Carbon County’s Manufacturer’s Advisory Board gathered for a roundtable discussion recently to address business concerns and future needs.

Kathy Henderson, director of economic development of the Carbon Chamber and Economic Development welcomed three manufacturers, one bank president, an educator and state representative to the inaugural meeting.“The purpose of the advisory board is to provide informational and peer networking events, as well as discussion and legislative updates for our manufacturers,” she said.Mauch Chunk Trust Company President Patrick Reilly said the advisory board was important for the area because, “However healthy your economy is, your business is. This is an opportunity to learn what manufactures need in this area.”Steve Peterson, President of CTC Manufacturing Inc., came to the meeting to get informed.John Askeland of Palmerton AMPAL Inc., hoped to discuss employment opportunities and strategies to “get and keep the right employees for the type of work we do,” he said.Employable skills took center stage in the discussion as Maureen Donovan, assistant director of workforce and community services of Lehigh Carbon Community College, spoke on the importance of proper training for manufacturing positions within many companies.“There are two types of skills, essential or technical. There is state funding out there for manufacturers to provide training. Companies don’t utilize it because they don’t have time; they are busy getting orders out,” she said.“We want Carbon to have a workforce and have the training here to make sure anything manufacturers need we can provide,” she said. “I always look at how my tax dollars are being spent, and having a trained workforce is very important.”State Rep. Doyle Heffley, R-Carbon, said, “The fees and regulations can be ridiculous. We’re competing with manufacturers overseas and trying to cut through the red tape on regulations.”Askeland said his main concern was personal. “We operate on a 24/7 basis and we have an aging workforce. We are actively recruiting people, but new guys don’t stick.”AMPAL recently purchased Great American Pellets in December, which will increase the manufacturing capacity by 75 percent.“A lot of our customers insist the product be produced in the USA. So our expansion has become very serious,” Askeland said.According to the vice president of operations, the company will need to add at least eight people to the payroll.Employers shared that new people aren’t always easy to find.“A lot of times if people are on benefits, they lose them immediately when they get a job, so they lose child care. If they get $50-60,000 in benefits from welfare, how do we encourage people to come out and work? There’s a lot of gray area there,” Heffley said.“The newer young people will not go for what was once a plum job. We’ve got to reformat because of the generation gap,” Askeland said.“As every generation gets further from agriculture, their work ethic declines. It’s hard to find people that want to do shift work,” Heffley said.“The parents that did those jobs don’t want their kids to do those jobs too. They want them to do better than they did,” Donovan said. “You’ve got to take the stigma away from vo-tech jobs and training.”Peterson agreed, “Schools are not preparing students. We’re doing more work with kids coming out of schools because of the way they’ve been treated by their parents and schools.”“We are looking for the disconnect,” Henderson said. “Soft skills are another challenge. Kids are not being taught simple things in schools like measurements and fractions.”“We are working to provide education opportunities for employees. There are state grants that help business conduct the training they need to do,” Donovan said.Henderson reminded the group of the newly formed business/education partnership committee that will work to connect students to employers through teaching important skills that may be lacking in the students’ curriculum.“Our goal at the chamber is to be the connector, the resource for employers and educators. We need to know what you need,” said Marlyn Kissner, the chamber’s executive director.The advisory board will meet once per quarter, the first Monday of the second month at the chamber office in Lehighton.