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Despite having 850 employees working in its five production sites, the JOSKIN Group has been facing a serious labor shortage for the past two years. In order to continue its growth, the Belgian company is seeking to strengthen its workforce in almost all of its departments. The profiles sought are therefore varied, ranging from technicians to advise customers (sales representatives) to after-sales service and production roles. Ultimately, 100 additional employees will be required. Although such recruitment is good news for the labor market, the difficulties faced by JOSKIN are surprisingly numerous. One of the most significant is the recruitment of production staff, especially welders. The Soumagne-based company is therefore sounding the alarm...
In order to cope with its constantly growing order book, JOSKIN has continuously invested in optimizing its production process. The company has taken control of its purchasing and all stages of raw material processing. To this end, it has equipped itself not only with warehouses for storing parts, but also with high-quality cutting and machining tools.
Nevertheless, it is clear that without additional personnel, these efforts will not suffice. The ever-increasing production pace still leads to saturation once the welding stage is reached. Even the twenty or so welding robots installed in the Group's various sites are unable to break the deadlock. These automatic tools must remain limited to large series and subassemblies of smaller parts. The lack of manpower therefore has a direct impact on the rest of the process: since the production rate is limited by welding, all subsequent operations (assembly, painting, finishing) are adversely affected.
The problem of staff shortages in technical professions is not new, but it is worrying that it has become more acute over the years. It is all the more regrettable that companies such as JOSKIN are forced to give preference to additional production abroad in order to avoid suffering disadvantages as a result of this shortage of Belgian workers.
In view of this problem and in order to continue to fulfill all orders in its order book, JOSKIN also points out that an advanced plan is already in place for a production facility abroad to increase the production of its tipping trailers and manure spreaders. Although Soumagne remains the parent company of the JOSKIN Group, the difficulties in production at this site, which are due to a lack of manpower, remain a major concern. The company is therefore hopeful that a global solution can be found quickly on a national scale. The call goes out...
