Across Nestlé USA's food and beverage division, our 20 factories faced a perfect storm: a shrinking workforce due to retirements coupled with declining interest in manufacturing careers. We needed tore imagine our approach to skilled trades development or risk operational sustainability.

Our solution was creating a comprehensive corporate upskilling program that transforms both existing employees and new hires into highly skilled technical talent. This innovative approach focuses on component-level training, machine centre expertise, and maintenance systems mastery—creating clear advancement pathways to SME and leadership roles.

The results have been transformative: operators with technical aptitude now provide a reliable pipeline for skilled trade positions, while program graduates regularly advance into hourly lead positions, supervisory roles, maintenance planning, and equipment subject matter expertise—solving our talent gap while creating compelling career opportunities.

• Current market challenges in skilled trades recruitment and retention
• Comprehensive upskilling program structure and implementation
• Career progression pathways for technical talent development

Critical Takeaways:

1. Strategies to expand and rethink your skilled trades candidate pool.
2. Proven methods for building advanced technical capabilities in existing workforce.
3. Retention techniques through defined career advancement opportunities