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Learning While Earning

Ask any manufacturing or machining company about their biggest risk to future growth or success and almost unanimously the number one answer is finding skilled labor. As baby boomers leave the workplace, the numbers are showing less and less millennials deciding to pursue a skilled trade. Outlined in a post written earlier in the summer, roughly 10,000 baby boomers will retire each day. With this in mind, it is important to target the future and understand how companies will combat this labor shortage. One of the fastest growing and most impactful tactics the industry is using is apprenticeships.

Many manufacturing and skilled trade companies are starting to reap the benefits of apprenticeship programs. Right here in our backyard of greater Cincinnati, several Florence, Kentucky manufacturers recently teamed up with top vocational schools in the area to launch a new program aimed at creating more qualified candidates. According to Cincinnati.com,  these companies are kicking in money to send the students through school, and in return, the studentsblog receive free tuition for 2 years, while also working part time earning a wage, all with a full-time job waiting for them upon graduation. This seems to be an investment more and more companies are willing to take. According to Doug Cain, the US CEO of Mubea Inc, “Unless we build the entire pool of talent, manufacturing will not continue to grow in Northern Kentucky if we don’t educate and train the people necessarily”. Manufacturing is the third largest private employment sector in Northern Kentucky, accounting for 20,000 jobs.

 

High schools are also offering manufacturing classes that students can take to introduce them to opportunities in skilled trades. One high school in Illinois has been turning out hire-ready manufacturing students for years. Wheeling High School is one of growing number of high schools that have launched or revived manufacturing programs to guide students towards what are good paying jobs of skilled laborers. According to USA Today, many manufacturing courses were dropped as the industry declined over the past three decades. But, Project Lead the Way, which “creates high school engineering and technology curricula”, says one manufacturing class it designed for Wheeling is now offered in about 800 other schools, which is nearly twice as many as in 2009.

Even the US Department of Education recognizes the benefits that apprenticeships provide to both high schools and skilled laborers alike. Apprenticeships bring high schoolers a future that they may have never considered before. They highlight one particular student who was in his junior year of high school and entered an apprenticeship in manufacturing. After he graduated, he had already piled up 30 college credits and had over 1,700 hours of on the job training. This is just one example of many of the benefits that apprenticeships can provide. Not only do they help companies find and train skilled workers, but they give students an opportunity to jump start a rewarding career.

blogHere at Ashley Ward we too understand the benefits of apprenticeship and partnerships with local schools. We have recently started an internship program through a local trade school near one of our plants to offer hands on experience. Additionally, we offer open houses and on sight educational programs to high school students to introduce them to manufacturing opportunities. We understand that without a strong labor force, our business is in jeopardy, so we must invest in programs that can help lead to new, skilled talent. If you or someone you know has an interest in joining our growing team or learning more about machining, visit us at http://www.ashleyward.com/careers.html.