SMTA Bridging the Skills Gap in Arizona

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

One area where SMTA really excels is through its local chapters. On April 16, I attended the Workforce Breakfast during the SMTA Arizona Expo & Tech Forum in Mesa, which featured more than 50 electronics professionals from the local area, including defense OEMs, and others who were attending for the first time.

Notably, there were also HR professionals, including Kelly Employment, underscoring the challenge the electronics manufacturing industry currently faces around hiring skilled labor. This group was specifically challenged with finding people with the necessary hand soldering skills for high-tech manufacturing.

Blackfox and Hyrel Technologies sponsored the event. The keynote presentation featured Sean Denny, a professor at Estrella Mountain Community College, who emphasized a clear need for skilled hand soldering technicians.

Denny teaches engineering, physics, automation, and robotics at Estrella. He is clearly passionate about building curriculum at the community college and high school levels. He previously had great success in Texas with a program that grew from just a handful of students, including just one female, to a program of thousands, 50% of whom were female by the time he moved. Focused heavily on collaboration with local industry through Electronics Manufacturing and Assembly Collective (EMAC), he said his secret to success is to lean into industry and focus on getting them what they need in a workforce. 

The theme for the breakfast was “Are We Aligned? Industry Expectations for Hand Soldering Professionals.” Denny said there is a great need for skilled hand soldering technicians for high technology boards, something that met with a lot of head nodding and murmurs of concurrence. The group expressed frustration about students who come out of college without any solder training, taking far too much of a senior engineer’s time to train. Denny emphasized hands-on training and access to real industry equipment, which his program offers and which the larger universities in Arizona (ASU, UA, and NAU) are beginning to pay attention to. He repeatedly emphasized) that the curriculum is set by his industry partners, and implored his audience to provide specific feedback on the hand-soldering curriculum so that he can make it more relevant and valuable to industry companies. 

When someone voiced concern over the lack of soldering skills training in IPC certification, Blackfox’s Alan Dill shared the training he offers to provide students with real skills, even beyond IPC certification. All agreed that you must have both. Another attendee with over 40 years in the business adamantly declared that their companies must step up and define what proficiency looks like. That has not been consistently done, he said, and is a part of the problem. (See Brian Watson of Hyrel’s sidebar conversation on the importance of this program and how Hyrel has benefited from it.)

Another person asked the all-important question, “How do we inspire young people to want to come into this industry?” He recounted his early experience out of high school that put him on an early assembly career path. Early exposure is clearly essential for young people to have the full spectrum of choices in front of them. Denny said he’s working to address this issue by involving high school juniors and seniors in high school as well as community college students.

Citing the success of his Texas program, Denny said its imperative to be talking to all students as early as the fifth grade, saying there’s still a cultural bias and perception about this type of career being a “boy job.” We are making progress, he said, but there is much work to do.

He also raising awareness about the expectations of Gen Z, by far, the largest generation working today, and the biggest consumers, yet many of them don’t have jobs. “But, they are determined to be financially successful and they are hard workers if they feel valued,” Denny said. Their first consideration when looking at a job or career is, “Will I make good money in this job?” Other considerations they have include (surprisingly), “Do my parents approve” and “Do I feel like I am part of a family or a team?”

When Gen-Z employees feel like they are a part of a family, and that they matter, they will stay on the job long-term. On average, Gen Z employees stay on their first job for two years, while the ROI for hand-soldering training is about three years. Employers need to asking themselves how to get a Gen Z employee to stay on for that extra year, Denny said. 

Pay matters for the new workforce, he said, and telling yourself any differently will likely put you at a disadvantage. He gave the example of Fair Life, a Coca-Cola dairy product, which starts its interns and trainees at $30 an hour. However, the total package also matters

Denny also strove to raise awareness in the audience around the reality of what a Gen Z workforce presents to employers. He stated that Gen Z’s (born in 1995+) first consideration when looking at a job or career is, “Will I make good money in this job?” and perhaps surprisingly, “Do my parents’ approve?” and finally, “Do I feel like I am part of a family or a team?” He says, if they feel like they are really part of a family, that they matter, they will stay forever, but these things must be addressed for Gen Z’ers. Gen Z stays, on average, about two years in their first job, and ROI for hand soldering training is about three years, so employers need to be asking themselves, how can I get that Gen Z’er to stay that extra year plus? The Coca-Cola dairy products brand, Fair Life, was offered as an example. They start their interns and trainees at $30/hour. Pay matters for the new workforce and telling yourself anything different will likely put you at a disadvantage. However, the total package matters. “They will work for $25 an hour, but your package has to be competitive with the other industries you are competing with,” Denny said. 

While Gen Z applies to those born in 1995 and later, the Gen Alpha is for those who were born in 2013 or later. This later generation is ready to be influenced, “so if you don’t influence them, someone else will. Employers beware, and do something now.”

For smaller companies that might not be able to support these types of wages, Denny said small business will need to work on becoming more competitive in the aggregate. He believes this is something he can help with. Some positive news is that about 40% of Gen Z workers don’t want to be with a big company. They want something that they know and can feel familiar with. They are not looking for jobs using search engines, but more likely through their parents or someone else they respect.

Denny offered to work with local employers, helping to connect them with potential employees through job fairs, grade schools and high schools. He encouraged the audience by offering positive comments about Arizona becoming the next Silicon Valley and possibly one of the most important regions for electronics in the world. Denny can be reached at sean.denny@estrellamountain.edu.

The expo portion of the day featured 51 exhibitors, concluding at 3 p.m. for a happy hour. The show floor was still lively with booth visitors and attendees. Overall, a lovely day in Mesa and hope for a bright future.