CenTexSports
02-21-2007, 10:34 AM
I know we have Doctors, lawyers and many other professions on here. I was wondering what the highlight of your career has been to this point.
Mine was being asked to give testimony before a Presidential/Congressional commission on 21st century workforce skills. I am posting my testimony below:
__________________________________________________ _
When I was first asked to share with you the status of the Mississippi workforce and the training needed for the 21st century as it relates to Information Technology, I was hesitant to participate. As a Plant Manager for a manufacturing operation I felt unsure of my potential contribution. However, I was able to find a very useful booklet published by BellSouth titled "hook-up ? Job Skills for the Information Age" and somewhat to my surprise, the skills necessary for the Information Technology heavy industries run parallel to those of industries in general. So the information that I will be sharing with you though not arrived at through experience with the Information Technology industry, is none the less pertinent.
Over the last twenty years, the landscape of North Mississippi has been transformed from that of dairy farming and row crops such as cotton, soybeans, and rice, to casino gaming, light manufacturing, and distribution centers. This transition from an agrarian based economy to one based on manufacturing and service related industries, seems to have peaked in the last few years due in large part to the lack of educated and trained potential employees. The low skill set jobs needed for an agrarian workplace have disappeared and are gone forever. Our struggle is to replace these jobs by creating a labor pool that will attract higher technology companies to North Mississippi and on a larger scale to the state as a whole.
Two areas of emphasis must be considered when discussing the development of this labor pool. The first is the existing workforce and their immediate needs. The second is the development of a future workforce, those that are coming from our high schools every year. The information that I am sharing with you on the needs of the existing workforce is not philosophical in nature; it is the result of ten years of hands-on manufacturing experience in North Mississippi. During this time I have seen turnover rates at multiples of 100%, potential employees that can not read a tape measure to the nearest one quarter inch, and high school graduates that could not function beyond the fifth grade level. As an example of this problem I would like to share the following. Over the past five years, seventeen companies in North Mississippi have participated in a TABE Assessment program for pre-employment screening. During this time, 1862 people were tested with the following results:
People tested that received no score 235
People tested that received a score 1627
Range of scores K1 through 12.9
Average Score 7.3
Number achieving score of 8.0 or better 602
Pass at 8th grade competency or better 37%
In 1994, the Mississippi legislature acknowledged this crisis by enacting the Workforce Education Act. This law established and funded Workforce Development Centers at each of the fifteen-community/junior colleges in the state and a State Workforce Development Council for the coordination of efforts between these facilities. Each of the colleges in turn established a District Workforce Development Council made up of fifteen voting members. The composition of the council includes a majority of manufacturing representatives, as well as representatives from the state employment service and the local literacy program. It is the directive of the council to advise Workforce Specialist stationed at each center on the needs for the training of new hires and incumbent workers. Each Workforce Center provides assessment, counseling and other assistance to adults in career transition and training to employees as directed by area employers. The centers utilize human resources from the local college faculty and from public or private consulting sources to supply the specific training expertise demanded. As an example of this co-operative effort, I would like to use the Louisiana-Pacific plant where I work. In early 1997, ABTco now a Louisiana-Pacific Company, purchased a closed Sunbeam manufacturing plant in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Even though the state and local economic development authorities made it very attractive to locate in Holly Springs, the decision was very difficult because of my knowledge of the education level of the existing workforce. Had it not been for the help available through Northwest Community College and the Workforce Development Center, ABTco would never have purchased the facility. Since purchasing this facility, the following accomplishments have been obtained:
Pre-employment testing and a 40-hour pre-employment training class kept the turnover rate to less than 40% for the first two years.
A computer training room was opened with ten computers and both ABTco employees and Holly Springs residents have been and continue to be trained in programs from basic keyboarding to MP2 (a software driven maintenance and purchasing program).
Continuous Improvement Team training for all Holly Springs? employees.
Selective training in supervisory skills, first aid, CPR, team building, electrical, hydraulics, facilitator skills, forklift, general safety, blood borne pathogens, as well as remedial classes in math and reading.
The work in Holly Springs is just the tip of the iceberg. Overall there were 6,198 non-duplicated employees trained in the eleven county Northwest Mississippi Community College district in fiscal year 1999. The business contribution in actual dollars or in-kind cost for this training was in excess of $1,450,000. And new programs are constantly being added. Recent additions include coursework on spatial technology, quality theory, Geographic Information Systems, and software development. So you can clearly see that there is a commitment on the part of the state, Northwest Community College, and industry to insure adequate training for everyone. Now for what I consider to be the real challenge for the 21st century: Ensuring that the product of our educational system is adequately educated and prepared for the needs of all industry and service sectors. Or a better definition might be to graduate high school students that can at the very least read, write and do math at a level necessary to allow them to compete in a 21st century labor market. Unfortunately, there are too many groups and organizations out there with solutions. Each has an idea of how to fix the problem and the end result is a splintering of resources. Over the last six months alone I have seen the following suggestions presented to the State Workforce Development Council:
School to Careers ? A program developed to include industry in the development of school curriculum.
Communities in Schools - A program to bring mentoring to local schools.
Mentoring - A program presented by the Mississippi Attorney General?s office.
Teacher Internships - A program to bring teachers into business and industry in an effort to help them understand what will be expected of the students once they graduate.
All of the above are valid attempts to address what is known to be a huge problem in Mississippi. Unfortunately, until one concerted effort is made to replace schools that are rapidly deteriorating, replace or train teachers that are not proficient in the subjects they teach, and develop curriculum that requires students to graduate with measurable usable skills, rural Mississippi will not be prepared to compete in the Information Age of the 21st century.
Mine was being asked to give testimony before a Presidential/Congressional commission on 21st century workforce skills. I am posting my testimony below:
__________________________________________________ _
When I was first asked to share with you the status of the Mississippi workforce and the training needed for the 21st century as it relates to Information Technology, I was hesitant to participate. As a Plant Manager for a manufacturing operation I felt unsure of my potential contribution. However, I was able to find a very useful booklet published by BellSouth titled "hook-up ? Job Skills for the Information Age" and somewhat to my surprise, the skills necessary for the Information Technology heavy industries run parallel to those of industries in general. So the information that I will be sharing with you though not arrived at through experience with the Information Technology industry, is none the less pertinent.
Over the last twenty years, the landscape of North Mississippi has been transformed from that of dairy farming and row crops such as cotton, soybeans, and rice, to casino gaming, light manufacturing, and distribution centers. This transition from an agrarian based economy to one based on manufacturing and service related industries, seems to have peaked in the last few years due in large part to the lack of educated and trained potential employees. The low skill set jobs needed for an agrarian workplace have disappeared and are gone forever. Our struggle is to replace these jobs by creating a labor pool that will attract higher technology companies to North Mississippi and on a larger scale to the state as a whole.
Two areas of emphasis must be considered when discussing the development of this labor pool. The first is the existing workforce and their immediate needs. The second is the development of a future workforce, those that are coming from our high schools every year. The information that I am sharing with you on the needs of the existing workforce is not philosophical in nature; it is the result of ten years of hands-on manufacturing experience in North Mississippi. During this time I have seen turnover rates at multiples of 100%, potential employees that can not read a tape measure to the nearest one quarter inch, and high school graduates that could not function beyond the fifth grade level. As an example of this problem I would like to share the following. Over the past five years, seventeen companies in North Mississippi have participated in a TABE Assessment program for pre-employment screening. During this time, 1862 people were tested with the following results:
People tested that received no score 235
People tested that received a score 1627
Range of scores K1 through 12.9
Average Score 7.3
Number achieving score of 8.0 or better 602
Pass at 8th grade competency or better 37%
In 1994, the Mississippi legislature acknowledged this crisis by enacting the Workforce Education Act. This law established and funded Workforce Development Centers at each of the fifteen-community/junior colleges in the state and a State Workforce Development Council for the coordination of efforts between these facilities. Each of the colleges in turn established a District Workforce Development Council made up of fifteen voting members. The composition of the council includes a majority of manufacturing representatives, as well as representatives from the state employment service and the local literacy program. It is the directive of the council to advise Workforce Specialist stationed at each center on the needs for the training of new hires and incumbent workers. Each Workforce Center provides assessment, counseling and other assistance to adults in career transition and training to employees as directed by area employers. The centers utilize human resources from the local college faculty and from public or private consulting sources to supply the specific training expertise demanded. As an example of this co-operative effort, I would like to use the Louisiana-Pacific plant where I work. In early 1997, ABTco now a Louisiana-Pacific Company, purchased a closed Sunbeam manufacturing plant in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Even though the state and local economic development authorities made it very attractive to locate in Holly Springs, the decision was very difficult because of my knowledge of the education level of the existing workforce. Had it not been for the help available through Northwest Community College and the Workforce Development Center, ABTco would never have purchased the facility. Since purchasing this facility, the following accomplishments have been obtained:
Pre-employment testing and a 40-hour pre-employment training class kept the turnover rate to less than 40% for the first two years.
A computer training room was opened with ten computers and both ABTco employees and Holly Springs residents have been and continue to be trained in programs from basic keyboarding to MP2 (a software driven maintenance and purchasing program).
Continuous Improvement Team training for all Holly Springs? employees.
Selective training in supervisory skills, first aid, CPR, team building, electrical, hydraulics, facilitator skills, forklift, general safety, blood borne pathogens, as well as remedial classes in math and reading.
The work in Holly Springs is just the tip of the iceberg. Overall there were 6,198 non-duplicated employees trained in the eleven county Northwest Mississippi Community College district in fiscal year 1999. The business contribution in actual dollars or in-kind cost for this training was in excess of $1,450,000. And new programs are constantly being added. Recent additions include coursework on spatial technology, quality theory, Geographic Information Systems, and software development. So you can clearly see that there is a commitment on the part of the state, Northwest Community College, and industry to insure adequate training for everyone. Now for what I consider to be the real challenge for the 21st century: Ensuring that the product of our educational system is adequately educated and prepared for the needs of all industry and service sectors. Or a better definition might be to graduate high school students that can at the very least read, write and do math at a level necessary to allow them to compete in a 21st century labor market. Unfortunately, there are too many groups and organizations out there with solutions. Each has an idea of how to fix the problem and the end result is a splintering of resources. Over the last six months alone I have seen the following suggestions presented to the State Workforce Development Council:
School to Careers ? A program developed to include industry in the development of school curriculum.
Communities in Schools - A program to bring mentoring to local schools.
Mentoring - A program presented by the Mississippi Attorney General?s office.
Teacher Internships - A program to bring teachers into business and industry in an effort to help them understand what will be expected of the students once they graduate.
All of the above are valid attempts to address what is known to be a huge problem in Mississippi. Unfortunately, until one concerted effort is made to replace schools that are rapidly deteriorating, replace or train teachers that are not proficient in the subjects they teach, and develop curriculum that requires students to graduate with measurable usable skills, rural Mississippi will not be prepared to compete in the Information Age of the 21st century.