The ISA New Orleans were among the attendees of the first annual Manufacturing Summit held on October 1, 2019. The event was hosted by JEDCO and held at the Delgado Community College River City site in Avondale.
The event highlighted the partnership between the region’s community colleges and universities, local and state governments, and private industry to development customized training programs for smart manufacturing workers.
The event featured a keynote presentation by Mr. Brad Lambert, Deputy Director of the Louisiana Economic Development (LED) agency. Mr. Lambert’s presentation highlighted the strengths of Louisiana’s industrial manufacturing sector, recent developments, and the easy access to educational institutions across the state.
Several panels were conducted that gave insight to the various workforce development resources that are available to employers across Louisiana. The panels also highlighted the strong partnership within the Louisiana Community and Technical College System (LCTCS) to provide current, and relevant educational programs that graduate students with the skills that are needed by today’s employers.
In many cases local private industry is working directly with these agencies and technical colleges, such as Delgado Community College, to provide guidance on what skills are needed.
An an example of this partnership is the Mechatronics Apprenticeship Training Program that is a hybrid program involving several local community and technical colleges and companies. Delgado Community College, Nunez Community College, and Northshore Technical Community College, worked together with Intralox, Zatarain’s and Elmer’s Candy, to develop this unique apprenticeship program. Students selected into this apprenticeship program train for a total of 16 weeks in the local colleges, and receive a total of 16 weeks on-the-job training at the participating companies.
The last panel discussion of the event provided information about the various workforce development resources and agencies that are available to companies in Louisiana. These include Louisiana FastStart, OJT Program, Incumbent Worker Training Programs, and the Re-Entry Program. Additional information and links to each program can be found at https://www.jedco.org/workforce-solutions/.
The manufacturing summit ended with a tour of the Delgado Community College River City center. This new training facility was built with local manufacturing in mind offering maritime and industrial training.
Learn more about the Delgado Community College River City site at http://www.dcc.edu/about/locations/river-city/default.aspx.
ISA New Orleans Section 