Carolyn Lee

Absolutely.

It's easier.

It's less expensive.

It's safer.

You can give them experience in roles through AR and VR and through digital twins.

That gives them the experience of being there without having to put them in the environment.

A few years ago during COVID, when we weren't able to bring people to facilities, we started doing some VR training so that they were able to see real time what

some of the capabilities were and some of the skills were as part of the certification they were earning and how that applied on a machine because they couldn't be in front of the machines.

And it works.

So it is very impactful for companies to have those tools available to them and to help upskill their and onboard workers, for sure.

Manufacturers are recognizing that they can't solve this problem for themselves all by themselves.

They really need to come together and look at this through a regional lens.

When you see these investments getting announced of a new investment, pick an area of the country.

And

The calls from the companies come in and say, what are we going to do when this new plant opens and they're expecting 5,000 workers?

What are we going to do?

How are we going to compete with that?

And the answer is to roll up your sleeves and come together to address the common skill sets that are shared across all different parts of manufacturing and train for those skill sets together in

the size of the pool, and that way you're not just competing for the same small talent pool among each other.

And then when the person comes into your facility, you have an opportunity to train them specifically for what you need.