Charleston Regional Development Alliance

Berkeley, Charleston & Dorchester Counties

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Manufacturers launch workforce upgrade program

Jul. 1, 2004
Charleston Regional Business Journal
By Dennis Quick
One of the more salient recommendations of the Morrison Report—the Lowcountry’s economic development manual that consultant Ed Morrison released more than a year ago—is that we improve the skills of our workforce if we’re to compete economically with the rest of the world.

The Lowcountry Manufacturers Council has started a pilot program devoted to doing just that.

Working with the Trident One-Stop Career Center and Trident Technical College, the LMC has launched a manufacturing certification program. The initiative helps those seeking jobs in manufacturing raise their skills in math, computers, measuring and mechanical reasoning.

The LMC advertised the program in the June 2 edition of The Post and Courier. About 70 potential participants responded and are being screened and tested. Twenty will be selected. Trident Technical College instructors will teach the 30 hour program’s classes.

The program’s existence shows that brains, not brawn, are the foundation of a manufacturing career. The days of the grease-covered widget maker are long gone.

“We’re looking for people who can grow, are team players and can be leaders,” says Lou DuBon, human resources manager for Goose Creek-based AGFA Corp., which produces photographic film products. “Whether the candidate shows up to class on time, asks questions, gets along with others in the classroom—these things tell us if the candidate has the ‘soft’ skills we’re looking for.”

If the candidate has these “soft” skills but lacks some of the harder ones, such as math, the Trident One-Stop Career Center helps the candidate get up to snuff.

The LMC’s member companies fund the program and have so far contributed $10,000. Candidates pay a $30 fee.

Although those who complete the program are not guaranteed a job, they have an awfully good shot at getting one, says Paul Connerty, director of the Trident One-Stop Career Center. Manufacturers have an equally good shot at getting the kind of employee they want. LMC members are given first dibs on the newly certified job candidates.

“This is a continuous improvement model,” Connerty says of the pilot program. “We want to get feedback from students.”

We’re building a bigger and better hiring pool,” points out Jennifer Robson of the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce, with whom the LMC is affiliated.

What’s more, Robson, who handles the LMC’s public relations, says the program’s success could lure more manufacturers to the Charleston area.

For more information about the manufacturing certification program, call Trident One-Stop Career Center at 574-1800.
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