Many argue that there is a skills gap in Pittsburgh and beyond. In particular, the manufacturing industry is currently facing challenges, including the loss of skilled workers due to retirement, structural problems in the education system, low attractiveness of careers in manufacturing, and an overall shorter duration of employment due to a high degree of flexibility in the US labor market.

To combat this skills gap and drive economic development in the Greater Pittsburgh region, the Pittsburgh Chapter of the German American Chamber of Commerce (GACC) initiated several workforce development programs. The GACC offers both Pre-Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship programs, allowing the opportunity for high schoolers, high school graduates, and employees already working in a company to benefit from a German-based dual vocational training concept. The programs combine classroom training along with hands-on experiences at one of the twenty participating companies. Companies get a tailored training program, greater employee loyalty and access to a high-quality candidate pool. All of the Apprenticeship programs are registered by the State of Pennsylvania’s Department of Labor and Industry and have been approved by the Pennsylvania Apprenticeship and Training Council and the Federal Committee on Apprenticeship. Apprentices have the opportunity to choose from one of the four programs: Mechatronics Technician, Polymer Process Technician, Sales Engineer, or CAD/CAM Technical Designer. Upon successful completion of the on-the-job training and classroom part of the program, Apprentices graduate with an occupation-specific Certification from the partnering community college, their journeyman papers, the German Apprenticeship Certificate and their Associate’s Degree.

One of the companies participating in the Apprenticeship program offered by the German American Chamber of Commerce is Ensinger Inc. Ensinger, founded in 1966 in Nufringen, Germany, focuses on manufacturing high-performance engineering thermoplastics. By combining their extrusion, casting, compression and injection molding expertise, Ensinger provides their customers with a variety of innovative designs for their respective industries – including aerospace, automotive, oil production, medical and food technology, mechanical and electrical engineering, semiconductor and more. With 35 production and sales locations throughout Europe, North America, South America and Asia, Ensinger is represented in each of the major industrial regions, employing a workforce of 2,600. 

Since 2017 the GACC, Pittsburgh Chapter has been working closely with the American headquarters in Washington, PA to help them overcome their employment issues and high turnover rate. Currently, Ensinger hires Mechatronics and Polymer Process Technician Apprentices. During the two-and-a-half-year program, students rotate through the different departments in the company and get to work in the maintenance department, shipping/receiving, in the lab and on the shop floor to operate high-end plastic extrusion machines.

One of the German American Chamber of Commerce Apprentices who worked for Ensinger was Andrew Knez. As a dedicated Apprentice, Andrew was named Apprentice of the Year in 2020 at the annual Ice Gala,  hosted by the Pittsburgh Chapter of the German American Chamber of Commerce. As an Apprentice, Andrew worked on projects with the extrusion and finishing departments, and his work was applied to refurbishing older equipment, restoring mechanical components and installing new technology controls to provide state-of-the-art machines at a fraction of the cost of new machines. At the start of the Apprenticeship, Andrew already had a passion for robotics and programmable logic control, but he possessed little mechanical skills. As he progressed through his training, he quickly developed electro-mechanical capabilities and diversified his skills across all disciplines. This development enabled Andrew to complete complex assignments with confidence. Along with Andrew’s self-motivation and trainer testimonies of him being dependable, polite, and humble, the German American Chamber of Commerce was proud to name Andrew the Apprentice of the Year.

Andrew was part of the first GACC Apprenticeship Cohort that graduated in Spring of 2021 with a CCAC Certificate for Mechatronics, his journeyman papers from the Department of Labor and Industry  and his German Apprenticeship Certificate in Mechatronics from the DIHK (German Chamber of Industry and Commerce, that oversees the Apprenticeship Program in Germany).

With the grant support from Governor Wolf and the Department of Community and Economic Development, Andrew is one of the many Apprentices that has benefited from the Apprenticeship program that is actively working to close the skills gap in the manufacturing sector of the Western Pennsylvania region. To learn more, please visit the GACC website.