Page 12: of Marine News Magazine (November 2024)

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Insights to grow our workforce as quickly as we would like. The tools for new employees. Seeing the ? nished product before learning curve for custom boat building is steep, so we con- you have to create it from scratch is a great way to learn. tinue to develop in-house training for our newer workers.

We have both short- and long-term solutions that aim How has the shipbuilding industry changed to address workforce gaps. In the short term, we have used since you ? rst entered the business? And what subcontractor labor companies to provide skilled trades has remained the same?

people. In the long term, we are more aggressively reach- What hasn’t changed is that Gladding-Hearn continues ing out to local trade schools, attending local job fairs etc. to build high performance, reliable commercial vessels.

Trade schools are over-capacity in Massachusetts, but I am What has changed dramatically is the communication pro- encouraged to see our state is investing to expand many of cess to get to the end result. When I started in the business, them across the Commonwealth. We created a dedicated the fax machine was a new invention. There were no cell welder training and testing center, and have a full-time cer- phones, we didn’t have email or the internet. We mailed ti? ed welding trainer. We have also used other outside orga- or faxed letters, spoke on the phone and we got the job nizations for training and certi? cation in other trades such done. Today the capacity to communicate has increased as electrical and painting. With the help of a state of Mas- thousands of times, especially in the past four years. Be- sachusetts grant and a local community college, we’ve also fore 2020, we did not use Zoom or Teams. Today we may invested in companywide workforce development. We have have two or three remote meetings a day without having found that repair and re? t work are also excellent training to travel. We are never really out of the of? ce when we can

Gladding-Hearn earlier this year delivered the ? rst of two

Chesapeake-class pilot boats undergoing a comprehensive re? t for the Boston Pilots.

Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, Duclos Corporation 12 | MN November 2024