Q-Cast
Podcast: Teaching Almost 2,000 People Manufacturing Skills for Success
Image courtesy of Purdue Manufacturing Extension Partnership
If you’re looking to recruit more staff, a manufacturing boot camp may be the answer. Ranae Stewart is the Senior Executive Director of the Purdue Manufacturing Extension Partnership, part of the MEP National Network™. She oversees the Center's workforce development initiatives, including the launch of the Manufacturing Skills for Success (MS4S) program, which has trained nearly 2,000 individuals since 2018. Created by Purdue University’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) and successfully replicated in correctional facilities across Indiana and Tennessee, MS4S provides essential training to help individuals transition from prison to a fulfilling career in manufacturing.
The MS4S program is a 10-day boot camp that covers the basics of manufacturing and equips participants with the skills they need for entry-level roles. Here Ranae explains how manufacturers can get involved in this type of program, what to expect when joining the manufacturing workforce, and how second chance staff may be a win-win for both manufacturers and new hires.
She recently wrote a column for Quality about these second chance workers.
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Michelle: To start off, before we dive into the article itself, can you tell us a little bit in general about your work?
Ranae: Absolutely. So I am the center director for the Purdue MEP, which serves as the MEP center in the state of Indiana. And what we ultimately do is work with small to mid-size manufacturers throughout the state to help them become more globally competitive. We do that in a variety of ways.
Different ways really just depends on what the best solution is for that manufacturer. But some of the things that we assist companies with on a day to day basis are things like lean manufacturing implementation, quality management systems, leadership development, supply chain, technology and innovation, and workforce development, which brings us together to talk today about the program we created several years back.
Michelle: So it seemed like you guys have had a lot of success with it. More than 2,000 people trained with it, I think, or almost 2,000.
Ranae: Yeah, almost 2,000. Yeah. That's amazing. Maybe by the time this airs, it will be 2,000. Maybe I do know we have a, we just finished a cohort last week. So I'll have to pull the numbers and see if we've hit that milestone yet.
Michelle: So can you give us an overview of what you guys do and how, how the program works?
Ranae: Absolutely. So we were fortunate that we had the opportunity to work with the Indiana Department of Workforce Development to create a unique solution to the workforce development issues that we were facing in our state. Indiana is the most manufacturing intensive state in the country. A lot of people don't know that. So we rely very heavily on manufacturing jobs. And the commissioner of the Department of Workforce Development at that time recognized that we were going to be, we were on the cusp of a significant workforce shortage if we didn't get a little creative in how we approach developing individuals. So in trying to figure out a way that we could provide something that wasn't already in the marketplace, we really took a close look at adult learners.
And what we determined is because of the commitments those individuals already have in their lives, it's not possible for them to take two years out of the workforce to go through a vocational program, or even 16 weeks. So with that in mind, we created this 10-day boot camp to really just give a quick burst of training to introduce manufacturing to individuals to give them the basic skills to work in a manufacturing facility and then connect them with manufacturers to start building that pipeline of talent.
Listen to the Full Podcast Here:
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