Accenture new release: “U.S. manufacturers may be losing up to 11 percent annually* of their earnings as a result of increased production costs stemming from  a shortage of skilled workers, according to a new study from Accenture and The Manufacturing Institute.   The scale of the issue is illustrated in the study, “Out of Inventory: Skills Shortage Threatens Growth for U.S. Manufacturing,” in which 39 percent of the 300 U.S. manufacturing executives surveyed described the shortage of qualified, skilled applicants as “severe,” and 60 percent said it has been difficult to hire the skilled people they need. In addition, more than 50 percent of respondents said they plan to increase their production by at least five percent in the next five years. Furthermore, as the report notes, when manufacturers are unable to fill roles, overtime, downtime and cycle times increase; more materials are lost to scrap; and quality suffers. More than 70 percent of the respondents reported at least a five percent increase in overtime costs, and 32 percent reported an increase of 10 percent or more. As manufacturers used overtime to maintain base production levels, 61 percent said their downtime increased by at least five percent, as they lacked enough people to run and maintain the equipment. Cycle times also increased at least five percent at 66 percent of the respondents’ companies…To mitigate the skills shortage, the manufacturers tend to spend more on average for training new hires as opposed to existing employees, with 55 percent spending at least $1000 per new hire as compared to 42 percent who said they spend at a similar level on training for existing employees. However, the study found no correlation between spending on training and impact on skill shortages.”