Prior to the regional event on apprenticeships, we took a few minutes to ask local business leaders and a few high school students what they thought about working in manufacturing. Also, we questioned them about apprenticeship programs. Much to our delight, the students were very positive about opportunities in manufacturing. Our panel of manufacturing leaders was very specific about the ingredients needed to have a successful apprenticeship program.

Jeanne Hagen, Director of Community outreach at Hatboro-Horsham provided us with the opportunity to question several students at the high school and here are just a few of those responses.

What did they say?

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzTli04Vzgc?rel=0&showinfo=0]
They provide some interesting insights on their view of manufacturing and what it would be like to work with machinery eight hours a day. When speaking about apprenticeships, they focused on the value of having it be part of an advanced learning program and connected with college level certifications. The students connected this type of skill training to providing a foundation for future movement into engineering roles.

John Shegda, President of M&S Centerless Grinding feels that the two critical ingredients of a successful apprenticeship program are competency based skill evaluations and pre-screening of candidates through an eight to twelve week basic machine skills training program.

“I have been part of a taskforce developing training cohorts at Bucks County Community College. These 12 week programs provide hands on and classroom learning experience for select individuals in a very short period of time. The quickly determine interest and capability. They have been very successful in providing excellent candidates for future apprenticeship programs.”

When Tom Kroll, President of IMET was advised of the availability of skilled graduates through the local cohort training programs, he expressed a strong interest in getting involved.

“As a company that doesn’t have the capability for an apprenticeship program, the thought that we could get an employee who already knows the basics and could be molded to fit our specific needs is very appealing.”

Bud Tyler, Vice President at EF Precision provided guidance around how a new apprenticeship model should be structured.

“The old way of four to six thousand hours of work for certification just doesn’t cut it for younger workers today. These programs need to be able to be modified and adapt to today’s digital environment.”

Bud added that apprentices need to have input throughout the learning process as their interest and needs change over time. Sometimes where they start out is nowhere near the final destination.

Eric Whilhelm, President of KV Inc., feels that any new program adapted by the alliance needs to include the ability to track and identify new talent.

“If we don’t have the mechanism in place to see how students are progressing, we won’t know how to guide them going forward. Credentialing is critical to providing validity for our program. Finally, each of us needs to make sure our workforce can handle a long term training commitment. Sacrifices will often be required.”

A regional taskforce for apprenticeship model development has been created and will be working quickly to finalize options for future consideration. The goal is flexible, comprehensive and certifiable model that can become a foundation for multiple training efforts.

Dave Tilstone, national president of NTMA, “the southeastern region has a gift in its palm with all the good support and leadership.”