By George Nelson

YOUNGSTOWN Ohio — The Mahoning Valley Manufactures Coalition is spearheading an effort to establish a regional training center focusing on manufacturing and the skilled trades.
                Brian Benyo, president of Brilex Industries Inc. and president of the coalition, and Jessica Borza, the coalition’s executive director, acknowledge that the planning effort is in its early stages and the coalition still needs to complete due diligence.
                The coalition is going to ask its members this week to seek participants for a steering committee to advance the project, Benyo said. “I don’t think it’s unrealistic potentially to have something put together for the fall of this year but it would take some real good fortune on our part,” he said.
                The center as envisioned would start with an emphasis on machining trades then grow to support welding and industrial maintenance.
                “What we’re really trying for is to build a seamless career pathway system,” Borza said. “By that I mean that every one of our public institutions has a role to play,” the K-12 schools, career and technical centers though the community colleges and universities, she added, to provide stackable, credentialed education to satisfy the requirements of local manufacturers.
                Although planning is too early for more definitive numbers to be available, Benyo estimated such a center could cost $5 million to $10 million, but believes there is “lots of incentive” for local partners to get behind it. “This really is an economic development engine beyond just our individual company,” he remarked. Such a facility would be an engine for economic development for this area.”
                The coalition is going to do an inventory of the training equipment at all of the area’s public institutions, Borza said. “We’re coming to the conclusion that there is a need for something more than we have right now” but are still formulating what that looks like, she said.
                “Ideally, training facilities will have the look and feel of today’s manufacturing facilities and have the equipment on hand that today’s manufacturers require,” she said.
                The proposed center was among the topics Benyo and Borza addressed last week with Jay Williams, the former Youngstown mayor who now serves as executive director of recovery for auto communities and workers. Benyo and Borza met privately with Williams prior to a meeting with area manufactures at the offices of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber.
                The Mahoning Valley has “a large and capable workforce,” but as manufacturing has evolved companies need workers with more specialized skills, Williams said.
                Among the ideas Williams discussed with the manufacturers was a program in which a community college in the Detroit area partnered with the local manufacturing coalition to provide training that was “relevant to being employed immediately,” he said. “We talked about perhaps having a similar model with Eastern Gateway,” he said. They also discussed administration proposals that could be brought into play, including programs President Obama outlined in his State of the Union Address.
                In some cases, local industries provide equipment to the training centers so that students can be familiar with the kinds of machines they will be working on once they are credentialed, Williams said.
                During the meeting between Williams and the manufacturers, participants identified “a common theme” related to the skilled trades gap “that is very acute locally and on a national basis,” Benyo said.
                “The administrations in Washington and Columbus both recognize that it is an issue that needs to be addressed. Now it’s just a matter of finding of finding an effective way to facilitate that training,” Benyo said.
                Williams “was really excited about the coalition itself and the fact that industry was leading the discussion,” Borza said.
                Many local manufactures have job openings they would like to fill but can’t find qualified workers, preventing them from being able to grow, Williams said. Availability of credit is another issue they face. Many of them are poised for growth but are unable to obtain the financing they need to expand, he said.
                Williams said he was “pleasantly surprised” that the manufacturers didn’t cite regulations as a primary issue for them. “They all want to have a safe environment to work in. There wasn’t a perception this administration was overly burdensome,” he said. “They just wanted to make sure regulations are handled an objective manner. But there was no expression that the administration’s policies were burdensome or hindering them.”
                Benyo characterized the meeting as “productive” and said he hoped Williams would take back those concerns and suggestions back to Washington, where that information possibly will influence officials’ thinking.
                “I thought it was a very productive meeting,” agreed Tom Humphries, president and CEO of the Regional Chamber. Williams “tried to clarify some of the issues, realizing that some of the discussions centered around things that are very significant as far as changing them overnight. Government doesn’t move that fast. He also understands the need to make sure that we’re on a path to try to correct some of those things.”
The Business Journal,

Youngstown, Ohio.