Case Studies  

Challenge 2: Responding to small and medium size firms’ and/or facilities’ (those with less than 500 employees) recruitment and training needs: In recent years, large, formerly vertically integrated firms have aggressively embraced the outsourcing and subcontracting of many of their component parts.  In the process, they have made their own operations leaner and meaner, while pushing significant parts of the production process to firms that are typically smaller.  These smaller firms generally have fewer resources to commit to training and education programs and/or new employee recruitment.  Many small and mid-sized firms have no full-time human resources managers, and their education and training programs often consist of tuition reimbursement policies, where individual workers must take the initiative to obtain additional education and training on their own.  To promote cost-effective new worker recruitment (see the potential link to # 3 below) and incumbent worker training within these smaller firms, initiatives that facilitate common training, assessment, screening, etc. for jobs at small and medium size manufacturers are especially important.  Cross-employer skills training – while always desirable – can help ensure, in a cost-effective way, that workers in smaller firms get the skills they need to compete in the global economy.  Training and education programs should link to economic development policies that respond to the needs of sectors, industries and local or regional economies.    

Addressed as a primary challenge:

Supplier Excellence Alliance/Labor Education and Training Corporation (LETC) California Training Partnership

Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership (WRTP)

Addressed as a secondary challenge:

Community Learning Center, Inc. and its Aerospace Industry Training Program (see
challenge # 3 for case study)