Employee skills shortages continue to trouble U.S. food processing OEMs and threaten to impede current industry growth. Workforce gaps are such a critical issue because the ripple effects of labor challenges extend far beyond the facility floor. Talent and skills deficiencies create significant disruptions across supply chains and ultimately affect the economy at large. 
In 2025, FPSA and Cypress Research embarked on baseline survey research, exclusively with FPSA OEM members, to understand the extent of today’s skills shortage, challenges facing equipment manufacturers in recruitment, training and employee retention, and what measures equipment manufacturers can take to reduce today’s skills deficiencies while preparing their future workforce for success. 
This presentation will highlight the extent of today’s OEM skills shortage among key hourly skilled production and maintenance positions and key salaried positions.  
It will also take a deeper diver into trends among key, hourly skilled production and maintenance positions defining:
•    Skills deficiencies at hire or promotion
•    Employee recruitment challenges & current manufacturer recruitment strategies
•    Key training challenges & OEM training-related solutions being applied
•    OEM employee retention-related challenges & top business strategies applied to these issues