Michigan Business Beat | Teri Sand CAMW! Job Opportunities and Challenges in Transportation & Auto

Chris Holman welcomes back Teri Sand, SHRM-CP, PHR, CBSP, CRP, Business Services Manager, Capital Area Michigan Works!, Lansing, MI, but serving Ingham Eaton, and Clinton Counties THEME: Job opportunities and challenges in transportation and auto manufacturing. Teri, welcome back, please discuss challenges in finding bus drivers, CATA hiring, and auto supplier demand in anticipation of MBN’s September 12th Mobility & Talent panel featuring MICHauto? ● Many transportation companies in the Lansing region and beyond are seeking employees. ○ Companies are unable to keep up with the demand for truck drivers as they’re unable to recruit, hire, and train fast enough. ■ Xavier Express and Willow Creek Farms Trucking have both been searching for Truck Drivers. ○ CATA (Capital Area Transportation Authority) has especially taken a hit to the bus driver, mechanic, and office worker shortages. ○ Dean Transportation recruiting for School Bus Drivers. ■ Teri, please discuss any recent trends you have been seeing in these industries along with how job seekers can find jobs with our Weekly Hot Jobs Report? ● Research supports that the auto manufacturing industry has fallen short of meeting demands. ○ According to Michigan State University supply chain faculty (No. 1 ranked supply chain department in the nation) the industry is struggling to keep up with demands due to the fact that the automotive industry operates on a just-in-time inventory management model. ■ Just-in-time inventory management model, How is that impacting this sector? Parts arrive hours or even minutes before they're put on the assembly line. Hence the name, parts arrive just-in-time to be used. ■ There are 30,000 parts in the average car. If you’re missing one or a few of those parts, you can't build a car. ■ If you're not producing vehicles, which is what drives your revenue, you're eating into your profitability. Plus, you suddenly have inventory piling up that you don’t have space for. ○ The problem with this model is that it has to function exact