Automotive News Canada - November 2022 - 32

32
* NOVEMBER 2022
APMA: Parts sector needs
about 10,000 workers;
where will they come from?
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
labour shortage was mentioned
by a number of companies, " said
Martin Mazza, vice-president of
external affairs at the Woodbridge
Group, a Toronto-based supplier
of automotive foam.
" It's not unique to us, it's
unique to our industry, and we're
having a struggle
in some
ways attracting
people to our
industry.
" There's competition
out
there. "
Mazza:
" We have to
... have further
discussions
on some of
the things they
[government]
could do
... to make
more people
available to
us. " FILE PHOTO
Freeland,
Mazza said,
noted executives'
concerns,
and the industry
plans to continue
lobbying
Ottawa.
" I don't think
there's a silver
bullet, " Mazza
said, " but we
have to ... have
further discussions
on some
of the things they [government]
could do " in areas such as immigration
" to make more people
available to us. "
NEARLY $13 BILLION LOST
Across Canada's manufacturing
sectors, the labour shortage
has cost the economy almost $13
billion over the past year, according
to a study by the Canadian
Manufacturers and Exporters
(CME).
Its annual labour survey of 563
manufacturers in 17 industries
found that almost two-thirds have
lost or turned down contracts and
suffered production
delays
because of a
lack of workers.
The penalties
and lost sales
resulting from
these problems
totaled $7.2 billion,
the organization
said.
As well, 43
Lee: The
NextStar
Energy
battery-cell
plant is about
to start hiring
and training
the 2,500
workers it will
need.
FILE PHOTO
per cent of companies
postponed
or cancelled
capital
projects, resulting
in an additional
$5.4 billion
in lost
investment,
said the CME.
APMA President Flavio Volpe
said he's not aware of specific figures
for the parts industry but
estimated that it is short 10,000
workers.
GROWING CONCERN
The pandemic has had lingering
effects on the labour market
in the industrial sector, the CME
report said. For two consecutive
years, more than 80 per cent of
Five years ago, Cavalier Tool opened its first office in India to
augment design needs that could not be met locally. The Windsorbased
company now has three locations in India to support
Canadian operations. FILE PHOTO
manufacturers said they are facing
labour and skills shortages, up
from 60 per cent in 2020 and 39 per
cent in 2016.
It's a concern, said Danies Lee,
CEO of NextStar Energy Inc., the
electric-vehicle battery-cell plant
being built in Windsor.
The $5-billion facility - a joint
venture between LG Energy
Solution (LGES) and Stellantis -
is expected to employ about 2,500
people once it's up and running
in 2025. It will require more than
500 engineers, 400 technicians and
1,550 hourly workers.
Hiring has yet to begin, but
NextStar is developing training
programs for technical employees,
some of whom will undergo
lengthy training at LGES' battery
hub in Poland, Lee said.
Skilled trades are in short supply
across Canada, he noted.
" That's why I am trying to hire in
advance to get them trained. We
need more time to train those people. "
HIGHER
WAGES, HIRE ABROAD
To retain and attract workers,
companies are raising wages
and benefits, offering more flexible
schedules, investing in automation
and importing
labour through such
measures as the federal
Temporary Foreign
Workers Program.
" This is the first time
our quality manuals [for
workers] are in two languages, "
English and
Spanish, said Jonathon
Azzopardi, president of
Laval International, a
tooling manufacturer
near Windsor.
The plant - which
supplies molds, fixtures,
parts and designs to Tier
1 parts makers and automakers
- employs about
100 workers, half of
whom were not born in
Canada, Azzopardi said.
" Most of them are temmation "
and granted wage hikes,
ranging from 10 per cent to 17 per
cent to its 280 employees over the
last year, said President David
Ulrich.
" We have to meet our customers'
demands, and it's either
through manpower or technology. "
While
Azzopardi also has boosted
wages and benefits as well as
offered flexible schedules, higher
compensation could erode the bottom
line, especially for lower-tier
companies, he said.
" People say, 'Just pay more,' "
he said. " The problem is the
further away you are from the
OEMs, the less profit is in the
project. "
Stellantis, for example, " can
afford to pay $36 an hour, ... but
the guys at the bottom can't, "
Azzopardi said. At those suppliers,
hourly wages generally range
from $16 to $26 an hour, he said.
'YEAR OF PEOPLE' EVERY YEAR
Cavalier's Galbraith is also
taking a multifaceted approach
toward mitigating the impact
of the labour crunch, including
expanding an engineering design
centre in India.
Azzopardi:
Half of Laval
International's
workers
weren't born
in Canada,
so the quality
manuals are
in Spanish
as well as
English.
FILE PHOTO
porary foreign workers or landed
immigrants. "
At KB Components Canada
Inc., the Windsor-area company
has invested " heavily in auto " Five
years ago, we
opened our first office
to augment our design
needs that could not be
met locally, " he said. " We
now have three locations
[employing 33 people]
there that offer support to
various areas of our company
here in Canada. "
In addition, the company,
which employs more
than 200 people in the
Windsor area, has made
human resources its top
priority.
" Every year, Cavalier
picks a theme to dominate
our strategy, " Galbraith
said. " Twenty twenty-one
was the 'Year of People,'
where we hired HR specialists
to guide us in
employee retention and recruitment.
During that year, it became
evident that every year was going
to have to focus on that aspect of
the business. " - ANC
The NextStar Stellantis-LG plant " is going to suck up
whatever labour we have available, " said Jon Azzopardi
of Windsor-based Laval International. FILE PHOTO
New Windsor battery
plant could drain
a shallowing talent pool
By GRACE MACALUSO
MANAGING EDITOR
THE AUTO INDUSTRY IS PRESSING GOVERNMENT TO
address a labour shortage that could become " catastrophic " as
the sector builds out its electric-vehicle supply chain.
Electrification is " amplifying the problem, " said Jon
Azzopardi, president of Laval International in Windsor, Ont.
The NextStar battery-cell plant " is going to suck up whatever
labour we have available. It is going to create a catastrophic
shortage. "
A joint venture between Stellantis and LG Energy Solution,
the $5-billion plant is expected to hire at least 2,500 employee
when it begins full production in 2025.
Solutions, Azzopardi said, must focus on replenishing the
pool of skilled labour, especially at the lower end of the supply
chain.
" It's a three-pronged approach, " he said. " It's getting your
current workforce trained; it's mobilizing your future workers
- exposing students to manufacturing and making it a
top career choice - and using immigration to supplement
employment shortages. "
Meanwhile, a new report by the Canadian Manufacturers
and Exporters (CME) is calling on government to " take concrete
action now to fill more than 85,000 vacant positions
across Canada's manufacturing sector. "
Ottawa recently responded to one of industry's key
demands: boosting immigration. Federal Immigration
Minister Sean Fraser announced plans Nov. 1 to increase
the number of newcomers to 500,000 in 2025. That's up from
405,000 last year, and 465,000 expected to arrive in 2023. - ANC
WORKING TO GET WORKERS
Some recommendations
by the Canadian
Manufacturers and
Exporters to ease
labour shortages:
* Increase the intake of economic-class
immigrants to
500,000 per year by 2025,
work to reduce backlogs
of immigrants and reform
Canada's immigration point
system to better align it with
the skills needed in manufacturing.
*
Speed up the Temporary
Foreign Worker program
with a system that preapproves
trusted employers,
and by streamlining
the Labour Market Impact
Assessment application.
* Provide employer-led training
benefits, including a
50-per-cent tax credit to offset
the costs.
* Reform hiring, training and
apprenticeship programs
so that they better meet the
needs of manufacturers.
* Increase funding of the
Canada Job Grant to $1 billion
annually, make it permanent
and expand it to
include on-the-job training.
* Renew and increase funding
for programs that encourage
more members of underrepresented
groups to seek
a career in manufacturing,
including CME's Women in
Manufacturing initiative.
* Create regional industry
councils that bring together
employers, government
officials and educators to
coordinate skills training and
education programs based
on regional needs.
* Introduce a nationwide10per-cent
investment tax
credit on the purchase
of machinery, equipment
and software. Extend the
Accelerated Investment
Incentive for three more
years.
Automotive News Canada - November 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News Canada - November 2022
