AED: Technician shortage costs billions

Construction-related businesses, including dealers and other distributors, must do their part to address the technician shortage, 8589 Associated Equipment Distributors Foundation representatives said at CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2017.

“It requires all of us to engage to solve this problem,” said Brian McGuire, president and CEO of the foundation.

In 2016 AED commissioned a report that painted a bleak picture of the technician shortage, its impact on dealers and potential future problems. The report discussed in Las Vegas was an update with some alarming numbers – including an estimate that the shortage costs dealerships more than $2 billion per year in lost opportunities.

The report offered more specific problem-solving strategies, too, such as analysis of each state and the opportunities that can be pursued at that level to close the gap.

Denny Vander Mullen, president of Vermeer Mid South, serves on the AED board and also runs a dealership. “I’ve felt the pain because we’ve had a hard time finding technicians,” he said.

The industry in general needs to be more engaged, both McGuire and Vander Mullen said. “The ‘playbook’ recommends that companies and distributors become more involved,” Vander Mullen explained.

That means offering internships and helping technical schools succeed through various partnering efforts. Internships should include access to clean, modern facilities and reflect positively on the industry, Vander Mullen said.

“The dealers have to have relationships in their communities,” he said. “We need involvement.”