August 2025 Volume 7

FORGING RESEARCH

FORGING FUTURES: FOUR WORKFORCE LEVERS EVERY SHOP

CAN PULL TODAY By Dr. Raymond V. Fryan Jr.

Executive Snapshot A red‑hot steel billet is placed beneath a 4,000‑ton press in a shop built over 60 years ago. While our industry keeps the world moving, the amazing part of this shop floor is the duo running it: a 58‑year‑old master forger scrolling through sensor data on a touchscreen while his Gen‑Z partner feeds the billet into the press. This snapshot captures forging’s crossroads—and its opportunity. Tribal know‑how is retiring at record speed just as more of our equipment goes digital. The challenging workforce demands and the ever-increasing rates of change pushed us to explore dozens of forging plants to learn who’s winning the talent battle. While the battle is fierce, we found four levers to help push talent in your direction—bold branding, buddy‑style socialization, tech that protects and teaches, and a culture that prizes craftsmanship. Key Takeaways: • Modern employer branding can increase qualified applications in six months. • Buddy‑style onboarding reduces first‑year turnover. • Weekly “Forge Round‑Tables” create a productivity lift via operator suggestions.

1 | The Labor Crunch Hits Hard Baby boomer retirements are rewriting the workforce map just as demand for precision forged components spikes across aerospace, energy, and automotive supply chains. Industry data show 41 percent of current craft specialists will reach retirement eligibility by 2028. Meanwhile, few technical school graduates will consider forging a career, mainly because the trade still suffers from a “dirty and dangerous” image. Automation offers relief but raises the bar: tomorrow’s press operator must read data streams as confidently as a micrometer. The result is a double squeeze on talent acquisition and retention that no shop—small or large— can ignore. 2 | What Plants Told Us We conducted semi structured interviews with 38 individuals with FIA member plants ranging from 40 employee job shops to 600 person integrated forges. Questions probed recruiting pipelines, onboarding routines, learning tools, leadership style, and turnover metrics. Grounded theory coding distilled more than 1,100 open codes into four high impact categories. In comparison, every plant’s context differed—union versus non union, open die versus closed die—the four levers surfaced in every location. 3 | Four Levers That Work A. Employer Branding: Show the Smart‑Forge Story Shops that trade grimy stereotypes for a “smart manufacturing” narrative see applicant pools increase within their first year. The challenge is telling the story of your shop honestly and openly. Winning tactics include TikTok length behind the scenes videos of presses, partnerships with STEM programs, and career progress graphics posted at job fairs. One mid size operation refreshed its website with drone footage and metrics on career paths, which drove a significant increase in applications.

B. Structured Socialization: From Day‑One Buddy to 90‑Day Check Every plant that slashed early turnover married formal orientation to an old‑fashioned mentor system. New hires meet their ‘forge buddy’ before they meet the press, walk the path with that mentor, and complete a checked‑off skill matrix by week twelve. Rotation through sawing, heating, forging, and finishing builds a sense of mastery and reveals future job paths—key for Millennials and Gen Z who rank ‘growth’ over starting wage. C. Tech Integration: Tools that Protect and Teach Tech such as real time press and furnace dashboards is not merely a capex line item—they are retention tools. Operators complain about fatigue less often after presses move from manual adjustments to digital set points. Yet the real breakthrough is the internal knowledge base: phone sized QR codes throughout the shop allow new hires the ability to pull up 60 second videos shot by senior employees, teaching new employees how to perform specific tasks or find particular tools. The combination accelerates skill ramp up and keeps legacy knowledge alive. D. Leadership & Culture: Pride, Safety, Voice The best‑performing shops replaced command‑and‑control with coaching. Supervisors open every shift with a 3‑minute micro‑lesson and close the week with a ‘Forge Round‑Table’ where any operator can pitch an idea. Plants that institutionalized this practice logged increases in their OEE lift within the first year—proof that engagement pays dividends beyond HR KPIs. Hidden Gem—Mentorship By the Numbers • 96 percent of juniors who finish a formal 12‑month mentorship are still on payroll three years later.

FIA MAGAZINE | AUGUST 2025 68