{"id":8796,"date":"2026-06-26T07:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T12:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/?p=8796"},"modified":"2026-06-26T05:48:41","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T10:48:41","slug":"building-the-pipeline-how-employers-are-taking-workforce-development-into-their-own-hands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/26\/building-the-pipeline-how-employers-are-taking-workforce-development-into-their-own-hands\/","title":{"rendered":"Building the Pipeline: How Employers Are Taking Workforce Development into Their Own Hands"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"michael<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
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From early\u2011career apprenticeships to mid\u2011career transitions, companies are rethinking how talent enters\u2014and stays in\u2014the industry.<\/h4>\n
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BY MICHAEL MIKITKA<\/span>, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE MHI KNOWLEDGE CENTER AND WERC DIVISION<\/div>\n
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A<\/span>S THE MATERIAL<\/strong> handling and supply chain industry continues to grapple with persistent labor shortages, a growing number of companies are rethinking a long\u2011held assumption: that talent must be sourced externally.<\/p>\n

Instead, leading organizations are taking a more proactive approach by building, training and even transitioning their own workforce pipelines. From early\u2011career apprenticeships to mid\u2011career development programs, these employer\u2011led models are reshaping how talent enters\u2014and stays within\u2014our industry.<\/p>\n

For Pahola Capell\u00e1n, workforce development manager at MHI, this shift reflects both necessity and opportunity.<\/p>\n

“Our industry has open jobs, and needs more employees,” she explained. “It\u2019s exciting to see members step up and actively build solutions, rather than waiting for the talent to come to them.”<\/p>\n

\"building\n
<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

BUILDING PIPELINES AT THE SOURCE<\/h4>\n

One example comes from MHI member Qimarox, a Netherlands\u2011based manufacturer that has spent years developing a regional, education\u2011integrated workforce model as part of its comprehensive, end-to\u2011end talent recruitment and retention program.<\/p>\n

Facing a shortage of highly specialized technical talent, the company made a deliberate decision to invest in talent development early\u2014long before candidates enter the traditional job market.<\/p>\n

“Finding well\u2011trained technical talent with the right mindset is becoming increasingly challenging,” said Jaco Hooijer, business development manager at Qimarox. “Rather than focusing only on \u2018finished\u2019 profiles, we invest in people with the right attitude and develop the necessary skills internally.”<\/p>\n

That investment starts with deep collaborations across education, government and industry. Through regional partnerships, students are able to combine paid, on\u2011the\u2011job experience with formal technical education. This, noted Hooijer, lowers the barrier to entry while accelerating skill development.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Qimarox has built an internal training ecosystem designed to support employees at every stage. A proprietary e\u2011learning platform delivers product training, onboarding modules and soft skills development, all created by in-house experts and aligned with real\u2011world operations.<\/p>\n

The onboarding process is equally hands\u2011on, continued Hooijer. “All new employees\u2014regardless of their role\u2014spend their first week working in our assembly department,” he said. “This experience helps them understand our products, processes and culture from day one.”<\/p>\n

From there, mentorship and ongoing development planning help guide long\u2011term career growth. The result is a sustainable, self\u2011reinforcing pipeline. Many employees begin as interns or students and progress into critical roles across the organization, from engineering to sales.<\/p>\n

“By focusing on motivation, continuous learning and long\u2011term development, we have built a workforce that grows together with the company,” Hooijer said.<\/p>\n

DEVELOPING\u2014AND RELEASING\u2014TALENT<\/h4>\n

While Qimarox focuses on the front end of the pipeline, ProAutomated offers a different perspective\u2014one centered on developing and transitioning talent already in the workforce.<\/p>\n

The company provides field service engineers to support system integrators across the U.S., specializing in commissioning and on\u2011site execution. From its earliest days, ProAutomated recognized that consistency and quality would depend on training its workforce internally.<\/p>\n

“We designed the company in a way where we\u2019re always outputting the same quality of engineer,” said PJ Syrrist, career transition program manager at ProAutomated.<\/p>\n

Every new hire\u2014many of them recent graduates\u2014completes a four\u2011week, hands\u2011on bootcamp at the company\u2019s training facility. There, engineers work directly with equipment, simulate real\u2011world scenarios and learn from instructors who rotate in from the field.<\/p>\n

This approach ensures that every engineer arrives on\u2011site with a consistent baseline of skills. It\u2019s something customers have come to rely on.<\/p>\n

“They\u2019ll ask us, \u2018What\u2019s your secret sauce? It\u2019s like we get the same engineer every time, just with a different name,\u2019” Syrrist noted. “We\u2019ve even had customers send their own engineering teams to us to complete the same program.”<\/p>\n

ISTOCK.COM<\/a>\/KENTOH<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From early\u2011career apprenticeships to mid\u2011career transitions, companies are rethinking how talent enters\u2014and stays in\u2014the industry. BY MICHAEL MIKITKA, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE MHI KNOWLEDGE CENTER AND WERC DIVISION AS THE MATERIAL handling and supply chain industry continues to grapple with persistent labor shortages, a growing number of companies are rethinking a long\u2011held assumption: that …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":8797,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5,12],"tags":[442,1902,1907,466,441,1610],"class_list":["post-8796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-article","category-features","category-human-resources","tag-mhi-solutions","tag-mhi-solutions-magazine","tag-mhisolutionsmag","tag-supply-chain","tag-supply-chain-innovation","tag-werc"],"yoast_head":"\nBuilding the Pipeline: How Employers Are Taking Workforce Development into Their Own Hands - MHI Solutions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mhisolutions-digital.com\/mhiq\/library\/item\/0326_volume_14__issue_3\/4349248\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Building the Pipeline: How Employers Are Taking Workforce Development into Their Own Hands - MHI Solutions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From early\u2011career apprenticeships to mid\u2011career transitions, companies are rethinking how talent enters\u2014and stays in\u2014the industry. 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