PLAIN CITY, Ohio — Like many industries right now, finding workers to fill manufacturing jobs is a challenge.


What You Need To Know

  • Ohio has the third largest manufacturing workforce in the U.S. with around 700,000 workers

  • There's currently a shortage of manufacturing workers

  • EMSI reports there are more than 660,000 manufacturing openings across the country

A labor market data company called EMSI reports there are more than 660,000 manufacturing openings across the country.

One Ohio company can attest to the challenges of finding workers.

“I’ve been in this industry since 1980 and I’ve never seen this shortage of people, ever,” said Tim Preston, the HR Manager at Midwest Molding in Plain City

Preston said the industry is facing unique challenges during the pandemic. 

“When we opened back up, we thought we could come back up slow, but we came back up fast with actually more work,” he said. “And we were down about 20 employees.”

Now, the company is only down eight.

Technical Manager Quinn Toll has been with Midwest Molding for more than a decade. 

“We have a great team here. We’re growing, we work well together,” said Toll.

And he said they continue to grow, even with a staff shortage.

“There’s plenty of opportunity in this business from processing, to the mold, to the production standpoint,” said Toll. “Just come in, work hard, work your way up and there’s a million things you can learn.”

Ohio has the third largest manufacturing workforce in the U.S. with around 700,000 workers.​