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The Attraction of Work Force Training Programs

October 13, 2003 /

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In less than two years, Dell Computer Corp. has opened a technical support center in Twin Falls, Idaho, and expanded the work force there three times.

Originally, 243 workers were employed at the facility when it opened in February 2002. Three weeks later, Dell added 200 jobs; three months later it added 125 by opening a customer service center at the site; and seven months later it added 100 more workers in technical support. That’s an impressive growth rate by any measure.

By: Ken Krizner, Managing Editor ExpansionManagement.com

When a company establishes operations in a community for the first time, there is always a risk of failure, even though that company undertakes an exhaustive site selection process before making its decision.

So, when a company sites a facility in a particular community, then almost immediately realizes it made the right choice and nearly triples the work force in a short period of time, it says a great deal about that work force and its training.

Workers are the backbone of any operation and a community doesn’t stand a chance of attracting any company from any industry unless those workers are properly trained.

“There was never a question of whether we had a hard-working work force,” said Jerry Beck, executive vice president/chief academic officer for the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls. “What we had to do was convince Dell executives that we could supply them with a properly trained work force.”

Years ago, companies didn’t expect to earn money off their newly hired workers for at least the first six months of employment. New workers were in an apprentice-type situation, where the company was quite willing to invest time, money and patience in the present for a payoff down in the future.

Those days are long gone.

Today, new employees are expected to be cost-effective and earning money for the company from almost the first day on the job.

Work force training programs have to reflect that new thinking. While curriculums in the past included information that was “nice to know,” today, it has to include information that is “must know.”

“Workers have to become as proficient on the ‘must-know’ information as quickly as possible,” Beck said. “They have to be brought to a level of competency to where they can handle any situation in a time-effective manner that allows the company to make a profit.”

Each state offers some sort of work force training program. But no two programs are alike. The eligibility rules vary from state to state, as do employee costs, funding restrictions and wage requirements. Many states have multiple programs. One program, for example, is aimed at companies in a particular industry (i.e., high tech or biotechnology) the state is trying to attract, while another program is designed for companies in a particular industry the state is trying to retain.

While the programs may be dissimilar on some levels, the goal of each is very similar: Provide expanding and relocating companies with a vehicle to ensure they have a properly trained work force. The decision to a locate a facility at site A or site B might come down to which state or community has the most effective work force training program.

So, states use their work force programs as an incentive tool.

In Virginia, the Department of Business Assistance’s Workforce Services Program assists new and expanding businesses in the design and execution of employee training programs. Three criteria are used to determine whether a company qualifies: generation of more than 50 percent of its revenue from outside the state of Virginia, creation of 25 new jobs that pay a minimum of $8 per hour (exceptions are made in communities having an unemployment rate at least twice the state’s average), and an investment of $1 million a one-year period.

The program has played a major role in Virginia’s efforts to attract and retain many companies.

Hyosung America Inc., a worldwide supplier of polyester tire cord, acquired a former Michelin tire plant in Scottsville, Va., and will invest $7 million to upgrade the facility’s existing tire cord production process. More than 100 jobs will be saved as a result of the acquisition.

The South Korea-based company will use the commonwealth’s Retraining Initiative to retrain the existing work force.

Two other companies that took advantage of work force training in Virginia are General Dynamics Land Systems and Boehringer Ingelheim Corp.

General Dynamics Land Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics, selected Prince William County, Va., to be the integration and assembly site for the U.S. Marine Corps’ Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle.

The $64.5 million project will create 170 new jobs, with the potential for 340 jobs during the next several years.

General Dynamics Land Systems won the competition in June 1996 to develop and build the U.S. Marine Corps’ new EFV. The program calls for the delivery of more than 1,000 vehicles to the Marine Corps with production beginning in 2005 and continuing until 2018.

The Department of Business Assistance will provide work force training services, plus the company will receive a $500,000 grant from the Governor’s Opportunity Fund to assist Prince William County with the project. General Dynamics Land Systems qualifies to receive a $2 million performance-based grant from the Virginia Investment Partnership, a program available to existing Virginia firms.

Meanwhile, Boehringer Ingelheim will expand the manufacturing capacity at its subsidiary, Boehringer Ingelheim Chemicals Inc., in Petersburg, Va.

The completion of all phases of the Petersburg expansion, which are tied to product milestones, could reach $260 million in new capital investment by 2011, with an overall increase in employment of 165. Boehringer Ingelheim Chemicals manufactures active pharmaceutical ingredients for the Boehringer Ingelheim group of companies, as well as other pharmaceutical companies.

The Department of Business Assistance will provide work force training for Boehringer Ingelheim, and the company and Petersburg will receive other funding to assist in the project.

In Georgia, the Quick Start program has provided training services for hundreds of thousands employees since 1967. The state picks up 100 percent of the tab for training, and companies can use Quick Start to bridge the gap between current production techniques and emerging technologies.

Aviation supplier McCauley, a subsidiary of Textron Inc., is using Quick Start to train workers at its manufacturing facility in Columbus, Ga. It’s one of the primary reasons the company decided to relocate from Dayton, Ohio.

In May 2002, Quick Start undertook an analysis of McCauley’s training needs, and began training 40 new employees two months later. Separate four-week training operations were developed for machinists and assemblers, as were leadership courses for new managers and supervisors.

French company Saint-Gobain, which traces its roots to the 17th century, is operating a new 65,000 square foot plant in Sparta, Ga., to decorate glass perfume bottles. The new plant has brought 200 jobs to a region that has been hit hard by the decline of the textile industry.

Inspection is an important function of the plant. The glass bottles are dipped in a solution to give a frosted, satin finish, and a screen-printing process applies the brand name. Inspectors look for defects such as broken letters or ink that is too heavy.

To help the plant inspectors, technicians and packers increase their skill level, Quick Start and Sandersville Technical College provide training in productivity enhancement, manufacturing skills and technology, computer skills, and leadership and human resource development. Job-specific training takes place for the decorating machines, the frosting operation, the screen preparation room, and ink mixing and matching. There is also pre-employment training.

“Our goal is to be the best decoration plant in North America,” said Tristan Thommasson, manager of the Sparta plant. “We have the technology. Now, we have the people who will make the difference with the competition.”

Remaining competitive in a global economy is a challenge for any company in any industry. That’s why the partnership between states or communities and companies is essential, especially in the area of work force training.

Bristow, Okla.,-based Kwikset Inc., a manufacturer of locks, used the Central Technology Center, a part of Oklahoma’s CareerTech System, to help design and implement maintenance and toolmaker apprenticeship programs for the more than 800 employees at the plant. Central Tech also helped implement lean manufacturing principals designed to eliminate waste and improve productivity.

The programs have helped make the Bristow plant the most productive of Kwikset’s facilities, said Peggy Swineheart, a human resource representative in Bristow.

“We want our employees to have a good understanding of our business, so they will be better equipped to help us be more competitive and productive,” she said.

Job training grants helped convince electronics manufacturer Gentex Corp. to remain in Zeeland, Mich., saving nearly 1,500 jobs.

The company will invest nearly $100 million during the next five years for the purchase of manufacturing equipment, land and construction of a 225,000 square foot facility. The facility will allow Gentex to expand its operations for the manufacture of automatic dimming mirror systems for the automotive industry. The state of Michigan will provide job training grants worth up to $625,000 to train workers on the latest technology and processes.

Iowa’s 260E New Jobs Training Program helped Wheatland, Wyo.,-based Britz-Heidbrink Inc. when it purchased the assets of the building division of Double L Group in Monona, Iowa, two years ago. The company qualified for the program as a new business in the Hawkeye State and because it was creating 30 new jobs.

As the employees were hired and developed, it was apparent that additional training would be required to create a culture dedicated to on-time delivery, high quality and cost effectiveness.

In order to meet its objectives, Britz-Heidbrink executives determined they needed to implement a lean manufacturing process, said Dan Palmer, vice president of the company’s Manufacturing Buildings Division.

Northeast Iowa Community College helped design a program that allowed the company to train all its workers on lean manufacturing practices and provided resources to run the training program.

Britz-Heidbrink implemented procedures that ultimately cut lead times, reduced inventory levels and improved quality and throughput within the plant.

“Without the training program, we would not have been able to afford this level of training so soon after starting the Iowa facility,” Palmer said. “The benefits of the training were almost immediate.”

The cost of training for most companies usually finds its way to the debit side of their financial ledgers. State and local authorities can turn that debit into an asset by picking up most or all of the cost.

This is beginning of what should be a cooperative effort on both sides of the fence. There has to be a close working relationship to define the expectations for training.

This relationship means each side may have to shift their respective ways of thinking.

When Dell Computer was in its site selection process, Beck and his team from the College of Southern Idaho traveled to the company’s corporate headquarters in Round Rock, Texas, to work on a curriculum that would be used to train prospective workers.

The college went out on a limb and incurred the expense of developing the curriculum without any guarantee that Dell would ultimately decide on Twin Falls. But Dell executives indicated that it wasn’t going to be long between the time the decision was made to site the new facility and when the company wanted that facility operating. (The decision was announced in October 2001 and the facility was up and running the following February.)

“We needed to start right away and pray that [Dell] would choose Twin Falls,” Beck said. “We couldn’t wait until after the announcement was made and then start planning. There was no way we could get it done.”

Training began at the college the Monday following the Dell announcement that it had chosen Twin Falls.

Dell executives and officials from the college worked together as a team to create the curriculum. Dell also wanted some unusual training times. One shift in Twin Falls runs from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m.; Dell wanted a training class running during that time.

This forced the college to alter its way of doing business, since the buildings on campus were usually locked by 10 p.m.

Colleges must also be prepared to allow the company to have a greater say in the curriculum then they have been prepared to do in the past, Beck said.

“Those are tough cultures to change, yet it was critical that we did change them to be in tune with what the company needed,” he noted.

On the other side, Beck said companies must be willing to divulge proprietary information about their processes if they want a successful work force training program.

“If companies expect us to train personnel to a level of competency that will make them money, then they can’t hold back on some of those trade secrets,” he pointed out.

The College of Southern Idaho has worked with Dell executives in each of the succeeding expansions to ensure that the work force is being trained properly.

“I work with [site] managers to see what their current work force needs are, what are the weaknesses and problems of the training, whether the company needs upgraded or preparatory training, and what market niches might be coming in the future that we have to be prepared for,” Beck said. “In terms of worldwide competition, we have to have a work force that can move quicker than any other work force in the world if we want to be successful.”

That can be the mantra for any company competing in the global market. Workers have to be more productive, more efficient and better skilled so companies can compete more successfully. The foundation for this breed of employee is work force training.

– Ken Krizner is managing editor of Expansion Management magazine. He can be reached at [email protected]. Rachael Hedgcoth, a freelance writer based in Overland Park, Kan., contributed information to the state work force chart and to the story.

Top 15 States for Work Force Training

1. South Carolina

2. Georgia

3. North Carolina

4. Oklahoma

5. Virginia

6. Alabama

7. Tennessee

8. Kentucky

9. Michigan

10. Texas

11. California