It’s hard to drive down Michigan Avenue headed into town or past the Middle School without seeing succinct “Help Wanted” signs.
According to the United States Department of Labor, “nonfarm payroll employment rose by 157,000 in July, and the unemployment rate edged down to 3.9 percent.” Signs of an improving domestic job market are well established. Local jobs. Manufacturing sector jobs. With companies that are standing against global competitors in their respective markets and winning. [1,2]
On North Maple Road, a little past the old railroad spur that deadends across from the library, Lectronics is hiring entry level workers. Their business has steadily grown since 2002, beginning with twenty employees in just a part of the building they acquired and have fully occupied since 2009. The company assembles circuit boards, with medical and automotive diagnostics industries toping their customer list. Some of their more exotic work includes systems for military missile guidance. [3]
“It was very difficult in 2008, ‘9, ’10 in Michigan,” Company Vice President Jason Sciberras told Saline Journal. “Our niche is small volume that people didn’t want to send to China. Then, around 2009, ’10, China wasn’t as cheap any more. There were duties, shipping, cost-of-quality. Then there was lost of intellectual property.
“That’s when re-shoring began, around 2009, ’10.”
On US 12 neighboring Rentschler Farm Museum, Faurecia is a Tier One supplier of integrated interiors, seating, and clean mobility exhaust equipment for automotive, agriculture, and Class 8 vehicles. Headquartered in France, it’s Saline operation consists of some 1800 people. Donald Hampton Jr, President, Faurecia Interiors North America, believes this makes his company a major employer here. [4]
“The last couple of years, we’ve been in a perpetual hiring mode,” he told Saline Journal during an interview at our own offices with d2 Saline. Once again, it’s about demand in skilled trades. [5,6]
Faurecia workers come from anywhere within a fifty- to sixty-mile radius, from metro Detroit to Sylvania, Ohio. Beyond productivity, this spells an incredible opportunity in terms of broad exposure for Saline offerings as well as active patronage of its many choices for food and drink. It also means a large pool of talent deployed to community service.
“FUEL” stands for “Faurecia Unites Employees in Local Service” and represents an initiative that ranges from sponsorship of golf outings and food drives to underwriting STEM programs. They raise money for the United Way and Gleaners Food Bank. North America Director of Communications Tony Sapienza described their “three pillars of charity” as hunger abatement, providing shelter for humanity, and STEM. Vice President of Engineering for North American Operations Robert Kinney added that Faurecia currently sponsors two robotics teams and looks forward to seeing both make it to one or more FIRST Championships during the current Detroit Cycle. [7]
Local connection with area schools is a common thread here. Jason Sciberras said that Lectronics has been working with Saline Area Schools administration for several years now in an effort to develop a relationship with classes where student interests and careers with his company would overlap. They welcomed their first tours from Saline High School in January of 2017 and hope to build on that.
“They have the skill set that we like,” he noted, adding that forty percent of the Lectronics work force is comprised of Millenials.
“A lot of people come here with no work history at all, right out of high school” Mr Sciberras continued. “We have very good training; we’re structured for that. We grow talent inside. We promote from within. Most of our hiring is entry level, because we need to fill a position that’s been vacated by someone we’ve promoted.”
Although Jason Sciberras himself has a degree, this does beg the question — could one of those high school students hired in at entry-level and trained within ever expect to go on to become a vice president with Lectronics here?
“Absolutely.”
References
- “Employment Situation Summary” Bureau of Labor Statistics (August 3, 2018) United States Department of Labor.
- “Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey” Bureau of Labor Statistics (January 2008 through July 2018) United States Department of Labor.
- Lectronics (home page).
- Faurecia Interiors (home page).
- “‘Everybody Isn’t Cut Out for Trade Work,’ Advises Dr Rose Bellanca, Washtenaw Community College President” Dell Deaton (May 21, 2018) Saline Journal.
- “Clean, Reliable Water Supply In The City of Saline Is Not Really the Stuff Of Which Dramatic Headlines Are Made” Dell Deaton (June 12, 2018) Saline Journal.
- “What’s Missing from This Image of the 2018 FIRST Robotics Championship in Detroit?” Dell Deaton (May 3, 2018) Saline Journal.
