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company has a sizable export business to companies in the United States and Europe.

This growing business is presently experiencing an acute shortage of skilled workers

and has been unable to recruit the necessary expertise from the Ottawa region (capital

of Canada). An examination of the industrial sector to which it belongs gives some

insight as to some of the reasons.

INDUSTRIAL SECTOR OVERVIEW:

TOOL & DIE—PLASTIC INJECTION MOULDING

The tool, die, and mould (TDM) makers are in the business of making and repairing

cutting tools, dies, and fixtures that are subsequently used to cut, form, or process materials—usually

metal, glass, wood, paper, or plastics.

The plastics products industry, a TDM sector business, is composed of establishments

whose main activity is transforming synthetic resins and plastic materials into a

wide range of finished products, parts for other manufactured goods, and intermediate

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From Canadian Cases in Human Resources Management. T.F. Cawsey. G. Deszca. A.J. Templer.

Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education Canada. All rights reserved.

products consisting of shapes and forms made by a variety of fabricating methods. While

applications for plastics are found in virtually all end-use market segments, the packaging,

construction, and automotive markets account for nearly 80 percent of the industry’s output.

The industry’s largest input cost is raw materials—mostly synthetic resins—which

represent more than 50% of direct costs. Labour