiative to place Hoosiers in high-demand, high-paying jobs.
Among the initiatives is the Employer Training Grant, developed by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, to help employers with the cost of training new employees. The program will provide up to $2,500 for qualifying companies for each new employee needing training or retraining.
In Batesville, Hillenbrand participates in a high school cooperative program where students spend a total of 64 weeks working among four companies and earning college credit.
Hillenbrand also holds a free manufacturing camp for students in grades 7 through 9 during which attendees visit a plant floor and corporate offices.
"We're getting eighth-graders into our facility so they can see what manufacturing is, not just the plant but the office environment so they might say, 'Hey I'd like to work for a company like this'," Raver said.
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