Caterpillar's Diesel Engine Plant Staffs 40% of New Machinists From Military Ranks
A Caterpillar manufacturing facility in Illinois is pulling skilled machinists directly from military technical training, cutting onboarding time by six weeks and reducing first-year turnover to 3%. Here's how they built a repeatable pipeline.
The Lafayette, Indiana Caterpillar facility that produces diesel engines for heavy equipment does not have a labor shortage problem. While shops across the Midwest fight for CNC operators and experienced machinists, this plant's machine department is running at full staffing. The difference: they stopped fishing in the same labor pool as everyone else.
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