The amount of time before a company expects to have a return on its investment on a new facility has been reduced to virtually nothing. Not so long ago, when a company began operations in a new facility, it gave itself a window of 90 days where workers were trained and the bugs were worked out in the production process.
On the 91st day, the company expected to start generating profits from operations at the plant.
Today, companies launch their operations on the assumption that the new facility will be profitable from the first day.
In a world where executives demand an instant ROI, the ability to have a well-trained work force that knows how to handle the task at hand from the beginning, and not experience the inevitable missteps that come with on-the-job training, is more than just a luxury. It is a necessity for companies competing in the global economy.
That puts the onus on work force training before the new plant is in operation. When a company begins looking for a site for a new facility — whether it is in its current city or state, or in another state — it wants to know what’s available in terms of work force training programs.
| In a poll of more than 80 corporate site location consultants, Georgia’s work force training program was ranked No. 1 in the country. Alabama, Kentucky, South Carolina and Indiana rounded out the top five. |
Work force training could be the deciding factor when a company is down to its final list of potential locations for that new facility.
“One of the first questions companies ask when they consider locating or expanding a facility is about the quality of the work force,” said Jackie Rohosky, assistant commissioner for economic development programs for the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education (DTAE). “They recognize that a skilled, dedicated work force can make the difference between success and failure.”
Skilled Work Force Produces Expansions
That’s why states put such a premium on work force training programs, sometimes administered by a state agency and sometimes administered by community and technical colleges.
Each state offers a work force training program, although the breadth of each program is different . Eligibility rules vary, as does the cost to employees, funding restrictions and wage requirements.
Many states offer multiple programs, some to retain companies already located there and some to attract new companies.
Programs are judged not only in terms of their financial value but also in terms of ease of usage and applicability. In other words, some programs may theoretically have a high value but are of little practical use to most companies.
Likewise, some programs may be both useful and valuable, but are so wrapped up in red tape requirements that they are extremely difficult to actually use.
In a poll of more than 80 corporate site location consultants, Georgia’s work force training program was ranked No. 1 in the country. Alabama, Kentucky, South Carolina and Indiana rounded out the top five.
“We place a premium on work force training because, first, a skilled work force is what brings business to Georgia and keeps it here,” Rohosky said. “Second, work force training is important to maintaining the quality of life in Georgia by making sure our citizens have the skills that are in demand by industry in the 21st century.”
During the past 10 years, companies have implemented more advanced technologies into their production and processes and leveraged sophisticated models for business practices, such as lean manufacturing. This has made a skilled work force more important than ever for a company.
This change in business is what led Georgia’s Quick Start to evolve from a modest work force training program to into one of the state’s main assets in attracting expansion and relocation projects, Rohosky said.
Successful work force training programs are two-way streets between the state and company. Quick Start takes that approach with companies that are considering an expansion project in Georgia.
Quick Start customizes its training to the needs of individual companies. The cost is picked up by the state.
To help with training, DTAE has developed four certification programs that prepare Georgia’s work force in the areas of customer service, manufacturing, warehouse and distribution, and construction-related occupations. A fifth certification program, Certified Export Specialist, is under development.
| Best Work Force Training Programs
1. Georgia
2. Alabama
3. Kentucky
4. South Carolina
5. Indiana
6. Tennessee
7. Arizona
8. Colorado
9. Idaho
10. Maryland
SOURCE: Expansion Management poll of 80 Corporate Site Location Consultants, August 2005. |
Once the initial training is complete, the 34 colleges in Georgia’s Technical College System are available to provide ongoing, customized training support.
Collaboration between a client-company and Quick Start enables it to design, develop and deliver training that is company-specific. That was the case when Perkins-Shibaura, which assembles diesel engines, announced that it was locating a plant in Griffin, Ga.
“Our team traveled to Great Britain, observed and documented the manufacturing processes that it would be transferring to the company’s plant in Georgia, and then returned to develop the customized training materials,” Rohosky said. “The company then provided Quick Start with sample engines, which we used as models to develop detailed assembly instructions.”
Following this approach, employees of Perkins-Shibaura in Griffin were trained and ready for work when the plant became operational.
Providing a Pool of Potential Workers
There is a very similar approach in Alabama, where Alabama Industrial Development Training (AIDT) has helped in the maturation of the state’s manufacturing and high-tech industries.
The organization will custom design a work force training program. Most of the training is done at the company site. But if that’s not possible, AIDT has 34 mobile work force training units equipped with what’s needed for a particular job function. The cost is picked up by the state.
AIDT finds a pool of workers that companies can choose from if they are locating in Alabama. The organization recruits and assesses potential employees on the pre-employment side, and trains them once they are hired.
“We put the most qualified people in the job category we’re trying to hire for,” said Ed Castile, director of AIDT. “We are guaranteeing the company we can deliver those qualified people. The company makes the decision on whom to hire. We provide a pool of potential employees.”
AIDT has been successful in helping numerous companies in numerous industries fill their employment levels. Honda and Hyundai used AIDT to find employees for their automobile manufacturing plants. There are also numerous aerospace industry projects growing in the state, including Airbus, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, where AIDT is involved.
Castile said more companies need employees who can think and problem-solve, as well as make decisions that will enhance production.
“There are a lot more skills needed than just a few years ago,” he said. “There is also more of a burden on the system that supplies those workers to deliver a trainable employee.”
That type of worker will continue to be in demand across the country as the offshore migration of labor-intensive manufacturing jobs continues to occur. The manufacturing jobs that remain are more highly skilled than ever.
“What’s left are the more technical jobs,” said Robert Curry, executive director of the Bluegrass State Skills Corp. (BSSC) in the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development. “As a result, you have to have a more highly skilled work force to perform those jobs.”
BSSC conducts a needs assessment of companies that are considering Kentucky for their next facility.
“Basically, we ask them what kind of training they need,” Curry said. “We’ll also try to assign the cost of the training, if possible.”
If a company decides to locate in Kentucky, the organization will write the application and send it to its board, which approves each project. The cost is shared on a 50-50 basis.
BSSC will work with a company to customize a training program.
“Our philosophy is customer-oriented,” Curry said. “We want to provide what the customer needs.” BSSC will dispatch a staff member to the company’s facility when it is ready to begin training.
Companies generally have a year to use the work force training grant funds provided by BSSC, although the timetable can be extended if the company knows it will take more than a year to get a facility up and running.
If a company wants continuous training of its work force once it exhausts its original grant money, and it has met its job requirements, it can apply for more funding from a different program.
BSSC works with other training agencies in the commonwealth, including the Kentucky Community and Technical System and Kentucky Adult Education, to present a comprehensive work force training program.
Institutes of higher education, including community colleges, are an ideal place to conduct work force training.
“We custom-build a training package that will allow a company to build a work force that will be able to start when the facility opens,” said Jerry Beck, president of the College of Southern Idaho (CSI) in Twin Falls, Idaho. “Then we continue our relationship to make sure the company has ongoing work force training.
CSI, a community college, was instrumental in Dell Computer Corp.’s decision to locate a technical support center in Twin Fall three years ago.
In less than a year after opening, Dell expanded the facility three times and now employs about 650 workers.
Even before it knew that the company interested in Twin Falls was Dell, CSI worked with the consultant representing the company to conduct an unannounced test of area high school students on their knowledge of technology. Students at CSI were also tested.
Beck described this type of testing as rare.
“The company wanted to know what kind of technological community we were and how many people had the skills necessary,” he said. “This got us in the running for the project.”
Once it became known that Dell was the company, college officials traveled to company headquarters in Austin, Texas, to see what skills people needed to have prior to going into Dell’s training.
Beck said a curriculum was written and training began even before Dell chose Twin Falls so it could be ready to open the facility on time.
“As a college, we took a risk,” he said.
The risk paid off. Today, Dell is one of the largest employers in Southern Idaho and uses two classrooms at CSI for its training.
Not an Expense, But an Asset
Beck said that work force training, once perceived as simply a cost of doing business, has undergone a metamorphosis in the eyes of company executives. It stems from the belief that facilities need to be profitable instantaneously.
“That’s the expectation of companies,” Beck said. “That is a huge difference in working with CEOs of companies that are relocating.”
Staying on top of work force training can be difficult in these times. Employees don’t stay with same company for years like they did in the past, and employers are constantly changing their mix of products and processes.
That raises the stakes even more for work force training.
“The fact is people [rarely] stay with the same company until retirement, and even if they do, there is a need for constant retraining,” BSSC’s Curry said.
Rohosky of Georgia’s DTAE said work force training benefits, not only companies, but the employees, as well.
“A successful business is a partnership between the employer and the employee,” she pointed out. “We see training as an essential component to making that partnership a profitable one for all involved.”
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