Skill building eases transitions as automakers shrink work force

When Jeremy Diebel joined American Axle & Manufacturing almost 14 years ago, he took this attitude with him: "If you're going to do something, it's worth overdoing."

Within six months at the Detroit supplier, Diebel started machining axles, one of the most technical jobs in the plant. When his machine broke down, he closely watched the skilled-trade workers who fixed it. He consistently volunteered to learn new jobs.

"The things that I learned from these people, you can't take away from me," said Diebel, who said he had expected to retire from American Axle with a pension and benefits.

That was not to be. But Diebel's approach paid off.

With his skills, Diebel found a new job as a shift leader in a South Carolina parts plant. He took a buyout from American Axle, where workers in May accepted wage and benefit cuts after a bitter three-month strike.

So far, Diebel's experience represents a successful buyout story at a time when thousands of workers throughout the auto industry are taking the same chance.

Career experts suggest that workers facing a transition evaluate their skills to determine what they can do in other fields.

Eudora Adolph of AverTrust Advisors LLC said manufacturing experience transfers well to the production of medical devices.

She said workers must ask, "What is my core skill set? What do I really know how to do?"

In June, automakers and auto suppliers employed about 162,500 workers in Michigan, a figure that has dropped by nearly half in the last decade.

Those who remain at automotive and auto parts factories, and those who may soon join the auto industry at lower wages than their predecessors, face a new reality in the industry: a job that won't keep on giving and probably won't last to retirement.

It's this new reality, career and education advisers say, that makes Jeremy Diebel's attitude of constant learning important.

Last month, Diebel, his wife, Linda, and their three children moved to Summerville for Diebel's new job at Weber Automotive. They left their home in Brownstown Township, Mich., where Linda's three sisters also live.

It was a tough decision to leave Michigan, and the couple at first decided to stay. As the Diebels prepared to cut their expenses to adapt to a pay cut at American Axle, they considered moving into a smaller home, selling their boat and replacing their SUVs with cars.

"If we were going to sell the house anyway, why not take the chance and make the move?" Jeremy Diebel said about their conversation in the kitchen of their home, which they had listed for sale.

"I just swallowed hard and said, 'We win together and we lose together,' " Linda Diebel said.