Building the Pipeline: How Employers Are Taking Workforce Development into Their Own Hands

From early‑career apprenticeships to mid‑career transitions, companies are rethinking how talent enters—and stays in—the industry.

AS THE MATERIAL handling and supply chain industry continues to grapple with persistent labor shortages, a growing number of companies are rethinking a long‑held assumption: that talent must be sourced externally.

Instead, leading organizations are taking a more proactive approach by building, training and even transitioning their own workforce pipelines. From early‑career apprenticeships to mid‑career development programs, these employer‑led models are reshaping how talent enters—and stays within—our industry.

For Pahola Capellán, workforce development manager at MHI, this shift reflects both necessity and opportunity.

“Our industry has open jobs, and needs more employees,” she explained. “It’s exciting to see members step up and actively build solutions, rather than waiting for the talent to come to them.”

BUILDING PIPELINES AT THE SOURCE

One example comes from MHI member Qimarox, a Netherlands‑based manufacturer that has spent years developing a regional, education‑integrated workforce model as part of its comprehensive, end-to‑end talent recruitment and retention program.

Facing a shortage of highly specialized technical talent, the company made a deliberate decision to invest in talent development early—long before candidates enter the traditional job market.

“Finding well‑trained technical talent with the right mindset is becoming increasingly challenging,” said Jaco Hooijer, business development manager at Qimarox. “Rather than focusing only on ‘finished’ profiles, we invest in people with the right attitude and develop the necessary skills internally.”

That investment starts with deep collaborations across education, government and industry. Through regional partnerships, students are able to combine paid, on‑the‑job experience with formal technical education. This, noted Hooijer, lowers the barrier to entry while accelerating skill development.

At the same time, Qimarox has built an internal training ecosystem designed to support employees at every stage. A proprietary e‑learning platform delivers product training, onboarding modules and soft skills development, all created by in-house experts and aligned with real‑world operations.

The onboarding process is equally hands‑on, continued Hooijer. “All new employees—regardless of their role—spend their first week working in our assembly department,” he said. “This experience helps them understand our products, processes and culture from day one.”

From there, mentorship and ongoing development planning help guide long‑term career growth. The result is a sustainable, self‑reinforcing pipeline. Many employees begin as interns or students and progress into critical roles across the organization, from engineering to sales.

“By focusing on motivation, continuous learning and long‑term development, we have built a workforce that grows together with the company,” Hooijer said.

DEVELOPING—AND RELEASING—TALENT

While Qimarox focuses on the front end of the pipeline, ProAutomated offers a different perspective—one centered on developing and transitioning talent already in the workforce.

The company provides field service engineers to support system integrators across the U.S., specializing in commissioning and on‑site execution. From its earliest days, ProAutomated recognized that consistency and quality would depend on training its workforce internally.

“We designed the company in a way where we’re always outputting the same quality of engineer,” said PJ Syrrist, career transition program manager at ProAutomated.

Every new hire—many of them recent graduates—completes a four‑week, hands‑on bootcamp at the company’s training facility. There, engineers work directly with equipment, simulate real‑world scenarios and learn from instructors who rotate in from the field.

This approach ensures that every engineer arrives on‑site with a consistent baseline of skills. It’s something customers have come to rely on.

“They’ll ask us, ‘What’s your secret sauce? It’s like we get the same engineer every time, just with a different name,’” Syrrist noted. “We’ve even had customers send their own engineering teams to us to complete the same program.”

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