Survey finds communications gap worsens LV labor shortage

Monday, March 8, 1999 | 10:49 a.m.

There's a communications gap between Las Vegas manufacturers that prevents them from being as productive as they could be, a new survey says.

The Nevada Development Authority is taking the lead in closing that gap in its role of convincing Southern Nevada companies not to move to other states.

The NDA, known more as a business recruitment organization with an emphasis on diversification, also is charged with hearing the concerns of existing companies and solving their problems to prevent them from moving.

The NDA plans to develop an Internet website where human resources professionals at Southern Nevada's manufacturing and distribution plants can develop contacts with experts and potential employees.

"It would be constantly updated to provide information so that companies can find engineers and qualified employees for their plants," said Michael Panciro, executive vice president of Chenco International Investment Co., a commercial real estate developer in Las Vegas.

"I had heard that there were some general concerns about the workforce in Southern Nevada," Panciro said. "But this gap in communication surprised me."

Panciro coordinated a survey to learn about existing companies' satisfaction with the area, expansion and relocation plans and what they like and don't like about employees and suppliers.

The survey results were based on the responses of 100 companies as well as experts from the Community College of Southern Nevada and UNLV.

NDA staff members who developed the survey said 200 survey questionnaires were distributed throughout Southern Nevada.

There are nearly 500 manufacturing and distribution companies in the area, ranging from the giants like Timet to the mom-and-pop companies that deliver helium-filled balloons.

About half of the state's 44,000 manufacturing jobs are in Clark County.

"Getting a 50 percent response rate," said Connie Brennan of Brennan & Associates, who helped compile the data, "is practically unheard of."

"It is apparent the No. 1 issue confronting manufacturing and distribution companies in Southern Nevada is the hiring and retention of qualified employees," said a survey summary.

When asked what they found lacking in Southern Nevada, 15 percent of the survey respondents listed qualified labor. The majority of the respondents, 55 percent, had no response.

When asked what type of recruiting problems were experienced in the past, half the survey respondents answered "skilled labor," the largest percentage.

That led Panciro to search for the reason for the high percentage of replies complaining about the labor shortage.

"I was hearing that a company like Carroll Shelby (America, a car manufacturer at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway) would have a need for welders, for example," Panciro said. "Meanwhile, someone over at the Community College would say, 'Hey, I'll have a bunch of welders graduating in a couple months.' It seemed that some of these businesses just weren't talking to some of the people they needed to be talking to."

The lack of communication extends beyond linking the local education centers with the businesses. Better networking between the companies can help an employee find work at a local plant after getting laid off somewhere else.

In addition, many manufacturers hope to network more within the community so they can sell locally what they make, since there are virtually no shipping charges.

Panciro said there are associations of manufacturers and distributors active in Southern Nevada, but they have not had the resources to develop the necessary networking.

"Besides," Panciro said, "we don't want to duplicate the work of the associations. We want to enhance it."

Two organizations that are working to develop communication between the companies and academia and among the manufacturers themselves are the Manufacturing Assistance Partnership, which is represented throughout the state, and the Nevada Manufacturers Association, based in Carson City.

MAP, which has field agents in four community colleges and two universities in the state, has been working since 1995 to become the agency manufacturers go to with problems.

"The conclusions of the NDA are 100 percent correct," said Steve Straub, a MAP field agent for the Community College of Southern Nevada, who works from CCSN's Sahara West Center at Sahara Avenue just west of Valley View Boulevard. "There's no vehicle for manufacturers to talk with each other."

Straub and his UNLV counterpart, Gene Lazaroff, have made appearances before some local chambers of commerce and are trying to spread the word that they want to the industry's problem-solvers.

If a certain type of training is not available, Straub said, he and Lazaroff would work to find it and make it available locally.

In addition to providing an education and communications forum, Straub said MAP is volunteering to make on-site visits to develop a data base of resources. He said he hopes to gather information on operational efficiencies and navigation through regulatory hazards that can be passed on to other companies.

The NMA, directed by Ray Bacon, issues newsletters and has a fax network for matters of interest to manufacturers and distributors. The association reaches out to a statewide membership of 230 companies, one-third of which are based in Clark County.

Bacon is the only full-time employee of the association, which concentrates most of its energies on lobbying.

"Networking and communicating outside the industry is important, especially in Southern Nevada," Bacon said. "The industrial community there is relatively small."

Bacon explained that a low percentage of products are sold locally by Southern Nevada manufacturers -- except in the gaming industry -- which is why manufacturers don't devote more time and energy to communications.

In addition to establishing a communications network via the Internet, Panciro hopes to offer educational programs via the Internet site. The NDA has sponsored an education workforce forum to bring together educators from the Community College and UNLV with representatives of Ocean Spray, Ethel M Chocolates, Sprint, Nextel, Shelby America and other local manufacturers.

A manufacturers' forum to discuss current and future issues also is in the plans by the NDA.