Demand “Pull” needed by NC industry
There is a great deal of energy in the state around how we best use knowledge from effective education, training, and employment systems such as what was witnessed in Germany. On the one hand, we have state programs leveraging federal funding to offer apprenticeship programs geared to special groups such as at-risk youth or other displaced workers. On the other hand, various campuses of the community college system are defining manufacturing apprenticeship programs complete with sophisticated training labs in order to aid select high school kids into vocational positions in industry by way of an associate degree. The causes are noble and offer some direction and promise, however at this point the effort seems heavy on structure and administration with spotty participation by industry.
Our NC State Industrial Extension Service specialists spend lots of time in manufacturers these days teaching the concepts of Lean Manufacturing, where effective production systems operate based upon the demand “pull” of the customer. The demand requirements decide the configuration of the production parts and the company makes only what is required by the customer. Our current efforts in apprenticeships could develop into undesirable “push” programs if we are not careful, generating well trained and educated workers all batched up waiting for an uncertain order of a job that fits their skills.