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Building Our Future

TOGETHER

WORKFORCE INITIATIVES

A top concern facing DRMA members and the manufacturing industry is the lack of a qualified workforce. DRMA faces this challenge head-on by driving and supporting numerous initiatives to promote careers in manufacturing and align workforce efforts across the region.

MFG day

Student Tours: MFG Day Year-Round

DRMA encourages and helps members conduct tours to ignite students' interest in exciting, high-skill, high-pay, high-tech manufacturing careers.

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If you and your facility fit this criteria:

  • You are a manufacturer

  • You are tired of having trouble recruiting talent and are ready to take action

  • A 13-year-old would walk into your facility and say, “Wow, this is cool!”
     

Then:

Host tours for students, educators, and parents so they can see first-hand that contemporary manufacturing is a vibrant career path and that employers need skilled workers!  You can host tours on national MFG Day (the first Friday in October), during Ohio’s Manufacturing Month (October), and on any other day that works for you and your school partners!

 

Here's what you need to do to schedule your student tour:

  1. Email Amy that you are interested in doing a tour.  Members get help with conducting a successful tour and connecting with schools.

  2. Register your tour on the MFG Day website - www.mfgday.com​

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Career Awareness

Career Awareness Events

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DRMA conducts activities with students and educators to expose them to careers in manufacturing.  Activities include exhibits during lunchtime at middle and high schools and at career fairs, speaking in classrooms, and hands-on activities during summer camps and other events.  DRMA volunteers deliver messages about career paths, wage and salary information, and training and education paths. We partner with Educational Service Centers across the region.

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We Need Volunteers

Manufacturers, you can help solve your future workforce shortage by providing a volunteer to work lunchtime career events (called Power Lunches). It takes only a couple of hours and no public speaking is necessary. DRMA staff does the scheduling, the setup, and all the logistics. All volunteers have to do is show up and engage students in conversations about why they like working in manufacturing and, specifically, why they like working for your company! Do you have a young person who might like to talk to students? We need volunteers from every area in the region. Contact Kara if you would like to volunteer!

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CMfgA

Certified Manufacturing Associate Training Program

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The Certified Manufacturing Associate short-term, online training program, offered in collaboration with Tooling U-SME, is for your new hires or other employees who have little or no experience in manufacturing so that they are more quickly productive for you. This unregistered apprenticeship program provides associates across most manufacturing occupations with a defined training and development plan that includes technical instruction on a broad range of basic manufacturing concepts, on-the-job training, and mentorship, and aligns with the hallmarks of a high-quality program as outlined by the United States Department of Labor.  DRMA has a grant that will pay the training cost and the credential assessment fee.  Contact Kaitlin to learn more.

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The CMfgA courses are relevant to a wide range of manufacturing fields, and many of the courses are directly applicable to our environment.  The courses are basic enough to not be overwhelming but in-depth enough to give meaningful insight into the subject.  Competition being human nature, a few of the students have turned this into a competition to get the highest scores. This tells me that they are enjoying it and learning from it.  I see no better way to improve employee knowledge over a range of subjects for the price.

 - Joe LaPointe, Quality Systems Coordinator, Valmac Industries

WorkAdvance

WorkAdvance 

The WorkAdvance program is designed to create a pipeline of talent for your entry-level manufacturing positions from our region’s untapped workforce.  WorkAdvance is a proven initiative to recruit individuals with no manufacturing experience; it intentionally seeks out those who aren’t currently applying.

 

We are working with community-based organizations that are recruiting, screening, training, and coaching people to fill your entry-level manufacturing positions.  

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Attend a free 30-minute Zoom info session CLICK HERE to learn how you can position your company to interview and hire these candidates.

 

Learn more about the grant that funds this program HERE.

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Workforce/HR Meet Up

Workforce/HR Meet Up

Meet Ups are small discussion groups designed to help members build their peer network with other members who are interested in the same topic area in order to share and learn.  Topics for the Workforce/HR Meet Up include internships and apprenticeships, funding for training, training resources, recruiting methods, assessments, compensation strategies, compliance issues, and others.  Subject matter experts are on hand at each Meet Up. They are free and for members only. LEARN MORE about Meet Ups and why you should attend.

Indusrty Recognized Credentials

Industry-Recognized Credentials

DRMA is working with educators across the region to incorporate industry credentials into their curriculum, as well as with members to promote the value of the credentials.  

What are Manufacturing Industry-Recognized Credentials? And why YOUR company should care.

DRMA members consistently report that their Number 1 concern is that they cannot find workers with the skills required for today’s advanced workplaces. The skills gap is widening as companies scramble to find qualified employees, and new hires who are not the right fit can mean companies losing out after spending hundreds of hours recruiting, onboarding, and training.

 

The use of manufacturing industry-recognized credentials is one way to help address the skills gap challenge and ensure your workforce is made up of the most qualified employees. Industry credentials ensure that the credential holder has met the industry benchmark for their specific occupational competency. For new hires, industry credentials can be used as screening tools for knowledge, skills, and abilities to do the job well; and for current workers, industry credentials can help bolster their skills and keep them at the top of their trade.

 

There are many reputable manufacturing-related credentials out there to meet your company’s needs. Some of note include Tooling U – SME’s Certified Manufacturing Associate credential; the Manufacturing Skills Standards Council’s (MSSC) Production Technician Certification (CPT); the National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS) credentials; and the American Welding Society’s professional certifications.

 

Whichever certifications you choose based on your employee skills requirements, your company will be better positioned to identify qualified applicants for open positions and to improve the skills of your existing workforce. DRMA is working with educators across the region to incorporate industry credentials into their curriculum.

 

What Should You Do?

  1. Add preferred credentials to your job postings!

  2. Watch for IRCs on candidates’ and student interns’ resumes!

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Work-Based Learning – Student Internships and Job Shadows
Members’ #1 issue is finding enough qualified employees.  Your next generation of workforce is in our region’s high schools and universities. Taking advantage of work-based learning programs such as offering job shadow or internship opportunities to students exposes them to the great careers the region’s manufacturing industry offers AND is a powerful strategy to build your future workforce.

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Job Shadows

An easy way to build the next generation of manufacturing talent is through job shadows. Bringing students into your facility to learn about cool careers in manufacturing can reap dividends down the road. Job shadows are short (2-4 hours) and an easy tactic to help students envision manufacturing as a future career path. If you are interested in learning more, let us know and we’ll talk to you about details.

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Internships

Offering students part-time paid internships provides a risk-free way to evaluate potential employees. In fact, 70% of interns convert to permanent employees! DRMA collaborates with SOCHE who will work with you to find an intern that matches your needs, manage the administrative work, and often has grant money to offset the cost of your intern. SOCHE can help you understand the laws, work with you to build job descriptions and take student management off your plate.  If you are interested in starting or growing a work-based learning internship program in your company, reach out to SOCHE and they can help you get off the starting line.

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The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce built a comprehensive guide for employers who would like start a work-based learning program.

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Training Education
TechCred

TechCred – Reimbursement for Training

TechCred is Ohio's workforce program that offers Ohio employers thousands of dollars in reimbursement for a wide variety of short-term, industry-recognized tech credentials across industries AT NO COST! – from computer software programs like Microsoft Excel and Adobe to more intensive technology training programs involving digital programming and robotics. These technology-focused credentials take less than a year to complete and prepare current and future employees for in-demand jobs. Many of these trainings can be completed online!

 

Employers can be reimbursed $2,000 per industry-recognized credential (not just per employee) and up to $30,000 per application period (every-other month). This means Ohio employers not taking advantage of TechCred reimbursement could be missing out on up to $180K-worth of free training per year!

 

For the credential itself to qualify, it must be:

  • industry-recognized,

  • tech-focused, and

  • short-term – completed within 12 months or less.

 

Get started by talking with DRMA partner educational institutions.  They will work with you to figure out what training you need and which of their programs qualify for TechCred reimbursement.  They will even help you fill out the application:

 

Learn more by visiting https://techcred.ohio.gov/about

Work-Based Learning
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