By Gary Ogle
gogle@wbcowqel.com
Several local business leaders were excited to congregate at Advanced Fiber Technology Thursday morning to meet who they hope will be future employees. Bucyrus eighth graders were touring Advanced Fiber Technology, Arctic Cat, BPT and IB Tech as part of the WAGE program utilized by the Bucyrus City School District.
The employers are hopeful those students will be part of the solution to a serious problem they find themselves in, namely a lack of people to fill an abundance of jobs now available in the manufacturing industry both here in Crawford County and elsewhere.
“If you’ve got some skills, they are definitely interested in hiring you, there’s no doubt about it,” said Doug Leuthold, the president of Advanced Fiber Technology and one of those who helped develop and implement the WAGE program. “We’ve got too many temps. That’s not good for your overall workforce.”
Bucyrus Mayor Jeff Reser noted that temporary employees made up the largest category of the workforce in Bucyrus in 2013, the last time those numbers were tallied.
Leuthold said the barriers local employers are finding include finding reliable employees who can pass a drug test and show up to work on time every day. But the other issue was that many people, including educators and students, no longer saw manufacturing as a viable career choice. It was a perception they needed to address.
“We went out and spent an afternoon with the teachers to give them our expectations,” Leuthold said. “It was an eye-opening experience.”
Leuthold is chairperson of Crawford: 20/20 Vision’s Business Success and Job Availability Action team. They put together the WAGE program which stands for Workforce Awareness for Graduates and Educators. Administrators in the Bucyrus City School District led by Superintendent Kevin Kimmel embraced the idea and pushed for that school district to take part in the pilot program.
A key component was getting teachers and employers together to address what Leuthold said were misunderstandings on both sides.
“In the course of those discussions it became pretty evident that there is a disconnect between the perceptions of educators, graduates and the business community. The idea was how do we attempt to break those barriers down and start to improve those misunderstandings, and those misunderstandings go both ways,” Leuthold said. “It’s not the school’s fault, it’s not the business’s fault. The way I like to look at it is we spent too much time talking past each other and not enough time talking to each other.”
Leuthold credited Kimmel for his involvement to the point the district was able to commit an entire in-service day for teachers to tour the manufacturing facilities and then meet with those business leaders for a post-tour debriefing.
“There was a perception there that there weren’t good paying jobs in Crawford County,” Leuthold said. “We in manufacturing just haven’t done a good job enough job conveying that.”
While the program has drawn the attention of legislators at the state level, there is no state or federal money supporting it. Currently the program is being funded in part by American Electric Power. Leuthold also noted the sizable amount of man-hours volunteered by the local manufacturing community to make it happen.
And as far as David Williamson is concerned, there is no need to seek out federal or state funds. The flexibility of not having regulators looking over their shoulders is more important than any financial contribution they might offer.
“I don’t want any state for federal money for it,” Williamson said. “What I want is a free hand.”
The program includes a pre-tour meeting with students and employers so students get an understanding of what they’ll see and what employers’ expectations are. That took place prior to Thursday’s tours. Also part of the program is a post-tour debriefing between students and employers. That will take place next Tuesday back in the school.
“I’m sure that this is going to morph into something more than it is right now,” Leuthold predicted.
Manufacturers are banking that students will see not only that there is a future for many of them in manufacturing, but that the jobs available are varied with high-tech skills required and that they pay well.
Already Wynford has jumped on board for next year and the goal is that all Crawford County school districts will eventually be part of the program.