What happens to hard-won expertise when experienced people retire? You're probably facing the same question. We talked about it with U.S. Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling.

Somewhere in your operation is a person who knows why that pump sequence runs the way it does. Maybe they wrote the original logic. Maybe they've fixed it enough times to know its quirks. Either way, a lot of what they know isn't written down, and someday they're going to retire.

That problem was on the table when U.S. Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling visited Opto 22's headquarters in Temecula, California, on October 22 for a tour and a roundtable with our leadership.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling (center) with VP Benson Hougland and CEO Mark Engman at Opto 22 headquarters in Temecula, California.

The Secretary meets Opto 22

The Secretary toured our engineering department, our training facility, and the production floor where we build and test our products. We've designed and manufactured in California since 1974 and in Temecula since 1991. Engineering and manufacturing have always shared a roof, so the people who design a product can walk over and solve problems with the people who build it.

Secretary Sonderling at the surface-mount line, where Opto 22 builds its circuit boards.

Along the way, he stopped to talk with three employees about how their careers have grown here.

Three careers, one building

Ken Johnson started in information technology before moving to firmware development. Today, he's our Vice President of Engineering, leading the team that designs the controllers and I/O you put in your panels.

Priscilla Luckenbach started in manufacturing and assembly, building our products by hand. She moved into purchasing, where she now buys the components that go into them.

Ron Koss started as a repair technician, working on products that came back from the field. He moved into software development, and today he's our production manager.

Each of them knows our products from more than one side. Priscilla knows what a part has to do on the assembly line before she buys it. Ron has repaired our products, worked on the software, and now runs the line that builds them. That kind of cross-training doesn't happen in a classroom. It happens over years, in one building.

Why that matters to you

Our people stay. Average tenure at Opto 22 is about 20 years. Roughly half our employees have been here more than 25 years, and more than a third over 30. In 52 years, we've never had a layoff: not after the dot-com crash, not in the 2008 recession, and not during the pandemic.

For you, that means the people who designed, built, and supported the hardware you installed years ago are often still here. The knowledge behind your system hasn't left the building.

We have the same problem you do

But long tenure has a flip side. Many of our most experienced people are nearing retirement, and much of what they know is practical judgment: spotting a problem, understanding why it happened, and knowing how to fix it. You can't hand that over to a new employee.

That's the challenge we brought to the roundtable. We already provide on-the-job training, paid college internships, and continuing education reimbursement. We also support local high school career technical education through the Southwest California Manufacturing Council. Our most important step is to set aside sufficient time for experienced employees to teach the people who will succeed them.

Does that sound familiar? Many of the engineers, integrators, and plant managers we work with are trying to solve the same problem.

Secretary Sonderling on the production floor at our Automated Optical Inspection machine.

So where do you start?

If you use Opto 22 products, here are some suggestions for you as your employees start looking to retire.

Train your team on the systems they run. Online training for Opto 22 products is free. For hands-on depth, our week-long, factory-based classes are $995 per person. Either way, newer staff can learn your control system without pulling your senior people off the floor.

During his tour, Secretary Sonderling made a stop in our training facility, where a dozen students were learning about groov EPIC and RIO. In fact, several of the students in this class were here because they are the next generation of controls engineers in facilities already using Opto 22 products—upskilling in action.

Explore our training options for your team.

The Secretary visited an Opto 22 Premium Factory Training class, where customers learn hands-on with groov EPIC.

Check in with your government. Your local city, county, and state government offices may provide varying degrees of assistance through their Workforce Development initiatives. In the U.S., some of these are coordinated with the Department of Labor at the federal level. There may be programs available to assist you with discovering new opportunities for your own workforce development.

Grow the next generation. Consider getting involved with your local educational institutions, many of which are looking for feedback on what skills your organization is looking for and how they can help train the next generation of workers to meet our needs.

If you work with a technical college, university, or training program, our Partnering in Education program provides curriculum support, training resources, and hardware at academic pricing. Contact us and see how we can help.

We were honored to host the Secretary of Labor, Keith Sonderling, at Opto 22’s facility. If you’re interested in touring our factory, drop us a line or leave a comment below.