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Home / Washington Business - November/December 2004 / WorkForce Washington |
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WorkForce Washington |
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Written On: November/December 2004 |
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Written By: by Mike Hudson |
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Editor’s Note: WorkForce Washington is a new column that will be appearing in Washington Business Magazine. Written by Mike Hudson, Executive Director of AWB’s not-for-profit affiliate organization The Institute for Workforce Development & Economic Sustainability, this space will feature the latest activity affecting the state of Washington’s workforce.
Mark Twain once said, “The reports of my death are highly exaggerated.” The same thing might be said for manufacturing in the state of Washington. Lost in the din of stories about lost or outsourced jobs and closing factories are the efforts of a number of people and organizations who are innovating processes and procedures for greater effectiveness and profitability, promoting opportunities, and educating the current and future manufacturing workforce.
Two years ago, the Kent Chamber of Commerce instituted “Manufacturing Apprec-iation Week” to recognize the contribution that manufacturing makes to the state economy. According to Chamber Executive Director Marcelle Pechler, “Manufacturing Appreciation Week activities the first two years were limited to the south King County area, but by partnering with AWB, the state’s manufacturing association, the 2005 Manufacturing Appreciation Week will be a statewide celebration.”
Community and technical colleges have always played a vital role in training manufacturing workers but now, several have gone a step (or two)-further.
• Shoreline Community College was recently named a “Manufacturing Center of Excellence.” The college received this designation because of its work in addressing critical workforce development needs identified by manufacturers specifically to define a system of elective certificates that comprise a range of manufacturing career pathways in medical equipment, metal trades, biotech and micro-fabrication to name a few. The work being done at Shoreline is designed to be replicated at other colleges throughout the state insuring that manufacturers and their employees from Aberdeen to Asotin can benefit from their work.
• South Seattle Community College has been working with state and local government officials and agencies, Washington Manufacturing Services (WMS), labor organizations, AWB and individual manufacturers to create the Puget Sound Industrial Excellence Center. Modeled after a successful enterprise in Philadel-phia, the Industrial Excellence Center will become a “one-stop-shop” to provide individuals with the skills needed to be employed by industry and provide resources to manufacturers such as capital, assistance with city, county and state regulations and services consulting to develop their business. In the future, the Center hopes to provide research and devel-opment services that can be exported to manufacturers in other parts of the state.
On Nov. 5, 2004, Gov. Locke announced the creation of several new Skill Panels in the state, two of them focusing on manufacturing (Skill Panels are “think tanks” made up of business, labor and education leaders that focus on existing and future workforce development needs in key industries.):
• The Marine Manufacturing and Tech-nology Alliance will help reduce the skill shortages in the boat building industry in 11 coastal counties. Partners include three Workforce Development Councils, four economic development councils, four community or technical colleges, K-12 tech prep programs, the local labor community, AWB members, and a growing list of business and industry partners.
• The Advanced Manufacturing Work-force Initiative will use the Spokane Regional Chamber's 1,400 members to develop a skill panel on advanced, high-tech manufacturing. Its partners include the Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce, Spokane Community College and the Spokane Area Workforce Development Council.
Despite the decline in employment and the overall number of manufacturers in the past few years, manufacturing continues to be a driving force in the economy of Washington state contributing $26.6 billion dollars to the Gross State Product. The average manufacturing wage is more than $48,000 per year, the highest of any industry and each manufacturing job supports 1.5 to 3 other jobs. So, the next time somebody says to you “Manufacturing is dead in this state.” Tell them you’ve got a friend named Mark who thinks you should check the patient’s pulse before making any wild accusations.
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