CSTEC Steel Industry Human Resources Study

Peter Warrian PhDUniversity of Toronto

Summary

Steel Employment Trends: Sector Definition Globalization and NAFTA Steel Market Demographic Bubble New Steel Workforce Production Workers Knowledge Transfer New International Steel Management Themes

Continuous Improvement Maintenance Steelworker of the Future

Steel Sector Employment Trends

Steel Definitions

Broader Steel Industry Independent Pipe Mills Rolling Mills and Drawing Mills Foundries Construction Fabricators Metals Service Centres

Differential Sector Impacts

Steel Trade & NAFTA

Canada Steel Shipments

Impacts of Globalization

Ownership Changes Changes to Competitive Environment

Single NAFTA Steel Market Restructured Supply Chains: Value

Added Migration Steel HR profile shift

More skill-intensive Higher value-added production

processes

Demographics

New Steel Workforce Challenges

Broader Steel Sector will need to recall or hire between 19,000 and 29,000 workers over the next five years.

The Sector will need to hire or recall a minimum of 5,000 skilled tradespersons between 2011 and 2015

Knowledge Transfer

The transfer of undocumented skills from older workers to younger workers. Knowledge Transfer has emerged as a new human resources planning challenge

Technology Factors

Automation of production processes, changing skill needs of both production workers and skilled tradespersons Increase the importance of technicians

and technologists Gaps in essential skills will exact a

greater cost on both workers and employers Nature of essential skills will also change

New International Steel Management

Internationalization of ownership structures. This is most evident in Primary Steel

Adoption of international managerial norms and the international flows of talent Productivity benchmarking, new

approaches to work organization Distinct strategies related to training and

human resources development

Impacts on Canadian Steel

Dramatic rationalization of production underpinned the increased integration of international markets.

In Canada, this rationalization of capacity drove a step-function increase in productivity Reduced overall employment Reshaping the skill needs of the

steelworker of the future

Primary Steel Productivity

Types of Training

Theme: 1 No Big Technology Change

No Step Function change in Technology Incremental Improvement on Shop Floor

the philosophy of ‘kaizen’ – which achieves results through the cumulative impact of small changes – has become central to management strategy in the primary steel industry.

Implications for upgrading the skill requirements and responsibilities of equipment operators and for introducing flexible work structures

Theme 2: Total Productivity Maintenance

Historical importance of Maintenance in the Primary Steel industry

TPM To achieve and maintain optimal

utilization of machinery and equipment Premise of TPM is that machine

operators develop tacit knowledge through active management of the machinery

Steelworker of the Future Minimum 2 year Community College

degree Long-term strategy to ensure an

adequate and appropriate supply of technicians and technologists with the requisite industry experience

Mismatch between the supply and demand for persons with technology skills pertains to internationally trained professionals

Production Workers

Impact of Continuous Improvement Change in attitude that is required, on

the part of both managers and shop-floor workers, for implementation to be successful.

Flattening of job hierarchies and an expansion of scope within jobs

Increased reliance on sensors and computer control systems will make basic computer literacy an essential skill for the majority of production workers

Skilled Trades

Impact of Information Technologies The line between the technology skills

of technicians and technologists and the trade skills of a skilled tradespersons will become blurred

The normal trades school curriculum and training standards for apprentices will fall short of meeting the Primary Steel industry’s needs.