It’s a tale as old as time. A manufacturer builds a factory in a small town. That town’s local high school becomes a reliable source of future workers, as generation after generation of family members pursue a career at the local factory where their family members have worked for years.
But what happens when that local school system begins to have problems with students dropping out of school before graduating? And what happens when that factory introduces new technologies that require workers with more skills than they’ve ever needed in the past?
You end up with a factory with dozens of open positions with no one to fill them, while current workers struggle to keep up with changes in the workplace. Whose responsibility is it to solve this problem? Does the manufacturer need to provide training to current workers? Does the school system need to improve graduation rates while also teaching new, relevant skills?
How about both? Complex problems often require complex solutions. When it comes to training current and future workers with the skills they’ll need to succeed in the modern manufacturing workplace, there’s no simple solution that a single entity can implement. Instead, manufacturers and educational institutions across the U.S. are learning that private-public partnerships are the only way to effectively address workforce development issues.
A Georgia Success Story
A recent Industry Week article by Donna Ennis highlights a Georgia program that offers a successful blueprint for an effective private-public partnership to address workforce development issues. Other areas experiencing skilled worker shortages would do well to study Georgia’s example and work toward effective partnerships between local manufacturers and educational institutions.
Ennis notes that, in 2006, Carrollton manufacturer Southwire, “one of the world’s largest manufacturers of cable and wire,” started “an innovative program, 12 For Life, [that] connects school and career pathways through a true public-private partnership that should be replicated across the country.”
Southwire executives created 12 For Life “out of concern about the then-high dropout rate at Carroll County High School and the impact it was having on Southwire’s ability to hire employees at its local manufacturing facilities.”
Thinking outside the box, Southwire “invested $2.5 million to build a factory to address both issues. This meant providing school-district-run classrooms where students would spend part of their day catching up on credits needed to graduate. Then, they would shift to the manufacturing floor, where they learned how to roll and package wire sold in home-goods stores across the country.”
The results have been nothing short of amazing:
- “Today, students in the program can earn a range of technical certificates and attend innovative classes, such as an introduction to robotics course in the facility’s new mechatronics lab. This specialized training will help them land full-time jobs after graduation at Southwire and other manufacturers, with salaries starting at $50,000 to $60,000 and up.”
- “The community also benefits from the program. Since 12 for Life began, the high school graduation rate for economically disadvantaged students like those participating in the program has increased from 65% to 97%…And Southwire found 12 For Life students were 30 to 40% more productive than other workers on a 12-hour shift. The facility turned a profit three months after it opened—it had been expected to break even in five years—and is an ongoing case study conducted by Harvard Business School.”
Ennis concludes: “We’re already deep into a manufacturing workforce shortage. Programs like 12 for Life—which combine real-world work experience, above-minimum-wage pay and traditional high school classes in a wraparound program that benefits the larger community—are a real solution for manufacturers looking to solve their own workforce challenges.”
IGNITE Student Interest in Manufacturing
To entice manufacturers to invest in private-public partnerships for workforce development, educational institutions would do well to prove that they’re able to teach the relevant skills that industries do desperately need. Fortunately, they don’t have to figure everything out by themselves.
Whether they’re starting from zero or looking to build upon a variety of pieces already in place, Amatrol can help schools craft a custom CTE program based upon its groundbreaking IGNITE: Mastering Manufacturing program.
With more than 40 years of experience designing and manufacturing state-of-the-art training systems, Amatrol remains the world’s leader in skills-based, interactive technical learning for industry and education. IGNITE is a foundational skill development program designed to stimulate student interest in today’s Advanced Manufacturing/Industry 4.0 careers.
Amatrol developed IGNITE: Mastering Manufacturing to be a comprehensive advanced manufacturing training program that both provides career exploration opportunities and equips high school students with the in-depth knowledge and hands-on skills they need to be successful in the highly-skilled, high-pay jobs available in advanced manufacturing.
IGNITE was developed in conjunction with LIFT – Lightweight Innovations For Tomorrow, including significant contributions from America Makes, MxD – The Digital Manufacturing Institute, The Ohio State University, ASM Materials Education Foundation, and The PAST Foundation.
The IGNITE program exposes students to the many different facets of modern advanced manufacturing. Instructors can also guide the experience to spark student interest in specific subject matter areas.
In addition to hands-on technical skills in a wide variety of disciplines found throughout manufacturing, the IGNITE program also teaches students the valuable, uniquely-human “soft skills” (also commonly called “common employability skills” or “CES”), such as communication, teamwork, and critical thinking, that are critical to future career success.
Certifications Prove Students Possess the Hands-On Skills Industry Needs
Training students with the knowledge and hands-on skills they need to succeed in modern industry is critical to bridge the skills gap that exists today. Industrial employers need way more skilled workers than educational institutions are currently producing.
Amatrol’s IGNITE program hopes to change that. Not only does it equip students with the knowledge and skills they need, it also helps them prepare to enter the workforce by enabling them to obtain industry-standard certifications that prove to employers that they have the in-demand skills industry seeks.
Importantly, IGNITE prepares students to earn industry-standard certifications that can jump-start their advanced manufacturing careers. For example, IGNITE students can choose to pursue certifications like the MSSC Certified Production Technician Plus Skill Boss certification or advanced Industry 4.0 certifications from the Smart Automation Certification Alliance (SACA).
Visit Amatrol online to learn more about its many different types of industrial training programs. For more information about how Amatrol can help you inspire and train the next generation of workers, contact an expert at Amatrol today!
About Duane Bolin
Duane Bolin is a former curriculum developer and education specialist. He is currently a Marketing Content Developer in the technical training solutions market.
