Manufacturers eye increased training

SKILLS GAP: Swissline President David Chenevert says that he’s currently unable to expand the business because he can’t find enough skilled labor. / PBN PHOTO/DAVID LEVESQUE
SKILLS GAP: Swissline President David Chenevert says that he’s currently unable to expand the business because he can’t find enough skilled labor. / PBN PHOTO/DAVID LEVESQUE

It’s a recipe for economic stagnation business leaders in Rhode Island know only too well – companies with jobs open, a lack of skilled workers to fill them and a stubbornly high unemployment rate, currently at 10.4 percent.
A small group of manufacturing executives have decided they need to do more than just make do with isolated, in-house training. They’ve banded together in an effort to speed up statewide training for manufacturing jobs.
“We formed a group called Manufacturing Skills for Rhode Island,” said Dave Chenevert, president of Swissline Precision Manufacturing in Cumberland. “We’re working collaboratively to come up with a game plan and solve this issue. We … realize we need to be part of the solution.”
Chenevert does the hiring in his company. With 59 employees, he’s looking for a few more.
“I would hire two or three individuals who can walk in the door and be able to program the machines and work independently,” he said. The company manufactures precision component parts for aerospace, medical and commercial industries.
“These machines are very complex,” he said. “You need to have math skills. You need to understand programming. We know these individuals are hard to find.”
Chenevert isn’t just looking to fill open jobs and maintain the status quo.
“If I had qualified labor, I could expand my second shift,” he said. “I can’t even grow my business because I can’t find qualified personnel.”
Swissline Precision Manufacturing had a second shift a few years ago, prior to the recession, but the lack of trained workers convinced Chenevert to invest in improvements in machinery, rather than waiting, sometimes in vain, for skilled employees.
The half-dozen members of Manufacturing Skills for Rhode Island, formed in October, are taking their sense of urgency directly to leaders who can help get the word out that advanced manufacturing is a clean, high-tech environment offering solid career opportunities. “Our strategic goal is to serve as an advisory group and form a set of guidelines and a curriculum for high schools, technical schools and community colleges,” Chenevert said.
The R.I. Department of Labor and Training has intensified its focus on closing the well-known skills gap, said spokeswoman Laura Hart.
“The Governor’s Workforce Board has been working with the private sector to identify those skills that are needed and find the education and training to fill the gap,” said Hart.
The state has rolled out initiatives specifically targeted to closing the gap, Hart said.
In November, the board announced $500,000 in matching funds for Express Grants, which are awarded monthly.
“Previously, what we had done is offer matching grants for up to $25,000 once, or maybe twice, in a year,” Hart said. “What we found, particularly from small business, is that they don’t do training once every 12 months. Sometimes they have a piece of new equipment and need more frequent opportunities to do training.” None of those grants has been awarded yet.
The other key strategy is partnership.
“We have industry partnerships in IT, bioscience, advanced manufacturing, construction, the marine trades, the defense industry and hospitality,” said Hart. “First we identify the skill gaps and then connect to short-term training. It could be certification-based, not necessarily a degree.”
The focus on developing training that meets employer needs has intensified in the past five years, Hart said.
The Governor’s Workforce Board recently announced that it will be seeking proposals for $1.4 million in Innovative Partnership Grants, with a January 30 proposal deadline.
The grants are intended to support partnerships between employers and labor-management organizations, or to increase the employability of students, out-of-school youth and unemployed adults. The Community College of Rhode Island received a federal grant within the past two years to help develop “career pathways” in IT and health care, Hart said.
There’s more to training than just technical and business skills, said Rhode Island Manufacturers Association Executive Director Bill McCourt.
“The skills required always change, it’s a progression,” McCourt said. “I think one of the challenges today is that the soft skills are eroding, skills like responsibility, commitment, accountability and showing up on time.”
When employers have a vacancy they need to fill and potential employees don’t have the necessary skills, they sometimes loosen the job description to make way for good character, McCourt said.
But in some companies that’s not enough.
“The amount of time it takes an individual, from the day they walk in the door, to develop a certain skill set can take years,” McCourt said.
Rhode Island Carbide Tool Co. President John Lombari is willing to take on those years of training in return for a good employee. He doesn’t have a human resources person, so he’s is the one who hires at the Cumberland manufacturing company he’s been leading for 20 years.
“We’re not the type of company that hires and fires, because of the nature of the skills required for our jobs,” said Lombari, who’s also part of the Manufacturing Skills for Rhode Island group. “We kept our people right through the economic crunch.”
Lombari said despite the difficulty of finding skilled employees in Rhode Island, training and trust in an individual can pay off. One example is an employee who started with the company as a 17-year-old intern while a student at Davies Career & Technical High School in Lincoln.
“That man just turned 32 and he can run everything in the company,” Lombari said. “He’s a foreman. It was all in-house training.” •

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