August 2019 Volume 1

OPERATIONS & MANAGEMENT

to the program, hiring co-ops, interns and graduates of the program and being involved in the students’ training through plant tours, class presentations and the like. The college will contribute financial assistance, staffing and advertise the program to potential students. And of course the students will commit their time and energy to the training with the goal of working in the industry. Students can bring value to companies within 3 months of beginning training. At 6 months, they bring even more. This is absolutely a model that can be used in other geographic locations where community colleges and companies are

RN: Students don’t know who you are and the opportunities you offer, so market your company. Are your products integral to the aerospace, energy or automotive industries? Share with students the important work they can do in these supply chains. Make a class presentation on your company, processes and products. Plant tours are always eye-openers for high school and community college students to understand what working in your company would be like. I always highly recommend internships, co-ops and apprenticeships. There is value for both the company and the student to have hands on training specific to your organization incorporated into classes. These are opportunities for you to learn the student’s capabilities with the potential to take them on full-time after their training. Competition for skilled employees is high. Be creative! Engage in the community, participate in Manufacturing Day and/or offer scholarships. FIERF: What’s next? RN: We’re working with FIERF to organize a group of companies willing to commit time and resources toward the development of customized course content to meet their future employment needs. Beginning with a cohort with as few as five to seven students we can build a pipeline of as many as 30 to 40 skilled future employees for the forging industry in a short amount of time. Some skills can be taught in as little as three months. More in-depth training will of course take longer, but we have to begin now to ensure a continuing trained pipeline of future employees. Working together Community Colleges can provide value added to companies within threemonths. In the intermediate termof 1 to 3 years, we can recruit traditional and non-traditional students to the program. Long term, we’ll be starting with junior and senior high school students who can come out of the program with third party certifications that demonstrate their mastery of the training, not that they just attended the courses. It is important that industry, the college and students all have skin in the game. Industry has to be an active participant. This will include commitments of time and resources to interview students that apply

willing to collaborate and invest in the future industry workforce. Contact the Forging Industry Educational and Research Foundation (foundation@forging.org; www.fierf.org; 216-862 6967) for more information. About Ray: Ray started his career on the shop floor as a welder in 1986. He spent 15 years working as a machinist, CNC programing, tool design, shop supervisor, manufacturing and shop manager. His last responsibility in industry was as director of operations for an international organization. Ray spent 29 years of his career working in the automotive, forging, and landing gear industries and 3 years in consumer goods. He is new to higher education and he still feels the pain industry is going through because of skill gaps and the shortage of a skilled workforce. He brings over 30 years of manufacturing to higher education and hopes to make a difference for area industries and his students.

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