Manufacturers Take Education into Their Own Hands
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If you can’t find what you need, sometimes you have to create it. For local manufacturers facing a labor shortage, that means developing skilled workers.
The South Florida Manufacturers Association (SFMA) saw this need in 2009, when it partnered with Atlantic Technical Center to develop a four-year machinist apprentice program. The program recently graduated its first class. Local manufacturers sponsored their workers to attend, paying $500 for each of the nine students to participate in the program through continuous employment, shop work and an online class. More apprentices are preparing to graduate later this year, which is good news for an industry facing an aging workforce.
This program is a great example of the type of partnership we need to see between educational centers, industry organizations and manufacturers. Training programs like this will help South Florida’s manufacturing industry develop workers with the specialized technical skills they need to succeed.
