As dean of business and industry at Jackson State Community College in Jackson, Tennessee, Terri Messer has worked for many years to provide specialized training to students who want to work for local companies. And she keeps a close eye out for potential opportunities.

Jackson State’s Advanced Maintenance Technician Co-op evolved as an industry education program, Messer said. It was modeled after a program in Kentucky, where a Toyota plant partnered with Bluegrass Community and Technical College and then hired all of the college’s co-op students after they graduated. Toyota had a similar partnership with community colleges around the country.

The Toyota plant near Jackson State, which builds engine blocks, is not a manufacturing facility. So Messer had to look for other industry partners.

She created an advisory committee for the college’s engineering technologies program. Students attend classes two days a week and work at one of the program’s industry partners the other three days. The program gradually grew from four manufacturers to 28.

The co-op is a way “to keep up with technology changes in the real world,” Messer said. “A lot of students needed experience being in that environment.” And they can make money and use their skills while they’re studying.

FAME’s focus on professional skills

The Manufacturing Institute, the workforce development and education partner of the National Association of Manufacturers, took over the Toyota program in early 2020. The program, called the Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education (FAME), works with community colleges on an apprenticeship-style program like the one at Jackson State, said Gardner Carrick, vice president of workforce solutions for the Manufacturing Institute.

What makes it different from other workforce training programs, Carrick said, is that “Toyota had intentionally designed it to teach more than technical skills. Students have a deep understanding of professional skills and behavior, and immersion in lean manufacturing.”

By professional skills, Carrick means points like on-time attendance and presentation skills. Students give a presentation every day on a safety topic. They learn about the importance of speaking clearly, looking the audience in the eye and dressing professionally.

The manufacturers that work with Jackson State’s co-op indicate they need workers with both technical and professional skills, said Cathi Roberts, completion coordinator for the program.

Co-op students earn $15 an hour for three eight-hour shifts per week. When they graduate, they make $17 an hour. It’s not unusual for graduates to earn $75,000 a year after a couple of years on the job, Roberts said. That’s good money in a state where the median household income is $41,000.

An expectation to deliver

Last September, Ford and SK Innovation announced that they would invest $5.6 billion to build a new campus in west Tennessee, Blue Oval City, to produce electric F-Series trucks and batteries. The mega-campus will create 5,800 new jobs.

“[Ford] expects Tennessee to deliver” on workforce training, Messer said. The state’s emphasis on technical education was one reason why the company chose to locate in Tennessee. She has started talking with Ford about its training needs but said the talks are still confidential.

Jackson State is 40 miles from the planned Blue Oval City. A new Tennessee College of Applied Technology will be built on the Blue Oval City campus. With nearly 6,000 new jobs in the offing, there should be plenty of training opportunities for community colleges and technical colleges across west Tennessee.

Expanded conversations

Front Range Community College’s Center for Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) provides an on-the-ground look at what one community college offers in its advanced manufacturing program.

The Colorado college opened the center in fall 2019, said Deborah Craven, dean of instruction at the Boulder County campus. Before that, Front Range had an advanced technology center that started with a machining program.

To create the center, the college had a huge fundraising campaign, Craven said. When college representatives met with industry partners in focus groups, the manufacturers would describe what they needed. In return, the college asked for, and received, financial support.

Front Range also received a 2013 federal grant through CHAMP (Colorado Helps Advanced Manufacturing Program), which helped start the machining program. As area employers took note of the program, that led to more conversations with companies.

“They talked about the types of jobs available and the types of people they were looking to fill them,” Craven said. “The industry was aging out of expertise with people retiring. We were focusing on filling that need.

“We were aiming to provide a midlevel worker rather than [companies] having to hire people coming in off the street needing more training,” she said.

The center now has four programs: automation and engineering technology; electronics engineering technology; precision machining; and optics technology.

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