For Immediate Release: 11/30/2016 3:53 pm
Worcester, MA (November 30, 2016) - Two Central Mass-based manufacturing consortium training projects (Southern Worcester County/Worcester Area Manufacturing Consortiums) intended to enhance incumbent worker skills recently completed. The projects involved 17 local area manufacturers in the two-year consortium grants, funded through the MA Workforce Training Fund Program managed by the Commonwealth Corporation. The two consortiums were coordinated by the Central MA Workforce Investment Board in partnership with the Massachusetts Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which provided instruction.
The participating companies were:
| Southbridge Sheet Metal | INCOM |
| David Packard Co. | Dexter-Russell |
| G&F Industries | United Lens |
| H.T. Machine | Magnetic Technologies |
| Schott North America | Swissturn |
| T&D Specialties | Eaton-Wrightline |
| ECM Plastics/A. Schulman | Prematech |
| Kinefac | Stellar Industries |
| Primetals Technologies |
These local manufacturers took part in 17 different course offerings with the goal of updating the skills of their incumbent workforce. These topics included, Basic Manufacturing Skills, Geometric Dimensioning & Tolerancing, ISO Internal Auditor Training, CNC G&M Codes, Value Stream Mapping, Leader Effectiveness Training, Statistical Process Control, Job Safety, Principles of Lean 101 and 5S Kaizen.
The participating manufacturers completed a total of 96 trainings and trained 779 employees over the course of the project. Overall, companies involved in the consortium grants reported that they were very pleased with the quality of training provided by the MassMEP and collectively cited positive impacts that included:
Other positive outcomes were improved on-time delivery, increased productivity, reduced lead time and a reduction in scrap rate.
Jim Laliberte from Primetals Technologies noted the need for trainings such as this at manufacturing companies, "a shortage of adequately skilled workers in the U.S. is a problem faced by most companies and could compromise the country's economic competitiveness if left unaddressed. Like most companies, Primetals Technologies faces the challenge of Global competitiveness while replacing a significant percentage of its workforce over the next 5 to 10 years. Working with the Worcester Area Manufacturing Consortium (WAMC) afforded Primetals Technologies access to skilled trainers that were able to coordinate training schedules with our production schedule."
