Print edition: 
As one of the baby boomer generation, I've seen the statistics on retirement. My generation, 76 million strong born between 1946 and 1964, has been taking a long, hard look at our retirement funds and are trying to make a decision. How long will we need to stay in the work force, or do we retire with less? It's a tough decision.
Behind us comes Generation X, born between 1965 and 1985 but only 46 million. Not nearly enough to fill our shoes. What are we going to do? How can we leave our manufacturing businesses, companies we babied through all the ups and downs of the market for years? How can we fill our specialized manufacturing jobs without closing our doors?
Wichita has done a good job of training our replacements. Wichita Area Technical College had only 800 students a few years ago, and an enrollment of 5,000 is projected for 2010.
WATC has grown so much that it has undertaken building a world-class facility at Jabara Airport. The new National Center for Aviation Training is the envy of the country.
We are headed in the right direction, working to train the next generation of manufacturing entrepreneurs. But when 41 percent of the work force is scheduled to retire by 2020, will it be enough?
I'm on a board with other business members, working with the Wichita school district on technical education. We are focused on Generation Y, which is still in school. We want to create a magnet high school with a manufacturing curriculum.
When the students graduate they will have a good grasp of what an entry-level manufacturing job requires. If they continue their education, NCAT will be there for them. Beyond NCAT, we have WSU and its National Institute for Aviation Research facility to complete their education.
We have teachers who intern during the summer at manufacturing companies, honing their skills so they can be able to bring to their students the actual way it's done, not just some idea from a textbook. We are hands on and working hard to keep our manufacturing base. We are proud to have a vision for our future and to breathe a sigh of relief. All may not be lost.
At our company, we've hired two graduates from the WATC manufacturing technology program. We donate carbide end mills, slightly used, to schools throughout Kansas that have milling machine programs.
Even though Wichita companies continue to shed employees, it wasn't that long ago we could not fill all the vacancies. The recovery may be slow, but it will come and we had better be ready.
An organization with ties to the manufacturing community is the Wichita Manufacturers Association. Started in 1917, it has been handing out scholarships since 1993 to students interested in pursuing a manufacturing career at a local trade school or college. It has monthly plant tours and facilitates donations of manufacturing equipment to the schools that can't afford to buy them.
Members have taken student interns during the summer and students shadow companies for a day during the school year. The motto for WMA is "What Wichita makes makes Wichita," and we want to continue to manufacture in this community for a long time to come.
I feel that education is the key to keeping manufacturing alive and well in Wichita, and what better way to do it than to entice the next generation with state-of-the-art facilities and education? These kids are smart, tech-savvy and interested; let's not lose the momentum.
We need to find the funds and equipment to get these schools completed. With our older, experienced generation mentoring this new generation of manufacturers, Wichita will be able to keep jobs here and my generation can slowly bow out from the daily grind.
Education is the key, and we are headed in the right direction. After all, the only thing sadder than losing jobs overseas because of cheaper labor is losing the same job because we don't have a skilled work force in place to make it.
