WORKFORCE PIPELINE A MONTHLY FEATURE ABOUT TRAINING, EDUCATION & WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT w Making the Future Through Collaborative Training I
n the rural town of Greenfi eld, MA, near the Vermont border, a precision machin- ing training program is building a robust pipeline of skilled manufacturing workers. The secret of the program’s success is the strong collaboration between local educators, employers, and government. In order to design and manufacture parts of
the future, area employers need a highly skilled workforce. That’s especially true as their exist- ing workforce ages and business grows. Just a few years ago, manufacturing was viewed as a “sunset industry” in Massachu- setts and across America. Today, according to a recent report published by the Mas- sachusetts Offi ce of Labor and Workforce Development on Employment and Wages, more than 7000 Massachusetts manufacturers employ over 250,000 people. With more than 250 manufacturing businesses in Franklin and Hampshire Counties, and with nearly 15% expected industry growth in the area by 2020, fi nding, recruiting and developing qualifi ed employees is a top priority. To address this need, the Franklin-Hampshire Regional Employment Board in collaboration with Greenfi eld Commu- nity College (GCC), Franklin County Technical School (FCTS) and a consortium of area manufacturers created the Middle Skills Manufacturing Initiative (MSMI) training for entry-level CNC operators. The program is targeted to unemployed and under-employed workers in Franklin and Hampshire Counties with funding from a Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund grant through the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Execu- tive Offi ce of Labor and Workforce Development adminis- tered by Commonwealth Corporation. Concurrent with the development of the MSMI training
program, signifi cant investments were made to modernize the equipment at FCTS which is used by both day and night
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students. The FCTS Machine Fund, a 501C organization founded by local precision manufacturer, Steve Capshaw, President of VSS Inc., raised $217,000 from local businesses which was matched by the Massachusetts Executive Offi ce of Housing and Economic Development and various grants to ensure students are now instructed on state-of-the-art CNC mills, CNC lathes, CNC grinders, metrology tools, Computer-Aided Drafting (CAD) and Computer-Aided Manu- facturing (CAM) programs.
Many businesses have been heavily involved in the local
effort to build the skilled worker pipeline. Local support has come from more than 20 companies including VSS, Bete Fog Nozzle, Hassay Savage Co., DuMONT Co., Sisson Engineering, Poplar Hill, Applied Dynamics Corp, Quabbin Inc., Mayhew Steel, Small Corp., Amherst Machine, Hillside Plastics, Judd Wire, Production Tool & Grinding, Kennam- etal, Cohn & Company, Greenfield Co-Operative Bank and Greenfield Savings Bank. L.S. Starrett Company donated precision tools, gages and instruments and Air Compres- sor Engineering Co. Inc., and Haas Automation Inc. also provided the in-kind funding.
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