LYNN – Yesterday, the Commonwealth’s Housing and Economic Development (HED) Secretary Greg Bialecki pledged $1.3 million from the state in support of programs designed to train Bay Staters for careers in advanced manufacturing.
According to the HED, those who will benefit most from the program are the unemployed, underemployed, and veterans.
“Massachusetts is on the cutting-edge in terms of what states are doing to grow 21st century manufacturing,” said Bialecki. “By collaborating with regional partners, we can help provide those looking for employment with the skills and knowledge necessary for careers in advanced manufacturing.”
The announcement was made at Lynn Vocational Technical Institute on Boston’s north shore, which hosts an adult machinist training program with 30 adult enrollees that received a $46,735 grant that will fund it completely.
Other regions of the state will receive state funds to boost their manufacturing might, with the Metro North Regional Employment Board, and The Greater New Bedford Workforce Investment Board receiving $500,000 and $330,000, respectively, on behalf of the Northeast Advanced Manufacturing Consortium and Southeastern Massachusetts Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative.
The Hampden Regional Employment Board received the second highest allotment from Beacon Hill yesterday, raking in $444,208 in funding that will support a year of a Precision Manufacturing Training Program, which will seek to provide students with the skills necessary for careers in the industry and at companies such as Advance Manufacturing in Westfield.
“It’s very important to find trained help,” said Jeffrey Amanti, a production manager for the Turnpike Industrial Road institution. “It’s extremely difficult. The trend has been people moving away from manufacturing.”
Amanti finds said trend to be a real shame, since the cupboard for manufacturing in western Mass. is far from bare.
“There is a lot of manufacturing in this area,” he said. “But in the next 10 to 15 years, this current crop of workers is going to retire, and there’s going to be a shortage of workers in manufacturing.”
A shortage that the administration of Governor Deval Patrick is well aware of.
According to a statement from the HED, the industry is expected to require 100,000 jobs in the next decade, a figure which led Patrick to form the Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative in 2011.
A group comprised of leaders from industry, academia, and government, the AMC has been working together to enhance the competitiveness of Massachusetts manufacturing in the 21st century.
Their efforts led to the creation of the Advanced Manufacturing Regional Partnership Academy in June, which Patrick heralded as a “first-in-the-nation program designed to meet the manufacturing industry’s future workforce needs.”
The Academy will look to provide hands-on learning opportunities, as well as tool and peer-education to regional leaders, helping eliminate one of the industry’s chief concerns of finding well-trained employees to fill available jobs in manufacturing.
With an average annual salary of $75,000, many believe the positions should sell themselves, and that unemployed and underemployed Bay Staters, as well as veterans, would do well to take advantage of the training.
Amanti believes the grant will help his company immensely, but doesn’t see it changing how Advance Manufacturing does business.
“It’s huge. It means a lot to get this money, but I’m not sure it’s going to change our business,” he said. “Both of my grandfathers are vets. It’s the skills that are going to be important, and anytime we can hire skilled veterans, it’s important.”
Amanti also lent a shout out to other area manufacturing luminaries like Clement Fucci, a manufacturing shop instructor at Westfield Vocational-Technical High School who has received major kudos from Beacon Hill for his efforts in attempting to reestablish western Mass. as a hub of manufacturing activity.
“There are a lot of people who are working hard to get opportunities for western Mass.,” said Amanti.
Fucci himself is excited about how the program will benefit operations being conducted at the school.
“We currently run an after-school program three nights a week from 3:30 to 8:30 p.m. training vets, and well as the unemployed and underemployed.” Fucci said. “We’re just trying to fill the pipeline for advanced manufacturing.”
The $300 course has drawn lots of interest during its operation, and Fucci, who has been with the school’s manufacturing shop for 31 years, believes that Westfield’s manufacturing pool may be getting very deep very soon.
“A study from Northeastern University said Massachusetts needs to replace 100,000 jobs in manufacturing,” he said, reiterating HED’s concerns. “There’s been a very talented pool of people working in manufacturing, but they’ll be retiring soon.”
Fucci is confident that the program won’t adversely affect his students with an influx of competition.
“Over the last few years, these companies have almost exclusively sought after vocational high school students. There are always openings for our students (at Westfield Voc-Tech).” he said.
“It’s great news,” said Bill Ward, director of the Hampden County Regional Employment Board. “This grant will enable us to continue to provide training for new workers and upgrade training for current workers.”
Ward said that the Regional Employment Board has created strong partnerships with local community colleges and vocational-technical colleges, and will conduct the training sessions with the help of the public infrastructure.
“We’ll use the system in place to do the training,” he said. “We have very strong partnerships with industry leaders in western Mass., and this is an industry-led effort to meet the workforce needs of the advanced manufacturing industry, a demand-driven effort.”
“There are 290 small and medium size companies doing this work running up and down the Pioneer Valley, that employ 8,000 people,” Ward added. “We’re grateful for the state’s investing in this key industry.”
