Industrial maintenance in Northeast Georgia is facing an acute crisis. Contributing factors are economic development that is depleting the work force, aging of the population, downsizing of the military, and lack of technical school graduates. Solutions to the crisis fall into three categories: short-term, mid-term, and long-term. For short-term solutions, Athens Area Technical Institute concentrates on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of existing maintenance staff, total productive maintenance, and tools to predict equipment failure and eliminate unscheduled downtime. Creating a learning organization within the company is the mid-term solution used by Athens Tech. A cross-trained or multicrafted maintenance staff reduces the need for additional maintenance staffing. The long-term solution is to develop future staffing--a solution which can require up to 4 years to train a multicraft maintenance technician. One area company, ABB Power T&D, has worked with Athens Tech to develop a model for providing for future maintenance staff needs. The project is designed to provide for future maintenance staff openings and upgrading and cross-training existing maintenance staff. A trainee program will provide 10 multicraft maintenance staff to cover retirements and provide for future growth. Existing staff receives 4 hours per week of onsite classroom training. Other solutions for providing long-term maintenance staffing include apprenticeship, cooperative education, and school-to-work programs. (YLB)