AI-Powered Translation · Built for the Factory Floor

The $1 Trillion
Talent Crisis.
The Fix Already Works.

Manufacturing faces 3.8 million unfilled jobs by 2033 — a $1 trillion problem. The workers to solve it are already on your floor. New American workers who are eager, authorized, and ready. The only barrier is language. UnDesked's AI translation engine converts every critical system — Safety, Compliance, Quality, Maintenance, HR, and Production — into every worker's native language. Instantly. At scale. On any device.

55% Drop in workers' comp
costs in year one

60% Fewer safety incidents
within two years

45% Faster maintenance
response time

30% Faster onboarding —
workers stay longer

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Trusted by industry leaders

The Manufacturing Workforce Crisis

The Jobs Are Open.
The Workers Are Here.
The Systems Are Failing Them.

$1T Projected annual cost of the manufacturing skills gap by 2030 — not a trend. A crisis.

SOURCE: DELOITTE & THE MANUFACTURING INSTITUTE

Manufacturing faces the most severe labor shortage in its history. 3.8 million new workers will be needed by 2033 — nearly half at risk of going unfilled. The retirement wave is accelerating. Domestic pipelines are empty.

The workforce that can solve this is already in your factories. New American workers stay at 4% annual turnover vs. the 28% manufacturing average. The barrier isn’t their capability — it’s that every critical system was built for English speakers.

3.8M New workers needed by 2033 — nearly half at risk of going unfilled

DELOITTE & THE MANUFACTURING INSTITUTE, 2024

26% Of manufacturing workers are 55+ and approaching retirement right now

DELOITTE / MANUFACTURING INSTITUTE

82% Of manufacturers cannot increase revenue due to the labor shortage

NATIONAL ASSOC. OF MANUFACTURERS

$5,200 Saved per retained worker per year at the 4% refugee turnover benchmark

MANUFACTURERS ALLIANCE / INDUSTRY DATA

U.S. Manufacturing Open Jobs & Projected Shortfall

BLS / St. Louis Fed (historical) · Deloitte & Manufacturing Institute (2026–2033 projection)

Foreign-Born Workers in Manufacturing (2024)

BLS / Manufacturers Alliance

Where Language Barriers Hit Manufacturing

OSHA data, Relay survey, manufacturer reports

Safety Incidents25%

Quality Defects22%

Onboarding Delays20%

Compliance Gaps18%

Productivity Loss15%

Turnover Rate: Industry vs. Refugee Workers

Tent Partnership / Fiscal Policy Institute (4%) · The Resource Company / BLS (28%)

Industry Average

28%

Mfg. Turnover Rate

Refugee Workers

Mfg. Turnover Rate

“On-time delivery is up, quality is up, residual knowledge is staying here, and I think we have a more connected workforce.”

Head of manufacturing company — Tent Partnership study

Up to $15,000

WIOA OJT wage reimbursement + state training grants — paid through your state workforce board

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR / WIOA / STATE WORKFORCE AGENCIES

$4,900

Annual lost labor cost per LEP worker from ad-hoc translation

RELAY / MANUFACTURER SURVEYS, 2024

$161K

Max OSHA fine per willful language-related safety violation

OSHA.GOV, 2026 RATES

"The workers are already there.
The language of the workplace is the problem."

Bowling Green, KY · Automotive Metals Manufacturer · Myanmar Workforce

The Root Cause

One Language Barrier.
Six Simultaneous Failures.
One AI Fix.

Language barriers do not just create HR headaches. They cascade across every critical function of a manufacturing plant — Safety, Compliance, Quality, Maintenance, HR, and Production — all at once, all the time. UnDesked's AI translation engine eliminates the root cause across all six — instantly.

Safety

LockOut/TagOut, MSDS lookups, PPE requirements, near-miss reporting, emergency protocols — OSHA requires these be delivered in a language workers can understand. English-only safety training is not just ineffective. It is a legal liability.

OSHA FINES: $16,131 PER SERIOUS VIOLATION · UP TO $161,323 FOR WILLFUL VIOLATIONS

Compliance

Benefits enrollment windows missed. Policy acknowledgments signed by workers who cannot read them. HR documentation that is legally valid only if workers actually understand it. Every audit reveals the same gaps — and every gap is a liability.

DIGITAL PROOF TRAILS REQUIRED · E-SIGNATURES ONLY VALID IF WORKERS UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY SIGNED

Quality

A worker who misunderstands a process instruction does not just leave — they make mistakes first. Work orders, quality specs, and inspection criteria misunderstood at the line level produce scrap and rework that threaten OEM relationships and quality certifications.

COMMUNICATION FAILURES ARE TRACEABLE DEFECTS · LANGUAGE ERRORS PUT OEM CONTRACTS AT RISK

Maintenance

Workers who cannot read equipment manuals, submit maintenance requests, or understand lockout procedures cause equipment damage and let hazards go unreported. Problems compound in silence until they become production failures.

45% FASTER MAINTENANCE RESPONSE TIME WHEN WORKERS CAN SUBMIT REQUESTS IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE

HR & Onboarding

Workers who feel invisible disengage and leave. Non-English-speaking workers take weeks longer to reach full productivity, miss benefits they are entitled to, and exit in the first 90 days at higher rates — at $10,000–$40,000 per replacement.

19.2% ANNUAL TURNOVER IN MANUFACTURING · $10K–$40K PER REPLACEMENT · LANGUAGE IS THE PRIMARY DRIVER

Production

When workers cannot understand line instructions, cannot report equipment issues, and cannot be onboarded fast enough to fill open shifts — production falls behind. Shipments miss. OEM contracts are at risk. Capacity targets become impossible to hit.

20.6% OF PLANTS FAILED TO PRODUCE AT FULL CAPACITY IN Q3 2024 · LANGUAGE IS A PRIMARY DRIVER

Free Resources

Everything You Need
to Make the Case.

Four tools built for manufacturers, HR leaders, and workforce development professionals. Download, share, or use them live.

Data Report · 8 Pages · PDF

The $1 Trillion
Talent Crisis

The definitive data report on the manufacturing workforce shortage, the language barrier crisis, and the immigrant and refugee workforce opportunity. Built for manufacturer discovery calls and board presentations.

→3.8M jobs needed by 2033 — shortfall projected to chart
→OSHA fine exposure and compliance requirements
→Refugee worker retention data from 26-firm study
→Fortune 500 case study: 55% ↓ workers' comp

Download PDF

Self-Audit Tool · 2 Pages · PDF

OSHA Language
Compliance Checklist

18-point self-audit for manufacturers to assess OSHA language compliance exposure. Every unchecked box is a documented liability. Includes fine reference table and three-tier risk scoring.

→18 items across 5 compliance categories
→High / Medium / Lower risk tags on every item
→OSHA fine table: $16,131–$161,323 per violation
→Scoring: Compliant / Moderate Exposure / High Liability

Download Checklist Print-ready · 2 pages

Interactive Tool · Web-Based · Live Calculation

LEP Workforce
ROI Calculator

Enter your workforce numbers and instantly see what language barriers are costing your facility — and what closing the gap saves. Live-updating sliders.

→5 inputs: LEP workers, turnover, incidents, hours, wage
→Calculates translation loss, turnover overage, safety costs
→First-year ROI, payback period, 5-year cumulative savings
→Net of UnDesked platform cost — shows true ROI

Open Calculator

Practical Guide · 4 Pages · PDF

Manufacturer's Guide
to Hiring Refugees

Step-by-step playbook for accessing the immigrant and refugee workforce — including resettlement agency contacts, a 30-day readiness checklist, and a complete financial incentive reference.

→6-step hiring playbook from agency contact to pipeline
→All 9 national resettlement agency partners listed
→WIOA OJT (up to $15,000/hire), ORR funding guide, state training grants
→30-day readiness checklist

Download Guide

Interactive Assessment · 10 Questions · 3 Minutes · Instant Results

Factory Floor Language Gap Scorecard

Answer 10 questions about your facility and get an instant risk score across 8 categories — Safety Training, Compliance Records, Incident Reporting, Retention, HR & Onboarding, Productivity, Safety Record, and Workforce Readiness.

QUESTIONS · INSTANT RESULTS

Take the Assessment →

Interactive Map · Geographic Coverage · Live Data

Language Equity
Coverage Map

Select any geographic area of the United States and see the Language Equity Score — the concentration of languages other than English and their percentage representation in your target market.

→County and metro-level language breakdown
→Top languages by LEP population percentage
→Equity score 0–100 for any region

Open Coverage Map →

Live OSHA Data · Industry & Region Specific · Risk Score

OSHA Violation
Risk Dashboard

Analyze every OSHA violation in the nation by industry and area. Enter your NAICS code and region to see your exposure score, top citations, fine amounts, and how you compare to peers.

→Top OSHA citations by industry and region
→Fine amounts and violation frequency data
→Exposure score vs. industry benchmark

Check Your Risk →

BLS & Census Data · Frontline Workers · Your Region

Labor Pressure
Dashboard

Real-time data on how hard it is to hire and retain frontline workers in your area. Median wages, LEP household concentration, labor pressure index, and the cost of ignoring the immigrant workforce.

→Median wages for frontline roles by area
→% LEP households in your hiring area
→Labor pressure index and hiring difficulty score

Open Dashboard →

Government Database APIs · Real-Time · Free for Workforce Boards

New Americans Connection Hub

A free platform powered by live government databases — connecting workforce development boards with New Americans in their region, and helping New Americans discover nearby workforce resources, training programs, and job opportunities. Real connections. Real data. No signup required.

Open the Hub →

The Retention Story

New Americans Are the Most Reliable Workers on Your Floor.
They Just Need Tools in Their Language.

Foreign-born workers participate in the labor force at higher rates, show up more consistently, and stay longer when they can understand their environment. The data is clear: give them the tools to succeed and they outperform on every retention metric that matters.

66.5% Labor force participation rate for foreign-born workers vs. 61.7% for native-born BLS, 2024

19.2% Of the U.S. labor force is foreign-born — over 32 million workers filling critical gaps BLS, 2024

97% Of U.S. net workforce growth by 2030 will come from immigrants and their children NAWB

4% New American worker turnover vs. 28% manufacturing average — with language support in place Tent Partnership / Fiscal Policy Institute · The Resource Company / BLS

Employers report stronger retention from foreign-born workers recruited through structured resettlement and workforce development programs. Employee referral networks within immigrant communities yield better job matches, higher productivity, and significantly lower turnover.

MANUFACTURERS ALLIANCE, 2025 · IZA WORLD OF LABOR

The only barrier is language. Manufacturing turnover averages 28% annually. But when foreign-born workers can read safety protocols, complete onboarding, and navigate HR systems in their own language, they don't just stay — they become the most stable part of the workforce.

THE RESOURCE COMPANY / BLS, 2025

01 Workforce Development
Boards

You fund the training. We make it accessible to every worker. Learn More Close ▼

You Fund the
Training.
We Make It
Accessible.

WIOA Section 188 requires meaningful language access for New Americans across your employer partners. As immigrant and refugee workers represent a growing share of the manufacturing workforce, ensuring they can access training in their language is both a program priority and a federal requirement — one UnDesked helps you meet.

By 2030, 97% of U.S. net workforce growth will come from New Americans. Current systems serve just 4% of the 20 million adult English-language learners in the U.S. UnDesked bridges that gap — making safety training, onboarding, and compliance accessible in any language, on any device.

View Online Presentation

The Lunch & Learn Program

How We Bring This
to Your Employers

You Provide the Room

Host us at your workforce center or board facility and invite your employer partners. We handle everything else.

We Bring Lunch

Catered lunch for every attendee, at no cost to you or your employer partners. Busy plant managers show up for a free lunch.

The Demo Starts at the Door

Attendees register, check in via QR code or kiosk, and complete a digital intake — experiencing the UnDesked platform before the presentation begins.

60 Minutes. Recorded. Distributed.

Live demo, ROI calculator, Q&A, and discovery call sign-ups. The full recording is sent to every registrant — attendees and no-shows alike.

You Get the Outcomes

Documented retention improvements, safety gains, and training completion rates — outcomes you can report to your state workforce board, your WIOA monitors, and your local elected officials.

Request Your Lunch & Learn

What We Offer Your Board

A platform that directly addresses WIOA priorities: employer engagement, skills training, and serving individuals with barriers to employment
Measurable outcomes for your local plan: retention improvements, safety gains, and reduced turnover across employer partners
A fully catered Lunch & Learn for your employer partners — at no cost to you
Sector strategy support: data on language barriers, workforce composition, and training completion rates across manufacturing employers in your region
ROI documentation and performance data you can report to your state board and funders
A dedicated UnDesked regional success manager

WIOA Section 188 — Compliance Ready

Meet Your Language Access Obligations. With Confidence.

→ Language access required for all LEP participants in WIOA-funded services

→ Meaningful accommodations documented for every worker in your employer network

→ Audit-ready records that satisfy DOL Civil Rights Center review requirements

→ Supports your WIOA performance metrics and state board reporting

Download the §188 Checklist →

02 Refugee & Immigrant
Resettlement
Organizations

Your placements deserve to stay. Learn More Close ▼

You Place
the Worker.
We Help You
Keep Them.

Your organization works tirelessly to get refugees and immigrants placed in jobs — but placement is only half the battle. When a Myanmar worker can't read the lockout/tagout procedure, or a Somali new hire can't navigate benefits enrollment, they don't just struggle. They leave. And your placement metrics suffer.

UnDesked's AI translation engine gives your placements a fighting chance by instantly converting every critical workplace system — safety training, onboarding, HR, compliance — into their native language, from Day 1 on the factory floor. No waiting on human translators. No outdated phrase books. The AI handles it all.

The Retention Problem in Numbers

78% of refugees to the U.S. are working age — but most don't speak English well or at all upon arrival
Manufacturing turnover runs 19.2% annually — and language-barrier workers leave at even higher rates in the first 90 days
Each replacement costs the employer $10,000–$40,000 — and costs your org a successful placement
Refugees contributed $124 billion more in taxes than they used in services (2005–2019) — but only when they stay employed

How We Partner With You

From Placement
to Retention

You Share Your Employer Network

Tell us which manufacturers you're placing workers with. We'll show them exactly how UnDesked eliminates the language barriers causing turnover.

Workers Onboard in Their Language — Via AI

From safety orientation to benefits enrollment to shift scheduling — our AI translation engine instantly converts every critical system into Myanmar, Somali, Spanish, Arabic, Swahili, and dozens more languages. No English required. No human translators required.

Retention Rates Climb

Workers who understand their environment stay. They report hazards. They pass compliance training. They show up for their second month — and their sixth. Your placement becomes a long-term success story.

You Get Outcome Data for Funders

Documented retention improvements, safety records, and compliance metrics — the proof your board and grant funders need to see that your placements are lasting.

Employers Ask for More Workers

When a plant sees 40% better retention and 55% fewer workers' comp claims, they don't just keep the workers you placed — they call you asking for more.

Partner With UnDesked

03 Manufacturers &
Plant Leaders

Your workers are there. Your lines need to run. Learn More Close ▼

Your Workers Are There.
Your Lines Need to Run.
Your Clients Need Delivery.

UnDesked's AI translation engine delivers HR, Compliance, Safety, Quality, Maintenance, and Production resources in every worker's native language — via kiosks, QR codes, digital signage, and mobile. No company email required. No human translators. No IT lift. Our AI handles the translation. Six pillars. One platform. Instant deployment.

Schedule a Plant Discovery Call See the Proof

Safety Manager

LockOut/TagOut, MSDS, PPE, near-miss reporting, and emergency protocols delivered in workers' native languages — with OSHA-defensible digital proof trails for every completion. Safety incidents dropped 60% within two years at our Fortune 500 customer.

Quality Manager

Work orders, process instructions, quality specs, and inspection criteria delivered at the station in the worker's language. Communication-driven scrap and rework eliminated. OEM relationships protected. Certifications defensible.

Maintenance Manager

Equipment manuals, maintenance SOPs, and work order submission in every language — with automatic routing to the right team. Maintenance response time dropped 45% at our Fortune 500 customer. Hazards get reported before they become failures.

HR Manager

Benefits enrollment, policy acknowledgment, e-signatures, and onboarding workflows in workers' native languages. Every completion digitally recorded. Compliance audits pass cleanly. Onboarding time drops 30%. Workers feel seen and stay.

Operations Manager

Fully staffed lines. Workers who can execute from day one. 20% higher operational efficiency. 30% faster onboarding. Delivery commitments protected. The workforce you already have, running at the capacity you need.

C-Suite / Owner

55% drop in workers' comp costs in year one. 60% fewer safety incidents within two years. Quality, maintenance, compliance, and turnover — all addressed by one platform. The highest-ROI investment available to a manufacturing operation today.

The $1 Trillion Talent Crisis. The Fix Already Works.

The Jobs Are Open.The Workers Are Here.The Systems Are Failing Them.

One Language Barrier.Six Simultaneous Failures.One AI Fix.

The Great Manufacturing Shift

Everything You Needto Make the Case.

The $1 TrillionTalent Crisis

OSHA LanguageCompliance Checklist

LEP WorkforceROI Calculator

Manufacturer's Guideto Hiring Refugees