Workforce Training: Creating Careers in Manufacturing
Bison Gear views manufacturing not just as a job but as a career, and backs that up with continuing education.
Lea A.P. Tonkin, editor in chief
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| Engineers Marty Kopp (left) and Rick Wilson in a training session. |
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| Figure 1. The Human Balance Sheet is a tool for measuring performance. |
How can manufacturers better attract, develop, train, and retain workers in plant and administrative jobs? That challenge stymies many organizations. Baby boomers leaving the workforce, potential candidates lacking basic math and reading skills, and disinterest among students and the educational community contribute to this task. For Bison Gear & Engineering Corporation, a manufacturer of power transmission and motion control products in St. Charles, IL, the solution started with a mindset change. Then it evolved into a collaborative, integrated approach designed to create career opportunities, not simply jobs.
Sylvia Wetzel, chief learning officer, considers herself a “poster child for the importance of finding a career in manufacturing that gives you an opportunity to continue growing.” She launched her career in manufacturing in 1979, starting at Western Electric in drafting, right out of high school. Through various educational programs supported by her employers including Bison Gear, she earned a leadership degree from Judson College in Illinois.
Pathway for Learning
“There is so much opportunity in manufacturing. It’s not a dirty job. It’s a career that offers a pathway for learning,” Wetzel said. “Many manufacturers, like our company, offer tuition reimbursement.
“We need to recognize that not everyone goes on to post-secondary education,” she continued “We need a well-educated workforce. They need to earn and learn. It takes educators, business people, workforce groups, and community leaders working together to create careers beyond the traditional pathways.”
One of Bison Gear’s challenges, according to Wetzel, is finding qualified people who can work on the shop floor, with the necessary skill sets and credentials such as blueprint reading, quality, and safety. The company uses the ACT Workkeys (www.act.org/workkeys) as a valuable tool for assessing an individual’s comprehension of reading, writing, and math as well as other areas. “We’ve implemented the online versions of the ACT Workkeys for math as a prerequisite to our employability process. Our challenge also is finding innovative, forward-thinking engineers,” she said, noting the shortage of engineers.
Bison has committed to education as a way of creating a pool of young people with the required knowledge and skill sets to be prospective employees as well as to give them a motivation to stay in school. “We have been working passionately with the state board of education to develop valuable study programs,” Wetzel said.
Skills Certification
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| The Bison Gear & Engineering Corporation Innopreneur Institute trains students as they work toward a standardized manufacturing skills certification. |
Acknowledging that various manufacturing skills certification programs exist, Bison Gear chose to create its own program. “Through our Bison Innopreneurs Institute (an innovation and training center), we provide training that students use as they work toward a standardized manufacturing skills certification,” Wetzel said. “We provide technical information and training. This helps students to be workplace-ready.”
Self-directed coursework (online or classroom) covers foundational skill sets in safety, quality and continuous improvement, manufacturing processes and production, and maintenance awareness. The training is based on the Manufacturing Skill Standards Council (MSSC) certification program (www.msscusa.org). When students complete required coursework, Bison tests their know-how and skills capabilities, awarding a manufacturing skills certification to those passing the test. “This is a credential that is nationally recognized,” said Wetzel. “It’s cost-effective and easily deployable for small companies like ours.” This credential is also a key consideration for promotions on the company’s production floor. (See “MSSC Certification Program” on page 21).
“This program increases our ROI. We don’t have to teach job applicants how to read a blueprint, what safety is, what a process is,” Wetzel said. Students receive a credential that merits strong consideration when they apply at Bison or other manufacturing companies.”
Bison uses a Human Capital Balance Sheet to measure its development performance. (See Figure 1.) “Skill sets being utilized” and “Educational system and learning tools” are among the criteria it targets.
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| Graduates of the Manufacturing Skill Standards Council (MSSC) training module. |
Collaboration
Bison Gear’s workforce training and development initiatives resulted from internal collaborative efforts as well as teamwork with community, regional, state, and other resources. “We spent a lot of time working with community colleges on skills training and certification programs,” Wetzel said. “We’ve also worked with the State Board of Education, the Illinois Community College Board, the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, school superintendents, teachers, and colleges, all creating a dialogue to move us forward.
“We also developed relationships in other areas, with educators and others in Arizona and Washington, DC, and the Manufacturing Institute to build legislators’ awareness about workforce development issues,” said Wetzel. “Our economy depends on how well we craft solutions so students find graduation pathways, in addition to employment and post-secondary education opportunities. Human capital is critical to our success. Therefore, we focus on solutions to the issues. We are actively involved in Project Lead the Way (www.pltw.org) and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) [www.stemedcoalition.org] to mentor and bring in high school counselors so they know just how cool it is to make things and to encourage young people to excel in science, technology, engineering, and math.”
Company Chairman Ron Bullock participates in a number of organizations that are working to craft educational and training opportunities. For example, he is a member of the Illinois Governor’s P-20 Council, which focuses on the entire Illinois education system, from pre-school through doctoral studies. The council’s goal is to increase the number of residents with meaningful degrees and certificates from 40 percent to 60 percent by 2025. Wetzel serves on the River Valley Investment Board and participates in other organizations that promote similar achievements.
Bison Gear recently hosted 16 students and five instructors from nearby Leland High School, providing them a plant tour so they could see products being manufactured. They listened to Bison Gear staffers explain the importance of manufacturing and how the company makes gear motors. “It is key to get students excited about manufacturing and show them the opportunities available in the industry,” said Wetzel. “Many young people aren’t aware of the manufacturing skills certification that validates for manufacturers that a student successfully achieved core workforce readiness to enter into a manufacturing environment.”
Serving Many Needs
Training and education programs developed through collaborative initiatives among employers, educators, and other resources offer win-win opportunities for all participants. Businesses such as Bison Gear gain workplace-ready employees, schools meet their goals of educating capable and mature students, and the community benefits from a stable, tax-paying employment base.
Key training and skill assessment can be offered collaboratively through employers and community colleges. Wetzel said such initiatives serve incumbent and displaced workers, in addition to younger workers.
Bison Gear goes beyond emphasizing six sigma, blueprint reading, and other workplace-related training. The company recently partnered with Advocate Health, which provided Bison Gear employees 1,800 hours of coaching focused on health and wellness. The company will continue this program, engaging employees in improving their own health. The program will also help Bison Gear to reduce health care costs.
Changing Mindsets
“We will continue to transform our training and educational programs, to be on the cutting edge, with strong support from Ron Bullock,” Wetzel said. “All of our mindsets have changed. In the past, educational institutions were the owners of these issues. This has changed. Employers are at the table with educators, legislators, and workforce development specialists in order to create education and workforce development strategies that meet the needs of those looking for work and align them with jobs that are an entry point into the workforce. We have opportunities to examine our previous programs and to come up with new solutions, changing from what was to what can be. We know we need to continue our support for education and training, working with many partners. These efforts are critical to moving forward.
“You can’t stop working on what you know must occur. Talking about an issue won’t necessarily solve it. Instead, what we’ve discovered is that reaching out to others can help to make changes that are needed,” Wetzel said. “Our entire mission, when we speak of jobs in manufacturing, is a career. A production worker makes approximately $59,000 a year with benefits. Most manufacturing companies offer tuition reimbursement. We encourage all our employees to continue their formal education. Manufacturing is a career, not just a job.”
MSSC Certification Program
An industry-led training, assessment, and certification program, the Manufacturing Skill Standards Council (MSSC) system focuses on core skills and knowledge required in U.S. manufacturing. The program offers new and experienced production workers an opportunity to demonstrate needed technical capabilities.
Safety topics covered in MSSC courses include creation of a safe workplace, emergency drills, safety-related maintenance, equipment monitoring for safety, operator safety, communication of safety problems, etc. Quality and continuous improvement training covers internal quality audits, quality test documentation, corrective actions, continuous improvement, and other topics. In the manufacturing processes and production training materials, students learn about awareness of customer needs, equipment monitoring, product/process documentation, etc. Maintenance awareness training topics range from preventive maintenance to alignment checks, blueprint reading, routine repair, analysis of breakdowns, and tool maintenance.
The National Skill Standards Board of the U.S. Department of Labor recognized this program as the “voluntary partnership” for manufacturing in 1998. It endorsed MSSC’s nationally validated standards in 2001. More information about MSSC is available at www.msscusa.org.
‘You Can Do More’
Paul Christensen, machine operator A at Bison, participated in Manufacturing Skill Standards Council (MSSC) and other training programs available through the company. He gained certification as a production technician. “I’ve been in the machining business a long time, but it was good to catch up on geometric tolerancing, 5S (simplify, sort, standardize, self-discipline, sweep/shine), in a full-day class,” he said. “We also studied safety, manufacturing, quality, and maintenance. That was a really good series of courses. You do the work online or at home.” He added that the company paid $100 for completion of each MSSC module.
Christensen recently completed a Bison-sponsored course on green manufacturing (safety and maintenance, proper materials handling, etc.). Describing benefits of his Bison-sponsored studies during the past five years, Christensen said, “You can do more, understand more, troubleshoot, decrease errors.”
For Dan Olejarz, Bison’s strategic sourcing leader, the company’s support for his continuing education helped him advance through various certifications and programs and into new career opportunities. Olejarz started on the shop floor as an assembly worker. The company reimbursed him for tuition at the College of DuPage, where he earned an associate degree in applied science and automated manufacturing systems. During this three-year stint, he became a lab technician.
“Then after I completed my degree, I became an applications engineer. I transferred to the Illinois Institute of Technology and completed a Bachelor of Science in manufacturing technology and management,” said Olejarz. “After that I attended an American Management Association (AMA) program on technical project management. I completed a six sigma green belt certification last year at Elgin Community College.” He plans to start a master’s program in business administration.
These studies “allowed for my personal growth and helped me to advance in the company to a more responsible position,” Olejarz said. “I believe I can contribute more, with more background and knowledge. It helped me to be successful. It offered me an opportunity to grow with the company, and our industry is here to stay.”
