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| AME President Paul Kuchuris speaks during the AME/APQC’s Benchmarking Community of Practice (CoP) session about the state of the industry in Chicago. |
AME looks to inspire a commitment to Enterprise Excellence through Experiential Learning by bringing people together to Share, Learn and Grow. At the AME Chicago 2012 International Excellence Inside Conference, the association continued to follow through with that mission by inviting members to a session hosted by the AME/APQC’s Benchmarking Community of Practice (CoP). Here, panel members hosted an informal discussion that focused on the state of the industry.
AME Editorial Board Chair Bill Baker opened the discussion, asking attendees how to go about revitalizing North American manufacturing and innovating the rest of the world. The discussion primarily focused on developing more qualified employees to serve the growing manufacturing industry. Many challenges to this goal were addressed, but most agreed that the solution is to start with the public schools.
Glenn Marshall of Newport News Shipbuilding laid out the numbers. He said 38 percent of high school graduates are below the recommended reading levels, and 67 percent rank below proficient. Worse yet, 1.3 million drop out annually. Encouraging a nation of children to work harder and inspiring teachers to help them, however, has been no simple task. But several panel members offered suggestions and detailed their own efforts.
Marshall indicated many students are operating with learning disorders such as dyslexia, autism or attention deficit disorder. He said only through appropriate intervention can these students begin to reach their full potential. This is why AME has taken an interest in The International Dyslexia Association’s support of the Literacy Education for All, Results for the Nation (LEARN) act.
Through industry, education and government, we need to prepare children for work, said John Shifflett, Newport News Shipbuilding director of leadership, professional and technical development. The company participates in the Department of Education’s program Career Pathways, which includes a campaign to attract students to manufacturing. It provides career readiness skills and advanced knowledge of science, technology, engineering and math.
Another challenge is public schools experiencing dwindling resources. However, companies cannot simply walk into schools with a check. Programs must be created in order to funnel money to the schools. While many programs are successful, in most instances they are not graduating students in large enough numbers. Another approach is to help schools employ their own lean strategies.
The APQC Education Team, for instance, launched the North Star program to help school districts do more with less. It’s an on-site application-based series of workshops that focuses on helping teachers adopt Process and Performance Management, which helps find inefficiencies through coaching and mentoring. It helps identify the essential processes to create and sustain learning institutions for successful education.
Reaching teachers is perhaps even more critical, said Sandy Munro of Munro and Associates. As a lean consultant serving the manufacturing industry, Munro often speaks to students to encourage futures in manufacturing. However, he recalled an experience when a teacher negated the impact of his entire speech by following it with a description of manufacturing as dirty and dangerous to the same group of students.
Too often, teachers lack the right information and contribute to the skewed perception of future workers. Harry C. Moser, president of Reshoring Initiative, said even federal agencies such as the Department of Labor often fail to deliver the facts. This is a major setback because the Department of Labor is a renowned information source for the schools and mainstream media.
Moser referenced a chart, “Education Pays,” produced by the department. It referenced statistics to illustrate how higher learning increases opportunities for success. It compared salaries of high school dropouts to graduates, and those with bachelor’s degrees to those with master’s or PhD’s. It did not indicate the earnings for two-year apprenticeship programs.
“Overnight, we could be credible if we could get the Department of Labor on our side,” Moser said.
While manufacturing associations continue to look for ways to positively influence teachers and students, there are other untapped resources. Brought up in the panel discussion was the underutilization of impoverished and minority communities. Also, there is an abundance of veterans returning from wars who are struggling to find civilian jobs.
Marshall detailed a workshop developed by TMG designed to recapitalize the workforce with candidates transitioning from the military. Vet-STRONG helps locate military men and women as they emerge from the armed forces. Many are ready to transfer both leadership and technical skills to the working world. The program provides assistance managing state and federal resources designed to recruit this hidden talent. An upcoming opportunity is the Virginia Values Veterans (V3) conference Dec. 4.
The programs highlighted during the problem/solution-driven discussions represent only a few of the opportunities available to AME members. Today, more knowledge is offered in monthly AME/APQC BCoP webinars. These online tools will continuously highlight AME Manufacturing Excellence Award winners and APQC benchmarking best practices. Webinars are accessible through the AME website.
Also available is a query service that allows members to pose business-related questions to CoP members. Susan Chandler, CoP coordinator, said she broadcasts questions to 142 companies and moderates with other lean practitioners. Chandler can be reached at 224-232-5980, ext. 222, or schandler@ame.org.
Benchmarking delivers valuable information from one industry to another. Marshall explained how BCoP allows members to step outside the confines of their own industries to learn. For instance, Newport News Shipbuilding recently turned to Batesville Caskets for advice. Each product is welded, neither can leak and customers are critical of the paint jobs. “We all face similar challenges,” Marshall said.
** AME March Press Release, http://www.ame.org/sites/default/files/03.AME,%20Reshoring%20Initiative%20Encourage%20Education_0.pdf
