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<br />dying this deficiency to their Ow'n ad- the training. For instance, the
<br />vantage. Unwilling or unable to pro- st to of llhnons has committed S40
<br />vide adequate training in the standard imiliotn over tive years to train work -
<br />classroom, they are setting up tailor- ers for I?ianlorid-Star i ,Iotors—the
<br />made education systems and going to Chrysler -'Mitsubishi iotint venture
<br />astonishing lengths to fit young pL-)- that mzkcs the I'l%,lnouth Laser and
<br />e for the job market. North Carolina iINlitsuhishl Eclipse at Nornuil Ill. Di-
<br />plerected a minicollegc, including more aniond-Star is spending an equal
<br />than 50 computer terminals, to train
<br />about 1,800 customer service agents
<br />for American Express Co. at Greens-
<br />boro. Lenoir Community College
<br />searched the world for instructors and
<br />prepared a 300-page illustrated man-
<br />ual as part of a ten -week course it
<br />created to teach Lenox China workers
<br />to decorate fine dinnerware. And Col-
<br />orado offers space at Pueblo Commu-
<br />nity College to teach Trane Co. ma-
<br />chinists how to mill parts to toler-
<br />ances of 0.0005 of an inch.
<br />Many of the more innovative pro-
<br />grams cleverly include prehiring,
<br />screening and training services that
<br />help companies eliminate job candi-
<br />dates who arc unsuitable because of
<br />attitude or aptitude. Pueblo, for in-
<br />stance, screened a videotape that em-
<br />phasized the dull, repetitive nature of
<br />factory work as a way of dissuading
<br />fainthearts from work at Unisys.
<br />State officials at Kinston prescreened
<br />1,000 applicants for jobs at Lenox Chi-
<br />na with manual dexterity tests to pick
<br />those most suited to the meticulous
<br />handwork required.
<br />North Carolina's program of guar-
<br />anteeing a trained work force to any
<br />new or expanding employer forced
<br />other states to provide training to re-
<br />main attractive. "We were just a
<br />bunch of farmers then," says Joe Stur-
<br />divant, director of industry services
<br />for North I Carolina's community col, lege system. Now 'North Carolina,
<br />with about one worker in four in man
<br />ufacturing, is the nation's most he av�
<br />ly industrial state. it has led the na
<br />tion in new plant sitings for the las
<br />three Yells.
<br />But full)' 46 states now offer sour
<br />amount.
<br />The nation's schools are not only
<br />pouring out graduates who are func-
<br />tionally illiterate but the)' arc doing
<br />so at a tilllc �,\'hcn ordinary factory
<br />jobs require a high degree of skill.
<br />"Very otten, a company adopts a new
<br />participative productive process, and
<br />for the first time, a \vorker is being
<br />asked to think, to solve problems and
<br />to COIl1T11t1nicate," says Robert Fraser,
<br />associate director of Michigan's in-
<br />lem Vvwc
<br />form of industrial training;, about 10
<br />of those with programs begur. in the
<br />1980s and about 25 with intensive
<br />efforts tied directly to the state's in-
<br />dustrial recruitment program-
<br />Michigan's program, a typical one,
<br />spent S16.6 million in 1988 to train
<br />11,933 workers for 89 companies, but
<br />this is a drop in the bucket compared
<br />with the S3.9 billion spent on Stan-
<br />dard education in the state. Califor-
<br />nia's ll11111ense training program spent
<br />S52 million last year to train 21,000
<br />workers.
<br />This is not to say that the empltly'
<br />cis are getting a free ride. As much
<br />money, or more, usually is spent by
<br />the companies themselves to coln-
<br />Lew)-'t►,tltrc'c••Qt1(L, at }•;-kill 'W t;ulcl
<br />prescreened for manual dexterity.
<br />'.'.Istnal tralning {�ro�r;ltn. These arc
<br />skills that h:l\'c never been drvcloped
<br />bl'ftl[l', it teyuire� ;l TC111t:,I1:11 prltg[a[ll
<br />to) s(tllle(tnC C\•C:1 htt\, to ttiT11 On
<br />the calculatm."
<br />] ii.lt \\ al the east at i lTesso r Rand
<br />(_,tt., .1 t:t`ia��fe„tti, tLllhllle .illtl hC:1V}'
<br />etjulpn:Cn: 111.1kei ittrltl%u lIl I:liltlar}'
<br />1,)6 iw 1::: ,:I"till•Rand C,t and I-)rt ss
<br />cl illtitistl tt'N lilt'., ptt'\ Itt'.1sJ)' ttlnpCtl
<br />tail toll 011 Intlu`tiv i_ttil;r,ICtS. The
<br />ttnttlle s faulted l'nst, �.1' plant,
<br />gU[ttlCtt\' I'.11t tot illl',Cr�itil'l�alld, (wer-
<br />:Ite:J 111C:1 at Il:tit .;tt",, of e.lg :It ll)', Ctll
<br />I'lttvillt nt hall d\:In,lled ttvt r a ten
<br />)'Car pt'lit��l ttl al`ttut I Its`' n[ less
<br />(llatl a thing o! it, peak.
<br />k.I,t,111g l;lltolleti
<br />L?ressel R.Illd h►ttug It net,' product
<br />loges to I"witcd l'ttst. Tally workers
<br />couldn't ilarldlc It Lackint; 1.1.11111119,
<br />they couldn't read lhlucpnnts for the
<br />Clark ar)k1 \Vttrthington CLIlt11)r11Ctlt
<br />thc)' nim. wcic supposed to 111akc. Re-
<br />ItlltllL�.ILitit::f IQS't
<br />called workers needed refresher
<br />courses after layoffs that for some had
<br />lasted years. Production snarled as
<br />those few fully skilled employees
<br />were suddenly called upon to make up
<br />for the deficiencies of less accom-
<br />plished colleagues.
<br />Dresser also began to adopt a mod-
<br />ern cell production process, replacing
<br />assembly lines. That meant that one
<br />group of workers would completely
<br />fabricate a part instead of drilling just
<br />one hole or molding ono edge, and
<br />then sending the piece down the line
<br />for the next process. Cell production
<br />requires workers to understand many
<br />different machines and material.
<br />This called for skills and experience
<br />that much of the existing staff simply
<br />did not have.
<br />,'-This is building the
<br />foundation of our company.
<br />jf you don't do this, you
<br />don't have a company.
<br />"We kept hearing from supervisors
<br />who said they were getting parts with
<br />bad threads on them, S300, S400, $500
<br />pieces, every day," says Roger Bacon,
<br />a machinist and member of the joint
<br />management -labor training council
<br />formed to oversee Dresser-Rand's re-
<br />education effort.
<br />So far, more than 500, or about half,
<br />of Dresser -Rand production workers
<br />at Painted Post have taken skills as-
<br />sessment tests. Most of these have
<br />gone on to some sort of classwork—
<br />including remedial reading, because
<br />one-third of Painted Poses workers
<br />read at below the sixth -grade level.
<br />The most ambitious of the bunch may
<br />eventually complete state -sponsored
<br />classes in blueprint reading, carbide
<br />tooling, threading and computer pro-
<br />cess controls.
<br />"This is building the foundation of
<br />our company," says John Welch, pres-
<br />ident of Dresser-Rand's compressor
<br />division. ,If you don't do this, you
<br />don't have a company."
<br />Quite literally so. The Dresser -
<br />Rand classes are part of a S15 million
<br />package of incentives offered by New
<br />York State in 1987 to induce the com-
<br />pany to continue production at three
<br />heavy equipment factories situated at
<br />Wellsville, Olean and Painted Post.
<br />After an international search for alter-
<br />natives, he company accepted New
<br />York's bid, retaining nearly 4,000 jobs
<br />and an annual payroll of S 110 million.
<br />But the question remains: Why, in a
<br />nation that spends S331 billion on
<br />education, do basic reading and math
<br />skills have to be handled outside the
<br />regular educational establishment? a
<br />FORTIES, TUNE 26, 1989
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