Skilled Workers

With the demand for welders and other skilled workers high and the supply low, Manitowoc Cranes is doing everything it can to retain them, according to a company official. Larry Weyers, executive vice president of Americas for Manitowoc Cranes, has been leading all company operations for the Americas region since 2007. As the guest speaker at Tuesday's Greencastle-Antrim Chamber of Commerce breakfast at Green Grove Gardens in Greencastle, Weyers described Manitowoc's crane and food-service industries.

MERCERSBURG, Pa. - In 1956, 60 percent of American workers held unskilled jobs. By the year 2000, unskilled workers will comprise just 15 percent of the labor force, said Carl Ford, coordinator of the School-to-Work program for the Tuscarora School District. Ford said the demand for skilled workers is growing all the time. "Employers need smarter, more flexible workers who can perform a wide variety of tasks," Ford told about 15 educators and area business owners assembled Thursday for the last school-to-work meeting for the academic year.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - The new Internal Revenue Service computing center east of Martinsburg requires about 350 database managers, software specialists and other skilled workers to run its high-tech computer systems. The problem is finding skilled workers to run them. The situation has become so common that the local IRS complex has set up a training program so new employees can run the center's operations. Employees spend up to three weeks in classroom training and are then given on-the-job training that can last up to three years, said Chuck Koeneke, public affairs officer for the IRS. The program is effective, but the downside is that it splits the time of qualified managers, who act as "coaches" to bring workers up to speed, said Koeneke.

Work force summit planned CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Franklin County employers are being invited to attend a work force development summit on Thursday to learn about local initiatives to help businesses get the skilled workers they need. Among the efforts to be highlighted are the Team Pennsylvania CareerLink, which offers a Web site where employers and prospective employees can find each other, said L. Michael Ross, president of the Franklin County Area Development Corp. and an organizer of the event.

A lack of skilled workers, uncertainties in new laws affecting business and ensuring that the federal government takes a lead in addressing infrastructure needs were among the issues that a group of local business people discussed with White House officials this week. Sixteen local business leaders met Wednesday with the White House Business Council in a daylong forum in Washington, D.C. The forum followed a series of nationwide meetings in which the administration asked business leaders how their companies were doing and how government could help, according to a news release from the Hagerstown-Washington County Chamber of Commerce.

WAYNESBORO, Pa. - Chatham Technologies Inc., hoping to keep up with the demand for its products in a growing worldwide market, will shift some of its manufacturing operations from its plant on Progress Road to the nearby Chambers 5 Industrial Park, company officials said Wednesday. The move makes it necessary to add 50 workers to Chatham's existing work force of 250 in the Chambersburg plant, said C.M. Cheek, vice president of Chatham's Pennsylvania operations. Until August 1997, the local plant operated under Hennessy Products Inc., which began in the 1920s making products for the railroad industry.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Pennsylvania lost thousands of manufacturing jobs in 2008, but that sector of the economy remained strong in Franklin County and businesses continue seeking skilled workers. On Thursday, business leaders, educators and elected officials dined on braised short ribs with leek and wild mushroom jus and smoky bacon-wrapped monkfish prepared by Franklin County Career and Technology Center students while center director James Duffey brought them up to date on its future.

Regional Printing Institute expands offerings By DAVE McMILLION / Staff Writer, Charles Town photo: RICHARD T. MEAGHER / staff photographer MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - A local institute that helps people learn the skills they need to succeed in the growing printing industry in the Tri-State area unveiled a new line of courses Thursday. The Regional Printing Institute, operated by James Rumsey Vocational Technical Center and Shepherd College's Community and Technical Center, has trained 128 people since its inception in 1999, said director Chuck McClain.

Name: Don Buckley Age: 72 Resides in: Williamsport Occupation, or former occupation if retired: Buckley retired from IBM after working for the company for 33 years. Where do you volunteer and what do you do there?: Buckley volunteers with Habitat for Humanity of Washington County. He works in its Hagerstown office, at 20 S. Prospect St., where he writes checks for employees and vendors. He also helps to build houses, and estimated that since he started volunteering with Habitat in 1992 he has helped to build 18 houses.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com Three Republicans will be on the GOP ballot in the May 14 primary election for the new 56th District West Virginia House of Delegates seat. Robert C. "Bob" Tabb is the only candidate on the Democratic side of the ballot in the primary. Republicans James "Jim" Whitacre, Tom Grove and Donald R. Shoemaker will vie for the right to face Tabb in the Nov. 5 general election. Delegates serve two-year terms and earn $15,000. The 56th District covers portions of Berkeley and Jefferson counties.

This is one in an occasional series of stories about findings and recommendations in the Hagerstown and Washington County Economic Development Strategic Plan. Sunday's story looks at information contained in the study about workforce development. Coming Monday : Education As a businessman, Dan Pheil has a real-world perspective on the need for, and shortage of, skilled workers. “A skilled workforce is the gift that keeps on giving,” with better productivity, earnings, wages and economic development, said Pheil, who is chairman of the Hagerstown-Washington County Economic Development Commission and president of Cinetic Landis Corp., a manufacturer of precision machine tools for the automotive industry.

With the demand for welders and other skilled workers high and the supply low, Manitowoc Cranes is doing everything it can to retain them, according to a company official. Larry Weyers, executive vice president of Americas for Manitowoc Cranes, has been leading all company operations for the Americas region since 2007. As the guest speaker at Tuesday's Greencastle-Antrim Chamber of Commerce breakfast at Green Grove Gardens in Greencastle, Weyers described Manitowoc's crane and food-service industries.

A lack of skilled workers, uncertainties in new laws affecting business and ensuring that the federal government takes a lead in addressing infrastructure needs were among the issues that a group of local business people discussed with White House officials this week. Sixteen local business leaders met Wednesday with the White House Business Council in a daylong forum in Washington, D.C. The forum followed a series of nationwide meetings in which the administration asked business leaders how their companies were doing and how government could help, according to a news release from the Hagerstown-Washington County Chamber of Commerce.

Related stories o Program designed to develop work force o The Big Four "put Waynesboro on the map" WAYNESBORO, Pa. -- Dave George looks at the massive old buildings he recently purchased and sees an investment for his sons' future and a significant expansion opportunity for his machine shop. The company he founded, D.L. George & Sons, bought the historic Landis Tool Co. complex in Waynesboro borough three weeks ago. Fifty-two workers from D.L. George & Sons' manufacturing division will move into what used to be the erecting department of the precision-grinding equipment plant.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Pennsylvania lost thousands of manufacturing jobs in 2008, but that sector of the economy remained strong in Franklin County and businesses continue seeking skilled workers. On Thursday, business leaders, educators and elected officials dined on braised short ribs with leek and wild mushroom jus and smoky bacon-wrapped monkfish prepared by Franklin County Career and Technology Center students while center director James Duffey brought them up to date on its future.

Name: Don Buckley Age: 72 Resides in: Williamsport Occupation, or former occupation if retired: Buckley retired from IBM after working for the company for 33 years. Where do you volunteer and what do you do there?: Buckley volunteers with Habitat for Humanity of Washington County. He works in its Hagerstown office, at 20 S. Prospect St., where he writes checks for employees and vendors. He also helps to build houses, and estimated that since he started volunteering with Habitat in 1992 he has helped to build 18 houses.

chambersburg@herald-mail.com CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - The jobless rate in Franklin County was unchanged in March at 4.2 percent, according to preliminary figures released last week by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. The number of people working increased by 500 to 71,600, while the number of people listed as unemployed remained steady at 3,100, the report stated. The increased employment number was offset by an increase of 500 people in the labor force to 74,700.

WAYNESBORO, Pa. - Several former employees of Landis Threading Systems, formerly Landis Machine Co., talked over old times Saturday at a new exhibit at the Waynesboro Industrial Museum. The exhibit, "Landis Machine Company: A Centennial Perspective," was mounted by the Waynesboro Area Industrial Heritage Trust at the museum on Philadelphia Avenue. Landis Machine Co. was founded in October 1903 and produced tools and machines. Over the years, its facilities expanded to include a new machine shop, a heat-treating shop, a tap plant and a research and development area.

charlestown@herald-mail.com A global corporation is looking at locations across the United States to set up a center where it would consolidate all its data systems, West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise told a crowd of about 150 people Monday night. But any site won't do, he said. The new site for the company must have an up-to-date telecommunications system and skilled workers that know how to handle the company's data, as well as other requirements, Wise said during a town meeting on economic development at the Holiday Inn. "It's an extremely sophisticated operation," Wise told the crowd, made up of business and political leaders from Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan counties.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com Three Republicans will be on the GOP ballot in the May 14 primary election for the new 56th District West Virginia House of Delegates seat. Robert C. "Bob" Tabb is the only candidate on the Democratic side of the ballot in the primary. Republicans James "Jim" Whitacre, Tom Grove and Donald R. Shoemaker will vie for the right to face Tabb in the Nov. 5 general election. Delegates serve two-year terms and earn $15,000. The 56th District covers portions of Berkeley and Jefferson counties.