Thursday, February 08, 2007
Workforce Development in the Manufacutirng Sector in Minnesota 's Twin Cities Area
Derek Karchner from Rosenberg Communications pointed out this interesting program that I hadn't been aware of before. All the more amazing, because one of the sponsoring organizations is a professional organization I am a member of. I guess it just goes to show that you can't know everything your organization is doing.
'We are in the race of our lives for talent right now as manufacturers,' says Erick Ajax, owner of E.J. Ajax & Sons, one of this country's leading metal stamping companies. Finding, training, and retaining people to fill skilled manufacturing jobs is much more than a vexing problem to men and women like Ajax, it's literally a matter of business survival. Figuring out the solution is crucial, not only for helping businesses succeed, but also understanding how low-income workers can get and stay on a career path that leads to higher incomes and, at least as important, building assets.
The article goes on to talk about how metal stampers are facing challenges, with (mostly) an aging workforce and no one in the public school system training younger workers (or retraining middle aged ones in new skills).
So a group of manufacturers got together with the PMA, NAM and a local technical college to do skills improvement courses.
Here's what
another blogger had to say about it.
And here's a link to the PMA Educational Foundation, a part of the PMA I vaguely knew about but clearly not enough.
'We are in the race of our lives for talent right now as manufacturers,' says Erick Ajax, owner of E.J. Ajax & Sons, one of this country's leading metal stamping companies. Finding, training, and retaining people to fill skilled manufacturing jobs is much more than a vexing problem to men and women like Ajax, it's literally a matter of business survival. Figuring out the solution is crucial, not only for helping businesses succeed, but also understanding how low-income workers can get and stay on a career path that leads to higher incomes and, at least as important, building assets.
The article goes on to talk about how metal stampers are facing challenges, with (mostly) an aging workforce and no one in the public school system training younger workers (or retraining middle aged ones in new skills).
So a group of manufacturers got together with the PMA, NAM and a local technical college to do skills improvement courses.
Here's what
another blogger had to say about it.
And here's a link to the PMA Educational Foundation, a part of the PMA I vaguely knew about but clearly not enough.
