A partnership that includes community colleges, large manufacturers and their suppliers, state and federal agencies, and a plan to provide employees of Connecticut manufacturers with much-needed skills has earned the Connecticut Business & Industry Association a $1.77 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor.
The organization and Connecticut’s community colleges will use the money to develop a curriculum that will teach students and manufacturing employees about productivity improvement, supply-chain management and advanced machine skills.
“This is the first time I have seen Â… such a comprehensive partnership,” said Judith Resnick, CBIA director of workforce development and training, who also serves as deputy director of the association’s Education Foundation.
“Manufacturing continues to be one of Connecticut’s greatest economic strengths, but a shortage of skilled workers to fill open positions has been a major challenge,” she said in a prepared statement. “This grant will help Connecticut continue to have a world-class workforce, and it will help provide manufacturers with the skilled workers they need to remain competitive and continue to grow in today’s global economy.”
Manufacturing is a big focus for CBIA, Resnick said. About 1,800 of the association’s members are manufacturers, and CBIA reports for some time have noted the lack of skilled manufacturing workers in the state. The organization has held job fairs and sponsored conferences on the subject.
“Our role is to help businesses find the people they need, when they need them, and with the skills they need to have,” Resnick said. “Clearly, manufacturing is a focus for CBIA.”
When the Department of Labor sent out a Request for Proposals for the grant money, CBIA jumped on the chance. It was one of 11 organizations selected from more than 186 seeking almost $17 million in grants for advanced manufacturing job training under the president’s High Growth Job Training Initiative.
CBIA held focus groups with its manufacturing members to find out what they need. The answer: employees who are versed in productivity improvement and supply-chain management, employees who are skilled and computer numerically controlled (CNC) machines, which are typically used to fabricate metal components.
So CBIA proposed to develop a curriculum in partnership with Connecticut’s 12 community colleges. It will be a certificate program focusing on productivity improvement and supply-chain management, and will be integrated into an associate’s program, Resnick said. As a part of the program, faculty from the colleges will have externships, and will go work with companies to get some real-world perspectives on modern manufacturing.
‘A Crying Need’
The curriculum can be used both to train students in supply-chain management and productivity improvement before they get into the workforce, and can be used to train existing employees of manufacturing companies, Resnick said.
Another aspect of the program will train people in using CNC machines. The machines are very complex and expensive, and those who use them need certain skills.
“There’s a crying need for people who are CNC machinists,” Resnick said.
But because they are so pricey, colleges cannot often afford modern CNC machines to use to train students. Part of CBIA’s program will bring in software that uses gaming technology to simulate CNC machines, so students can learn without the colleges shelling out the money for a machine.
CBIA’s Education Foundation has long worked in two aspects of education, Resnick said. It has focused on kindergarten through 12th grade, as it connects to higher education, and on making sure current employees have skills.
“This project was a perfect fit between the two worlds,” Resnick said.
According to CBIA, more than half of the top 100 companies with headquarters in the state are manufacturing firms. There are nearly 5,300 manufacturing firms in Connecticut that, together, directly employ almost 200,000 workers, generate $11.1 billion in wages and salaries, and produce over $20 billion of the gross state product. Each new manufacturing position creates between 1.2 and five additional jobs in the state, and manufacturers purchase more than $10 billion per year in goods and services from other Connecticut businesses.
CBIA will administer the grant in partnership with Aerospace Components Manufacturers; the Metal Manufacturers Cluster Initiative; RENEW in Massachusetts; the Connecticut Community College System and its College of Technology and Regional Center for Next Generation Manufacturing; the Workforce Alliance; the Eastern Connecticut Workforce Investment Board; Capital Workforce Partners; the Workplace Inc.; the Regional Employment Board of Hamden County Inc., in Massachusetts; the Connecticut Department of Labor; and the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development.
“Together, we can help Connecticut’s manufacturers remain healthy and competitive with a highly skilled workforce needed to navigate the increasing demands of a growing global marketplace,” said Resnick.
The program is expected to begin in January.
