The U.S. Dept. of Labor has announced launch of Apprenticeship.gov, a website that “delivers on the Task Force on Apprenticeship Expansion’s recommendation to ‘compile apprenticeship information in a single, online, centralized website'.” The website, according to the DOL, "will evolve into a robust one-stop platform to connect job seekers, job creators, training providers, parents, teachers, and federal and local workforce agencies with information and resources to learn more about apprenticeships, how to establish apprenticeship program and how to access open apprenticeship opportunities.” Launch of the site “comes at the one-year anniversary of President Trump’s executive order expanding apprenticeships in America, which directed the US Department of Labor to expand access to apprenticeship opportunities to help more Americans secure family-sustaining jobs.”

Alabama Public Radio recently ran an interview piece that focused entirely on apprenticeship as a pathway to great careers.

Participants included:

•  Nicholas Wyman, CEO of the Institute for Workplace Skills and Innovation
• Ken Hitchcock, Director of the Pickens County Career and Technology Center in Liberty, South Carolina
• Christine Scullion, Director of HR Policy at the National Association of Manufacturing
• Cory McCray, a delegate from the Maryland House of Delegates and a former IBEW electrician apprentice
• Robert Lerman, Urban Institute fellow, founder of the American Institute for Innovative Apprenticeship, and professor emeritus of economics at American University.

Visit APR's site to listen to the interview.

New Equipment Digest ran an article on June 20th titled "Trench Warfare: How to Fight the Skills Gap". The article begins:

"All across the nation, we’re fighting the past: an aging infrastructure, a decaying education system, and outdated job stereotypes. Our future depends on us digging in and going to war with the skills gap."

The article touches on apprenticeship as a weapon to help fight that war. It also includes info on multiple initiatives and resources, like the Get Real Math! classroom videos created by the Northeast Wisconsin (NEW) Manufacturing Alliance to help teachers bring relevance to their math instruction.

 Read the full article here!

On June 15, President Trump signed an Executive Order meant to expand apprenticeships. Click here to read the text of the executive order.

Inside Higher Ed, which covers news of relevance to institutions of higher education, covered the Trump administration's apprenticeship push in a June 14 article titled "New Money and New Players on Apprenticeship". The article does a good job of covering the key points of the initiative. Read the full article here.

A June 18 article in Forbes covered the topic, noting "This New Trump Plan Could Be the Answer to Millennial Job Woes." Read the article here.

The Hill, a popular news source within the D.C. beltway, ran an article by Robert Lerman, founder of the American Institute for Innovative Apprenticeship, that concludes "The president's effors are a good start toward the long-run goals of shifting workforce policy toward successful apprenticeships and away from costlier and less effective programs." Read the full article here.

PRESENTATIONS NOW AVAILABLE!

We've posted downloadable copies of the presentations and related documents from MEATA's 2017 Spring Apprenticeship Conference in our Documents area. Please note that there are two pages of document listings, so be sure to click to the second page to see all of the presentations.

We also have create a Photobucket album slideshow containing pictures from the event.

Thanks to all the presenters and attendees!

An Industry Week article spotlights Toyota's Georgetown, KY, plant's efforts to fill the facilities projected need for tool and die makers. Here's an excerpt:

In 2013, Wally Palen realized he had a “people problem.” Tool and die makers at Toyota’s Georgetown, Kentucky, plant, where he is assistant general manager, were disproportionately reaching retirement age, and replacements were hard to come by.

Looking ahead, the workload was only getting heavier. With a cascade of new vehicle models at Toyota—from the recently introduced to the forthcoming—the need for new dies is currently the highest in 25 years, and projected to grow even more. Yet 36% percent of the Toyota Kentucky’s 200 tool and die makers are already at or near retirement age. The percentage goes up to 43% by 2021.

So the affable Ohio State University graduate—who oversees Toyota’s die manufacturing operation and 19 stamping lines—set about coming up with a contingency plan. He estimates he’ll need 52 more toolmakers by 2021, but will only be able to find 15 through traditional HR.

The rest? He’s angling for 32 of them to come through a new apprentice program he got going with “brute force” (his words), and five from retraining promising production team members.

Read the rest of the story here!