60 Seconds with Brian Neuwirth, MHEFI vice president of the board

Title: vice president of the board, MHEFI; president, UNEX Manufacturing

Location: Charlotte, N.C. and Lakewood, N.J.

Experience: 22 years in materials handling with UNEX Manufacturing, a family-owned company founded in 1964.

Duties: Among other things, MHEFI promotes and raises the awareness of the materials handling and the supply chain industries to educators and students through scholarships and financial support.

Modern: Let’s start by talking about the availability of talent in the materials handling industry. It’s the No. 1 topic at conferences and industry events.

Neuwirth: The major challenge for our clients in distribution is the ability to recruit enough associates to have a functional DC and hit their targets. It’s very hard to get people in the door.

Modern: Is it pervasive across the different functions within materials handling and logistics?

Neuwirth: It is. On the supply chain or logistics side of the industry, a lot of Millennials want a quality of life that does not include being away from home driving a tractor trailer. Every trailer I see has an advertisement on the back that says they’re looking for drivers at a time when the last mile is crucial to the supply chain. At the corporate level, software engineers are at a premium. At the sales level, in our company, we’ve had an issue trying to find sales people with multiple skill sets. It really is pervasive.

Modern: Are there steps the industry, or individual companies, can take that you’ve seen be successful?

Neuwirth: I think there are. What we’ve done for engineers at our company is to work with outsourcing firms to bring on temps. After six months, if we like them, we offer to bring them on full time. That is saving our engineering managers a lot of time in the recruiting and hiring process. We have CNC machines on the floor and are going to have four key people retiring in the next few years. We hired six people, knowing we might lose one or two. In fact, they’re working and four have stayed with us.

We’re working on workforce development coalition at the state level to have input on the kinds of skill sets that will be needed in the future. At the industry level, you’re seeing manufacturing and software companies advertising that the manufacturing floor is not what it used to be. There’s new technology coming in, and it’s an exciting place to work. MHI can be part of getting that message out with The Material Handling & Logistics Roadmap and the state of the materials handling report.

Modern: That leads us to the Material Handling Education Foundation Inc, or MHEFI as you and I know it. What is MHEFI’s role?

Neuwirth: There are two parts to MHEFI’s role. The first is trying to get donors to contribute to the cause. If we’re going to have a big impact, we have to build up our coffers, like any other non-profit. In my opinion, the other is going to be to build a broader awareness of the industry. We’ve been very focused on individuals getting engineering degrees. But, I think we have to provide support to high school vocational and technical schools so individuals become aware of the industry before they go to college. I think that’s an important part of what we can do.

Modern: We’re entering the holiday season, which is typically the time of year when individuals and companies think of the organizations they’re going to support. As a board member, what’s the value of supporting MHEFI?

Neuwirth: The immediate value of supporting MHEFI is that at its core, the organization truly supports the materials handling industry. We get letters from students who received a scholarship telling us how meaningful it was to them. It doesn’t take a lot of money to have an impact.

Modern: Are there other ways that an MHI member or an end user of our solutions can participate or partner with MHEFI beyond a financial contribution?

Neuwirth: There are. One is to consider participating in apprenticeship programs. A second is to provide input to academic and training institutions on the skills that are needed, which could lead to better certifications. And the third is to consider donating equipment to a vocational or technical school or even a food bank. MHI encourages exhibitors at the trade shows to do that. At UNEX, we’ve donated equipment to a county food bank and a county vocational school. Those are ways to give back to the community and further education.