[CarlC]

There are only two car guys on my block. Want to guess which two guys everyone else on the block turns to when something stops working in their house? Yeah, and were the one with the smelly, loud, obnoxious cars in the Nazi Homeowners Association neighborhood. Go figure.

I deal almost exclusively with heavy industry customers. In just about every case there is a ton of both skilled and tribal knowledge that is being lost because there are not enough skilled younger workers that hang on long enough to get the hands-on education from the journeymen that is sorely needed. Those that do stay are few and far between, and they have to be paid well to stay. Let's face it, working hard in a dirty, loud, hazardous environment is not for everyone, so you have to pay to keep the good ones. The journeymen are retiring faster than they can be replaced.

There has been a movement afoot at several major manufacturers to go back to the old-school training programs. They have found it cheaper to have their own formalized training program that teaches their workers exactly what they need to know to get their jobs done right. It does pay in the end, since at $1M/day downtime it does not take much of a mistake to be upside-down in the +/- columns.

I've also always though it funny that some people will poo-poo a job, say a plumber for instance, that is until the poop starts floating around on the floors, and then all of the sudden they are begging the plumber for relief.