Tucked inside an unassuming warehouse in Cleveland’s Midtown district, the Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network has had an impact on the region’s economy that belies the modest size of the organization — a go-to advisory group founded in early 2006 that assists manufacturers with everything from product innovation to scaling up to hiring and training workers.
In Northeast Ohio, manufacturing is the No. 1 driver of economic growth, and production is only continuing to rise. In fact, the industry employs nearly a sixth of the region’s overall workforce. Yet many believe that the industry is in decline because advancements in automation have reduced the number of workers required to produce goods, explains director of workforce and talent development Judith Crocker, who is retiring from Magnet early this year.
“What that means is two things: Number one, we’re going to need fewer workers. Number two, those workers that are needed are going to need to be better skilled,” she says.
Thus Crocker’s term as the leader of Magnet’s workforce development arm has been twofold. She’s worked with companies to educate them on recruitment, hiring and employment best practices, while at the same time forging strong relationships with institutions such as Lorain County Community College, Cleveland State University, Stark State College and Cuyahoga Community College.
It’s not a totally novel concept. After all, modern vocational and trade schools have existed for nearly a century in the United States. By starting with employers first, however, Crocker has taken a creative approach that goes beyond traditional career-based skills training programs to actually guarantee a ready workforce for manufacturers and simultaneously open doors to better job opportunities for workers.
“Quite often, the educational systems have a structure of programs and services, and those structures do not necessarily translate directly to what the companies’ structures and needs would be, so there’s often a translation problem,” says Roy Church, president of Lake County Community College, where Crocker served as director of corporate and community outreach services for 10 years. “She was playing that critical role as a translator of business needs to education.”
For instance, during her joint tenure with LCCC and Magnet, Crocker helped bring the national Right Skills Now program to Northeast Ohio. After consulting with local valve manufacturer Swagelok on their workforce challenges — that is, their inability to hire enough highly skilled workers to grow the company — she approached Tri-C about the possibility of launching a certification program that would produce graduates with skills customized to the company’s needs. In turn, Swagelok would guarantee paid internships and the possibility of full-time employment upon graduation. That program has since expanded to include eight Lake County employers (partnered with LCCC) and a smaller pool of companies in Summit County (partnered with Stark State College).
“The biggest thing for any manufacturing company is finding talent that minimizes our training effort,” says Gary Miller, director of training and occupational development at SGS Tool Company, which is participating in the Summit County Right Skills Now program. “So far we’ve brought in four high school interns, and they worked with us through their senior year, and they were so good we hired them as soon as they graduated. A lot of that is due to the council and advice I got from Judith.”
The Right Skills Now program — and others similar to it, including Early College, Early Career, which introduces students as young as eighth grade to advanced manufacturing careers and offers paid internships to participants starting in 11th grade — has so far had a tremendous impact. More than 70 percent of the students in these programs go on to accept full-time positions with these companies upon graduation, and Magnet is working with these employers to expand opportunities for continuing education, offer college tuition reimbursement and promote from within — all of which attract more skilled workers and increase retention while helping employees thrive.
Though her retirement will mean that another must take on her vital work, Ethan Karp, president and CEO of Magnet, says “her legacy … will continue to help our region for decades to come” as these programs reach maturity and continue to expand.
“As an administrator for probably the last 20 years, one of the metrics for success has been getting people jobs,” Crocker explains. “Education is wonderful, but if the education does not allow you to open another door so that you can advance your own goals and become self-sufficient, it’s not doing its job.”